Gateways CONREP's objective is to provide the training, supervision, and modeling necessary to develop competent and professional psychologists. We seek to develop confident practitioners with both clinical skills as well as the ability to evaluate and conceptualize a case from a forensic perspective, drawing from violence risk assessment tools and ideologies. The Forensic Clinician is a difficult role to effectively assume, as one must empathize with clients who are severely mentally ill, often substance abusers, and have committed, in many cases, heinous offenses. While advocating for the needs of one's clients, the Forensic Clinician must never lose site of the individual's known risk factors and precursors to dangerousness and reoffense. Thus, through didactic trainings, shadowing of court testimony, state hospital visits, case conferences, and ongoing supervision, it is our hope that the pre-doctoral intern will further the mission of Gateways CONREP; that is, reducing, if not preventing, reoffense, while safely and effectively reintegrating this specific forensic mental health population into the community.

Because practicum students work only half-time (~20 hours), their caseload is reduced. Specifically, the average practicum student carries a caseload of 2-3 individual clients and leads approximately 8 hours of group therapy per month. They, too, are responsible for writing their clients' court reports, as well as supervising and monitoring the clients in the community. However, given the expected difference in training levels, the practicum student is typically given less challenging cases to oversee (i.e., someone who does not present as much risk in the community; someone who has been in the program for an extended period and, therefore, is well-known to the treatment team). Also, practicum students do not have the opportunity to travel to the state hospitals to shadow evaluations/conduct evaluations, and they will not administer actuarial assessment tools.

The pre-doctoral intern will carry a caseload of 8-10 individual therapy clients, who will be seen anywhere from 4 times per month to twice monthly, based on their level of care within the program. They will be responsible for writing session notes for each individual therapy session, as well as conducting monthly collateral contacts with the individual's family, board and care manager, 12 Step sponsor, etc. The pre-doctoral intern will also lead approximately 8 hours of group per month. There will be a degree of case management the intern participates in to ensure their client's medical needs, as well as other needs (school, employment, hygiene, etc.) are met. The pre-doctoral intern may have the opportunity to participate in home visits in the field with paraprofessional staff to conduct in-the-field sessions as well as room searches. Because this is a forensic site, the pre-doctoral intern will also be writing court reports on each of their clients. They will be tasked with liaising with court personnel, including court clerks, Deputy Public Defenders, private defense attorneys, and Deputy District Attorneys, as well as Parole Agents and other personnel from the Board of Parole Hearings. Depending on the pre-doctoral intern's caseload, it is possible he or she may be called upon to testify as either a fact witness or, in some instances, an expert witness. Also a large part of the forensic focus of this site includes monitoring and supervising the pre-doctoral intern's caseload as they integrate into the community. Thus, the intern will be responsible for overseeing the client's schedule, searching the client's possessions (e.g., cell phone, backpack) when clinically indicated, and monitoring the client's contacts in the community. Lastly, the intern will have the opportunity to travel to the state hospital, conducting routine progress report evaluations for individuals awaiting community placement.

Training/Clinical Services Offered:

Comments Regarding Theoretical Orientation of Staff