Westbrook Therapeutic Day School
Westbrook is a K through 8 Therapeutic Day School for students with severe behavior and emotional disorders. As part of the Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization (NSSEO), it receives referrals from northwest suburban communities. Since these students may come from a variety of neighborhoods, Westbrook serves a diverse population in terms of socioeconomic, cultural, and racial backgrounds. Educating approximately 100 students, Westbrook is one of the largest public school therapeutic facilities for special education students within the state of Illinois. Westbrook employs 6 full time psychologists and 1 full time social worker. The resources of the NSSEO Cooperative provide opportunities for contact with psychologists working with every IDEA designated eligibility category. Psychology Interns function as team members with classroom teachers and aides in providing a full range of psychological assessment and intervention services. A stipend of $16,000 is offered without a benefits package (for 12 month internship).
Psychology interns receive a summer reading packet which includes journal articles, textbook references, and program materials, e.g., overview of behavior management system. Late August, interns participate in the standard NSSEO orientation program for new staff members. This includes participating in a certificated training program from the Crisis Prevention Institute which includes verbal and physical crisis intervention skills. When all staff return to prepare for the semester, interns participate in Westbrook's orientation and inservice training program that prepares for the kick-off of the new school year.
The individual experience and training needs of each specific intern are taken into account when assigning intern responsibilities and activities. Generally an intern is assigned to work with a supervising psychologist and the teams of his/her two classrooms. One classroom contains middle school students and the other primary or intermediate level students. A typical self-contained classroom serves 10 students with a special education teacher and two aides. The intern will be assigned primary therapeutic responsibility for about 7 of the 20 students on the supervising psychologist's caseload. These cases are chosen for diversity and complexity to match the skill level of the intern. As the year progresses and the intern grows in skills and experience, the interns caseload responsibilities increase.
Caseload supervision is provided by the supervising psychologists the intern teams with for classroom services. This involves daily informal consultation, formal weekly supervision, and extensive co-therapy work with groups and families. The Director of Westbrook School, a licensed clinical and certified school psychologist, provides a minimum of two hours of clinical supervision per week. This supervision overlooks the totality of the training experience. It includes case consultation, diagnostic testing reviews, specific family therapy consultation, and organization of intern activities beyond the classroom assignment, e.g., participation in the crisis intervention team, ongoing inservice activities, and observations of other special education programs. Interns will periodically be assigned to receive supervision from other staff psychologists for diagnostic work to expose them to the expertise of a wide range of psychological professionals. The directing and classroom supervisors meet jointly with the intern as often as necessary but at least quarterly to provide summary evaluation and recommendations for focus of internship activities and supervision. Interns participate in all activities of the professional therapeutic staff which include weekly therapist meetings focused on program development issues and weekly collegial case consultation.
During the 10 months of the school year, intern activities focus on intervention activities for the students within the classrooms to which the intern and his/her supervisors are assigned. Clinical work includes individual, group, family therapy, crisis intervention, and formal social and coping skills training. Interns also provide consultation regarding behavioral management and curriculum implementation, write IEPs and Functional Analysis/Behavior Intervention Plans and participate in general activities of the therapeutic milieu, e.g., outdoor education, field trips, and extracurricular activities. During this time period, interns are generally assigned to conduct 1 or 2 comprehensive psychological assessment cases on an ongoing basis, i.e., two open cases with new ones assigned as each is completed. These diagnostic evaluations typically require psycho-educational testing and personality assessment. Personality instruments will include both objective and projective measures. Referral questions may range from assessment of learning problems to recommendations for behavioral management strategies to differential diagnosis between ADHD and early onset bipolar disorder to rule in or out underlying psychotic processes to assessment of risk for harm to self or others. During the two summer months, internship work focuses on assessment involving approximately 7 additional comprehensive psychological evaluations. Assessments are always focused on defining student needs and contributing to intervention strategies.
Interns receive an opportunity to receive some experience in a secondary school setting. Westbrook utilizes neighboring Elk Grove and Prospect High Schools for this rotation. On site supervision is provided by a school psychologist from the staff of the high school. The length and character of this rotation will vary depending upon the training needs of specific interns.
Interns participate in the ISPIC monthly training programs, one full day per month. The Westbrook site presents an all day program on “Therapeutic Interventions for School Psychology”. On site at Westbrook, interns participate in all institute and program development days. In-service activities particular to their role this past year included: cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, autism, working with resistant clients, RTI applications to day school settings, and crisis intervention training. NSSEO, the special education cooperative, provides a monthly two-hour training program for all psychologists and social workers which may be attended by interns. Topics have ranged from the role of executive functioning deficits in autism spectrum disorders to orientation to new versions of diagnostic tests. Interns are required to attend the annual state school psychology conference and may be invited to assist in presentations by senior staff.
Typical Work Week
7 hours Consultation
3 hours Training
4 hours Supervision
8 hours Assessment
13 hours Intervention
3 hours Report Writing
1 hour Research
1 hour providing Training