(Adult Track/ Adolescent & Young Adult Track)
The Menninger Clinic is a not-for-profit inpatient psychiatric treatment center serving adolescents and adults with a broad range of psychiatric and substance use problems. The Menninger Clinic offers training in specialty inpatient programs and diagnostic services, including:
The Menninger Clinic also provides outpatient services as well, although the psychology intern is primarily working on the inpatient units. Treatment follows an integrated, biopsychosocial model in which pharmacological, psychotherapeutic and systems approaches are employed to assist patients in understanding and managing their symptoms. Much attention is given to careful and thorough diagnosis and a compassionate, client-centered approach to patient care.
All clinical work at The Menninger Clinic is with sub-acute patients. The core training experiences at The Menninger Clinic is divided into two tracks. The first track is the Adult Division Track. The intern works with adults eighteen years of age and older. The primary placements on the Adult Division Track are the Adult Unit and the Bridge Residential Program. Lengths of stay can vary between two to four weeks (Adult) and four to six weeks (Bridge).
The second track is the Adolescent & Young Adult Division Track. The intern works with clients between twelve and thirty years of age. The primary units on the Adolescent & Young Adult Track are the Adolescent Treatment Program and the Compass Young Adult Program. Lengths of stay can vary between two to four weeks (ATP) and two to eight weeks (Compass).
In both tracks, the intern integrates diagnostic formulations into treatment planning, helps to co-lead therapy groups, and provides individual evaluation and therapy services within a multidisciplinary treatment team.
Assessment and Consultation
Psychological testing is a valued clinical activity that often contributes to our understanding of patients and is an important aspect of each intern’s training. As mentioned above, the intern is centrally involved in diagnostic formulation, which is informed by testing, team input, previous records, and intensive interviewing. The intern generally has a caseload of two to three assessment cases at a time, and the results are shared with patients, families, and the treatment teams.
The intern conducts comprehensive psychological testing batteries including self-report personality tests (e.g., PAI-A, MACI-II, MMPI-3). Use of performance-based personality tests (e.g., Rorschach, TAT) is encouraged, but not required, and interns have opportunities to learn these tests if interested. Cognitive testing is generally infrequent, but intelligence (WASI-II, WISC-V, WAIS-IV) and achievement tests (WJ-IV-Ach) may be utilized as indicated. Psychological testing at Menninger is generally conducted within a flexible collaborative assessment frame, with patients and examiners working as co-investigators throughout the assessment process. Experience with test administration, interpretation, and integrated report-writing is essential.
Psychotherapy
The intern conducts group and individual therapy for patients on their respective divisions. Patients are generally seen twice per week for individual therapy. Given the varying levels of acuity and diverse clinical presentation of this patient population, no one intervention style or approach to therapy is utilized for all patients. Interns work closely with their supervisors to consider the best therapeutic course of action.
Access to Diverse Populations
Interns in these tracks gain experience with a broad array of complex psychiatric disorders or co-occurring disorders. Common presenting problems include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, PTSD, eating disorders, ADHD, substance abuse, and emerging or current personality disorders. There are patients on both tracks that identify as LGBTQ+, although this is more prevalent in our Adolescent and Young Adult Track. While many patients come from the United States, The Menninger Clinic receives a fair number of patients who come from other countries.
Scholarly Inquiry
The intern can become involved in ongoing research activities at the hospital if they choose this as a secondary research rotation. Such opportunities include program evaluation for the various treatment programs, assessment of hospital-wide outcomes, and research with suicidal patients.
Supervision
The theoretical orientation is integrative, but broadly and flexibly psychodynamic, with cognitive behavior therapy, family systems and other skills-building and empirically supported treatment approaches represented.
The intern receives one hour of assessment supervision and one hour of individual therapy supervision per week from a current psychology faculty member: Psychology Faculty
Patricia Daza, Ph.D., ABPP is the director of clinical training for The Menninger Clinic
