DESCRIPTION & TRAINING PROVIDED:

The Adolescent Serious Mental Illness (ASMI) treatment elective is housed within the UCLA Center for the Assessment and Prevention of Prodromal States (CAPPS), which provides flexible opportunities for comprehensive assessment and innovative treatments for adolescents and young adults who are at elevated risk for psychosis. There is increasing evidence that earlier interventions can lead to improved long-term outcome for these youth, and our ASMI elective offers experience with some best practice interventions for youth with psychosis-risk symptoms.

Interns have the uniquely flexible opportunity to train on a variety of clinical activities within CAPPS, such as the facilitation of our youth resilience-based process group and/or our teen and parent skills groups, rooted in CBT and Mindfulness based cognitive therapy. We are also piloting a lifestyle intervention for at-risk teens. Groups run weekly for 60-90 min., typically in the evenings. Additional optional elective opportunities include shadowing and delivery of our gold standard psychosis-risk diagnostic assessment interviews (SIPS, PSYCHS), participation in weekly case consultation and monthly didactic series, and/or carrying individual therapy or family psychoeducation cases with CAPPS adolescents and young adults. Opportunities are available to conduct clinical assessment and treatment in both English and Spanish.

DURATION OF ELECTIVE: 4-6 months

DAY, TIME AND LOCATION:

CAPPS is located on the 2nd floor of the Semel Institute

Multiple groups run weekly, typically in the early evening (days & times tbd)

Supervision for elective interns: 30 min. pre-group and 1 hr. worked into your schedule

Optional meetings: Monday morning didactics (monthly) & clinical team supervision (weekly)

M-F opportunities to shadow psychosis-risk assessments

DIVERSITY TRAINING:

ASMI clients are diverse in terms of ethnicity/race, SES, religion, gender identity, nationality, acculturation, and sexual orientation. Diversity and cultural competency are core values of our program, and we strive to honor the backgrounds of our clients. Towards this end we have recruited diverse staff and trainees and consistently work to ensure that we are welcoming to people from all backgrounds. We expect that trainees will be open to working with clients representing different values, cultural experiences, and lifestyles than they have. Multicultural training starts during orientation and is woven into all aspects of training throughout the year. We train interns in multicultural identity development models and in thinking in a culturally competent way, rather than encouraging them to apply group-level information in stereotyped fashion. We use supervision to emphasize cultural humility to trainees and to assist them in identifying and working through areas of bias and blind spots. Trainees are encouraged to self-explore and reflect on their own multicultural identity and how that impacts their clinical interpretations and approach to their cases. Trainees are also assisted in sensitively communicating with clients about individual, family, and cultural identities, strengths and differences, and core personal values.

FACULTY AND STAFF:

Carrie Bearden, Ph.D., Program Director

Jamie Zinberg, M.A., Administrative and Psychosocial Treatment Director

Laura Adery, Ph.D., Associate Clinical Director, Treatment and Assessment Supervisor

Danielle Denenny, Ph.D., Group and Family Treatment Supervisor

SUPERVISION PROVIDED:

Format: Direct & Videotape Observation

Days & Times: Group supervision 1.5 hours per week (primary); also, by arrangement

Names of Supervisors: Carrie Bearden, Ph.D., Laura Adery, Ph.D., Danielle Denenny, Ph.D.