At SHARPER FUTURE, we train pre-doctoral interns who are looking to work in forensic psychology in order to encourage fresh minds to the field to challenge themselves by working with a population that are often eschewed by the greater public. By doing so, we seek to educate these budding clinicians about the myths and realities of working with sex offenders and other forensic populations. Predoctoral interns will be trained in: 1) conducting sex offender specific evaluations, 2) providing effective sex offense specific group treatment, and 3) interfacing with parole and probation per the Containment Model. The assessment and treatment that Sharper Future provides allows for the reduction of recidivism of individual clients, thereby increasing community safety. The ultimate goal of the placement is to prepare to prepare the trainee for practice as a psychologist in the areas of professionalism, legal/ethics, assessment and diagnosis, diversity, intervention and knowledge and understanding when providing treatment to forensic clients. the trainee will receive weekly individual supervision as well as group supervision to review a client progress and intervention support, and present conceptualizations and topic presentation relevant to the site and population served. Individual supervision will emphasize the trainee's level of experience, with early supervision involving more training and direction. As the trainee's experience and familiarity increases emphasis will be shifted toward critical thinking, decision making, and a process focus by the trainee. The supervisor will assume full responsibility for the trainee's schedule, program, professional development, and evaluation. The trainee's clinical work will be directly observed through live observation and review in supervision sessions.

Pre-doctoral interns will be expected to carry more responsibilities than practicum students, including co-facilitating more groups, treating more individual clients, and completing more intake assessments throughout the course of the year. Interns will be held to a higher professional and clinical standard. They will be expected to perform at at a doctoral level by the end of their internships. Clinical interns will also be given the opportunity to assist in the training of less experienced practicum students. Interns will have the ability to supervise lower level clinicians and provide feedback on a regular basis.

Interns will co-facilitate treatment groups for sexual offenders. Groups typically range in size from 6-9 and are 1.5 hours in duration. Individual intakes and assessments are done on an ongoing basis. Psychological evaluations comprise a clinical interview, a measure of sexual interest, risk assessment measures, personality measures, and psychophysiological measures. Although most treatment is in a group format, there is an opportunity to do some individual therapy. There are also opportunities to observe and take part in polygraph debriefing sessions as well as occasional interactions with parole agents. The trainee will be expected to co-facilitate group therapy sessions, conduct consent signing interviews, complete monthly treatment reports, engage in treatment planning, and assist in formulating relapse prevention plans for registered sex offenders. The trainee will also conduct individual and group group therapy sessions for the mandated offenders. The trainee will be expected to develop a clear understanding and working knowledge of psychological pathology. The trainee will also be expected to remain abreast of the current information regarding work and treatment with sex offenders and apply that knowledge toward work with their clients. This includes areas and topics such as cognitive distortions, core beliefs, and scripts/schemas, identifying healthy relationships, and victim awareness and victim empathy. The trainee will receive didactic training on the treatment and assessment of forensic clients. Supervision will focus on case conceptualization, developing critical thinking skills and appropriate decision -making skills and awareness of client dynamics in the group setting. The supervisor will also supervise the trainee on cases and other direct activities. Emphasis will be placed on CBT therapy and interventions, as well as sex offender specific curriculum. There will be a weekly meeting focusing on professional issues and consultation.

Training/Clinical Services Offered:

Comments Regarding Theoretical Orientation of Staff