Erie Psychological Consortium

The Erie Psychological Consortium is an American Psychological Association approved pre-doctoral internship program/site. The EPC provides an opportunity for doctoral candidates in clinical or counseling psychology to acquire the skills necessary to successfully practice in a health care, community mental health, or private practice setting. We seek to prepare the intern through supervised clinical training and didactics to function as an entry-level professional psychologist, to practice competently in applied areas of psychological assessment, consultation, and intervention.

Clinical experience is provided through an inpatient acute rehabilitation hospital, acute medical settings, outpatient private practice and a community mental health setting. Interns have the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of healthcare professions and work as a member of an interdisciplinary team. Primary rotations will take place at Northshore Psychological Associates, HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Erie and Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. The Erie Psychological Consortium provides psychological services to all age ranges.

Training model

Erie Psychological Consortium’s internship is built upon the premise that intensive, experiential training with all age groups, by employing a variety of treatment modalities, under close clinical supervision, will facilitate the process of integrating psychology theory and findings into practice. The experiential training model is designed to develop a professional, generalist practice psychologist.

Goals & Objectives

Develop competence in professional conduct, ethics and legal matters.

Objectives:

  • Professional interpersonal behavior.
  • Seeks consultation/supervision.
  • Uses positive coping strategies
  • Professional responsibility and documentation.
  • Efficiency and time management.
  • Knowledge of ethics and law.
  • Administrative competency.


Competence in individual and cultural diversity.

Objectives:

  • Patient rapport.
  • Sensitivity to patient diversity.
  • Awareness of own cultural and ethnic background.


Competence in theories and methods of psychological diagnosis and assessment.

Objectives:

  • Diagnostic skill.
  • Psychological test selection and administration.
  • Assessment writing skills.
  • Feedback regarding assessment.


Competence in theories and methods of effective psychotherapeutic intervention.

Objectives:

  • Patient risk management and confidentiality.
  • Case conceptualization and treatment goals.
  • Therapeutic interventions.
  • Effective use of emotional reactions in therapy (countertransference).
  • Group therapy skills and preparation.


Competence in scholarly inquiry and application of current scientific knowledge to practice.

Objectives:

  • Seeks current scientific knowledge.
  • Develops and implements research plan.


Competence in professional consultation.

Objectives:

  • Consultation assessment.
  • Consultative guidance.


Competence in supervision.

Objective:

  • Supervisory skills.


Selection procedures

The internship is a full-time one-year rotation beginning the third week of August. Applicants must have completed course work for a Ph.D. or Psy.D. and successfully completed their comprehensive examinations. They must be in good standing within their doctoral program and have completed at least 1,200 hours of supervised practicum training.

Applicants should submit:

  1. Three copies of current resume/vita.
  2. Official transcripts of all graduate work completed.
  3. Three letters of recommendation from professionals familiar with your clinical experiences and skills.
  4. Sample of clinical work.
  5. Letter of Internship Eligibility and Readiness from your Graduate Psychology Training Program Director.
  6. Completed APPIC application and match number.

Completed application materials should be sent to:

Michael Schwabenbauer, Ph.D.
Erie Psychological Consortium
120 East 2nd Street, Third Floor
Erie, PA 16507

The deadline for application is November 15. Individual interviews are required and are scheduled by invitation.

Please be advised that the EPC is an APPIC member, and must offer all internship positions through the APPIC Match. You can access instructions and download the Applicant Agreement form required to register for the Match from the Matching Program web site at www.natmatch.com/psychint.

"This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant."

Requirements for completion of internship

During the training year (2,000 hours), interns will be expected to:

  • Maintain a therapy caseload of approximately 8-10 individuals.
  • Facilitate a minimum of 2 groups per week.
  • Complete 1 psychological battery per month.
  • Complete 2 psychosocial/intake assessments per month.
  • Participate in a minimum of 4 hours supervision per week of which 2 will be individual face-to-face supervision which can be made up of:
    1. EPC Program Director, Doctoral-Level Supervision.
    2. NPA Primary Supervisor, Doctoral-Level Supervision.
    3. SHBH Psychological Testing Supervisor, Doctoral-Level Supervision.
    4. SHBH Site Therapy Case Supervision, Master’s and Doctoral’s Licensed Supervision.
    5. HS Site Case Supervision, Doctoral-Level Supervision.
    6. SHBH Group Supervision with Psychiatric Medical Director (adult/child).
    7. SHBH Therapy Staff Team Meetings.
    8. NPA Supervisory/Meeting with Neurologist/Neurology Residents.
    9. HS IDT Meetings with MD/Neurologists/Psychiatrists.
    10. Training/Presentations/In-Services Given.
    11. Training/Presentations/In-Services Received.

* Interns must receive an average rating of at least a 3 in all areas at mid-year evaluation by their supervisors in order to successfully progress through the internship.

** Should an Intern receive less than an average rating of 3 in any areas at mid–year evaluation, the respective primary supervisor will work with the EPC Director and Intern to follow the Due Process Policy to develop a plan of remediation and/or explore termination from the internship program.

*** Interns must maintain an average rating of 3 in all areas through the end-of-year evaluation to be considered for successful completion of the EPC internship.

Training staff

EPC Core Training Staff:

  • Michael Schwabenbauer, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, EPC Program Director
  • Susan Evans, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, Training Supervisor
  • Mark Hogue, Psy.D., Licensed Psychologist, Training Supervisor
  • Donald McAleer, Psy.D., Licensed Psychologist, Training Supervisor
  • Tammy Kordes, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist - HS Site Coordinator
  • Richard Sekula, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, SHBH Training Supervisor
  • David Rosswog, Ph.D., L.P.C., SHBH Chief Operating Officer, Agency Supervisor, Site Coordinator

Other EPC Training Staff:

  • Paris Baker, PhD, Social Work Trainer/Consultant
  • Matthew Behan, DO, Adult Medical Director, SHBH
  • James A. DeMatteis, MD, FACP, FAAN, Neurologist, Northshore Clinical Associates
  • Jonathan Evans, M.A., CEO and President of SHBH
  • Mary Anne Albaugh, M.D., Child Medical Director of SHBH
  • Suzanne Csop, M.A. Licensed Psychologist, SHBH Psychological Services Coordinator

Interns

EPC recognizes the rights of interns and staff to be treated with courtesy and respect. Interns are an integral part of EPC’s overall operations and work in tandem with physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, therapists, and social workers. Professional ethical standards are modeled, taught and upheld by EPC staff.

Interns are provided with an EPC Phone/Email/Beeper list by which they can access EPC Staff. Should an intern have difficulty accessing a staff, a SHBH Administrator is on-call and available 24-hrs, 7-days-per-week.

All EPC Staff support and encourage interns in their successful completion of the internship (and their doctoral program) through the training and supervision program established by EPC.

The multidisciplinary setting of EPC provides many opportunities to observe the professional development of interns. In addition to the provision of direct clinical services, the interns collaborate with other disciplines while rendering services. This provides ample opportunity for interns to demonstrate professional growth and intermediate to advanced levels of professional psychological skills, abilities, competencies and knowledge.


Facilities

Clinical experience is provided through an inpatient acute rehabilitation hospital, acute medical settings, outpatient private practice and a community mental health setting. Interns will have the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of healthcare professions and work as a member of an interdisciplinary team. Primary rotations will take place at Northshore Psychological Associates, Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Erie and Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. The Erie Psychological Consortium provides psychological services to all age ranges.


Other resources

Full-time interns receive a stipend of $11,000.00 (annually).

Accredited by:

The Committee on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association
750 First Street NW
Washington, DC 20002-4242
202/336-5979

This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant.