Clinical Rotations
There are four placement components to the internship year: 4-month rotations and one year-long outpatient placement. The three rotations include the Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Service, Integrated Care, and Psychiatric Inpatient Service (Ackerly Unit). The fourth placement is based at the Bingham Clinic where the intern will provide outpatient services including therapy, psychological testing, and emergency department consultation and evaluations.
Outpatient Services (Bingham Clinic)
The outpatient service is located within the facilities of the Bingham Clinic which is the central location of child psychiatric services and the child/pediatric internship program. The Bingham Clinic has been in existence since 1913, and is one of the oldest child guidance centers in the country. The clinic is located in a modern facility on the second level of Norton Hospital, a major health care facility in the region. Interns' offices are located in this clinic, where they conduct many of their treatment 
and evaluation experiences throughout the internship year. The outpatient service is the only experience in which the intern remains involved throughout the 12-month training year. Experiences and responsibilities on the outpatient service include outpatient intake evaluations, psychological assessments, and provision of ongoing outpatient treatment. Interns provide individual, family, and group therapy to patients and their families as part of the outpatient treatment experience. In the past, group therapy experiences have included preschool development, anger management, parent training, adolescent issues, and social skills training. Ages of patients seen by interns typically range from 2 to 17 years. Interns have primary responsibility for coordinating patient caseloads (with faculty guidance), and have some flexibility in selecting cases of particular interest to them. Interns conduct emergency evaluations in the Kosair Children's Hospital Emergency Department as part of this rotation.
Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Service
This rotation consists of 16 weeks of training in which the intern conducts consultations referred from pediatricians and other medical specialists primarily from the Kosair Children's Hospital and University of Louisville Hospital. Kosair Children's Hospital is the primary pediatric health care facility in the region and sees the full range of medical problems that occur in children and adolescents. Consultations most often involve children with behavioral and emotional difficulties associated with acute or chronic physical illness or injury, psychophysiological disorders, adjustment disorders, treatment noncompliance, behavioral acting out, and suicidal behavior. Interventions are varied but include behavior management, support/guidance to parents and nursing staff, patient coping skills enhancement and anxiety reduction, biofeedback, and short-term supportive therapy. Patients are typically seen on medical units of the hospital. During the rotation, interns gain experience in consulting with primary care and specialty care physicians and other health care providers. Involvement with a variety of services are part of the rotation and include the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology service and Bone Marrow Transplant unit, Pediatric Cardiology and Heart Transplant Team, the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the Neurology Service, the Endocrinology Service, the Trauma Service, and the Burn Unit among others. Thrice weekly rounds are conducted on this service, as well as individual supervision of all cases seen. (Service Director: Bryan D. Carter, Ph.D.)
Inpatient Rotation
The Ackerly Inpatient Psychiatric Service is located in Norton Hospital, and is functionally a part of the Kosair Children's Hospital. The inpatient unit was established in 1975, and from that time to present has served as a short-term (1-2 weeks), diagnostic and treatment inpatient facility for children and adolescents experiencing acute psychiatric disturbance. Youth with a full range of psychiatric diagnoses and problems are treated on this unit. Admission is typically precipitated by patient symptoms of psychosis, suicidality, and/or dangerous aggression towards others. As part of treatment, patients are involved daily in group, individual, and art therapy, along with educational instruction. Family therapy is generally conducted 1-2 times weekly by the unit social worker. The intern is an integral member of the treatment team that includes a child psychiatrist (unit director), psychiatry fellows and residents, social workers, nursing staff, and an expressive therapist. The intern is responsible for carrying the role of primary therapist and case coordinator for two to three patients at any given time during the rotation period. The intern conducts the initial admission evaluation, constructs a treatment plan, conducts individual psychotherapy sessions (approximately three weekly per patient), and participates in unit rounds daily. (Service Director: Jennifer Le, M.D.)
Multicultural and Ethnic Diversity
Our outpatient clinics and inpatient unit serve a wide range of ethnically diverse families, thus providing numerous opportunities for supervision and development in this area of clinical psychology. We also dedicate seminar time to diversity topics and incorporate issues of diversity in all dydactics and supervision.
