Program Overview

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Traumatic Stress Track

The Traumatic Stress track offers unique opportunities to work with both military and civilian populations. Treatment settings are varied and include a Veterans Administration Medical Center, a hospital-based outpatient clinic, a community child advocacy center, and variety of community-based outreach settings. Applicants with interests in either adult or child traumatic stress are welcome.

Community Outreach Program — Esperanza (COPE)

The Community Outreach Program — Esperanza (COPE) is a specialty clinic within the National Crime Victims Research & Treatment Center (NCVC) created nearly 20 years ago by Dr. Michael de Arellano. COPE provides community-based assessment, treatment, and case management services to children who have been victimized by crime or have experienced other traumatic events. Services are provided in the child's community and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, via telehealth.

• Clinically, interns are trained in:
  • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Intensive case management
  • Evidence-based engagement strategies to enhance treatment completion
  • Appropriate use of Interpreter Services to provide linguistically appropriate treatment
• More recently, trainees will receive specialized training in telehealth as a service-delivery modality
• Special emphasis is placed on adapting evidence-based trauma-focused interventions for use in community settings with heterogeneous populations

After completing the rotation, interns will be able to:

• Accurately identify trauma-related symptoms and diagnose trauma-related disorders among child trauma victims in community-based settings
• Develop evidence-based treatment plans for addressing trauma-related problems among child trauma victims within community-based settings
• Deliver evidence-based treatments for PTSD and other trauma-related problems with fidelity, within community-based settings
• Effectively coordinate with physicians who are providing medication evaluation and management and other medical and/or mental health professionals as necessary
• Apply appropriate ethical standards to working with trauma-exposed populations and recognize limits and exceptions to patient confidentiality
• Tailor evidence-based trauma-focused interventions to meet the needs of each patient utilizing a culturally competent and linguistically appropriate approach
• Identify relevant social service systems that serve child trauma victims and advise patients effectively about those services

Location of Rotation

In order to minimize barriers in access to care, interns are expected to be available to see their patients from 8am to 7pm.

Clinic Hours

In order to minimize barriers in access to care, interns are expected to be able to see their patients from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Faculty

• Michael A. de Arellano, Ph.D.
• Megan Wallace, MSW, LISW

Telehealth Outreach Program for Traumatic Stress (TOP-TS)

The Telemental Health Outreach Program for Traumatic Stress (TOP-TS) provides telehealth-based assessment and treatment services for children and adolescents who have experienced traumatic events. Services are provided via HIPAA compliant videoconferencing software in the child's community, including home, school, and primary care locations.

• Interns function as an integral part of the treatment team and have the opportunity to be involved with all aspects of TOP-TS services
• Specifically, interns provide evidence-based, trauma-focused assessment and treatment, including assessment and treatment PTSD and co-occurring disorders
• In addition, interns will be involved in evaluation of services and expansion of services throughout South Carolina
• Finally, interns are encouraged to become involved in ongoing telehealth research and program development

After completing the rotation, interns will be able to:

• Completely provide assessment and psychotherapy via telehealth technology with trauma exposed children and adolescents
• Develop evidence-based treatment plans for addressing trauma-related problems among child victims of trauma via telehealth
• Develop and implement clinical procedures specific to a telehealth delivery modality
• Deliver, with fidelity, evidence-based treatments for PTSD and other trauma-related problems via telehealth
• Tailor trauma-focused treatment to a telehealth delivery modality
• Effectively coordinate with physicians who are providing medication evaluation and management via telehealth

Location of Rotation

National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina

Clinic Hours

Time of rotation can vary, but hours are typically 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Faculty

• Regan Stewart, Ph.D.

Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center (DNCAC)

Dee Norton is a freestanding Children's Advocacy Center, which is a national multidisciplinary model for responding when there is a concern for child abuse or neglect. Dee Norton has a multidisciplinary staff, including representatives from psychology, social work, case management, and forensic interviewing.

• Psychology interns receive didactic and experiential training in evidence-based assessments and treatments for children who have experienced child abuse or trauma
• The treatments provided at Dee Norton include Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Risk Reduction through Family Therapy (RRFT) and Sexual Behavior Problem–Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (SBP-CBT)
• Psychology interns predominantly conduct mental health assessments and provide TF-CBT and PCIT
• Interns have the opportunity to observe forensic interviews

By the end of the rotation, interns will be able to:

• Accurately distinguish among forensic and clinical assessments of children
• Accurately assess clinical symptoms commonly associated with trauma exposure in children and adolescents
• Develop evidence-based treatment plans for addressing trauma-related problems among adult and child victims of abuse and trauma
• Deliver, with fidelity, evidence-based treatments for PTSD and other trauma-related problems
• Document the delivery of services and patient response to services appropriately in each patient's electronic medical record
• Effectively provide evidence-based treatments to poorly served populations, including those families at economic disadvantage, and overcome barriers to the implementation of evidence-based treatments in community settings

Location of Rotation

Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center

Clinic Hours

Clinic hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

Faculty

• Kathy Reid Quiñones, Ph.D.

Pediatric Primary Care (PPC)

The Pediatric Primary Care (PPC) Program involves a partnership between the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) and Division of General Pediatrics, both within the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina.

• PPC houses two programs, the Collaborative Care for Children and Caregivers (4C) and the Pediatric Primary Care Psychology Internship rotation
• The 4C program was initiated in 2016 with grant funding from the South Carolina Office of the Attorney General, Department of Crime Victim Assistance Grants
• 4C aims to expand access, availability and utilization of services for child and adult victims of crime by providing intensive case management, care coordination and direct mental health treatment services in the community, on-site in pediatric primary care clinics serving the Charleston tri-county area

At the end of the rotation, interns will be able to:

• Effectively screen and assess for mental health and disruptive behavior problems, parenting concerns, and trauma-related symptoms among a low resource population of youth and families
• Deliver, with fidelity, evidence-based and best practice interventions to facilitate improvements in an array of behavioral and mental health problems
• Interact and consult effectively with a multidisciplinary treatment team within a primary care setting
• Educate multidisciplinary health care providers about behavioral health factors that affect health care delivery

Location of Rotation

Services are delivered in clinic or via telehealth.

Clinic Hours

Official hours for the rotation are between 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Faculty

• Rochelle F. Hanson, Ph.D.
• Elizabeth Wallis, M.D.

National Crime Victims Research & Treatment Center (NCVC)

The population served by the NCVC includes victims of a variety of crimes and traumatic events, such as sexual/physical assault, robbery, burglary, intimate partner violence, witnesses to violence, work-related accidents, car accidents, and family members of homicide victims.

• Interns develop expertise in the assessment of traumatic events in the client's history and post-trauma adaptation, including post-traumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorders, and affective disorders
• As a therapist, the intern works with victims utilizing evidence-based therapeutic techniques including Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure

After completing the NCVC rotation, interns will be able to:

• Accurately identify trauma-related symptoms and diagnose trauma-related disorders among adult and child victims of civilian trauma
• Use the research literature to guide the appropriate selection, implementation, and/or adaptation of trauma treatment strategies for patients depending on their demographics and/or trauma symptom presentation
• Deliver, with fidelity, evidence-based treatments for PTSD and other trauma-related problems
• Document the delivery of services and patient response to services in each patient's medical record
• Apply appropriate ethical standards to working with trauma-exposed populations and recognize limits and exceptions to patient confidentiality

Location of Rotation

MUSC Institute of Psychiatry outpatient clinic

Clinic Hours

NCVC clinic operates Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., except on Wednesdays, when clinic hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Faculty

• Dean G. Kilpatrick, Ph.D.
• Carla Kmett Danielson, Ph.D.
• Michael A. de Arellano, Ph.D.
• Christine Hahn, Ph.D.
• Rochelle F. Hanson, Ph.D.
• Cristina M. Lopez, Ph.D.
• Angela D. Moreland-Johnson, Ph.D.
• Rosaura Orengo-Aguayo, Ph.D.
• Alyssa A. Rheingold, Ph.D.
• Daniel W. Smith, Ph.D.
• Megan Wallace, MSW, LISW
• Jamison Bottomley, Ph.D.
• Michael Ryan McCart, Ph.D.
• Caitlin Rancher, Ph.D.
• Rachel Siciliano, Ph.D.

PTSD Clinical Team Service (PCT)

This rotation provides an opportunity to work with veterans who were exposed to military and/or civilian trauma, such as combat or military sexual trauma.

• The PCT is an outpatient multidisciplinary team consisting of psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, and trainees
• The emphases are on evidence-based evaluation, innovative treatment modalities, and individual evidence-based therapy utilizing exposure therapy and other cognitive-behavioral treatment protocols
• Interns will also have the opportunity to provide treatment to veterans in rural locations via tele-mental health

After completing the rotation, interns will be able to:

• Accurately identify and diagnose trauma-related disorders among veterans
• Develop evidence-based treatment plans for trauma-related problems among adult veterans
• Deliver, with fidelity, evidence-based treatments for PTSD and other trauma-related problems
• Become familiar with delivering individual, evidence-based therapies to veterans both in-person and through telemental health
• Document the delivery of services and patient response to services appropriately in each patient's electronic medical record
• Accurately track and interpret ongoing progress in treatment over the course of therapy with weekly self-report measures combined with a synthesis of all other clinically relevant information

Location of Rotation

Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center

Clinic Hours

Official VA hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Faculty

• Alyssa Jones, Ph.D.
• Ursula Myers, Ph.D.
• Stephanie Keller, Ph.D.
• Katherine Knies, Ph.D.