Agency Description

The Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT) is an international resource and training center. Our mission is to provide professional training and information dissemination to improve the quality of life for those affected by violence, abuse, and trauma on local, national, and international levels. IVAT was founded in July 2005, when the nationally acclaimed Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute (FVSAI) joined Alliant International University. FVSAI was established to address the need for a national resource and training center that focused directly on family violence issues. Additional information is available at www.ivatcenters.org.

Agency Mission

To improve the quality of life for individuals on local, national and international levels by sharing and disseminating vital information, improving collaborations and networking, conducting research and trainings, assisting with direct professional services, program evaluation, and consulting to promote violence-free living.

Population

IVAT provides services to an ethnically diverse group of children, adults, and families. Clinical services (individual, group and family therapy; psychological testing) are provided on a sliding scale to assist low and middle class families in receiving the services they need. Forensic clients are often from differing backgrounds and locations, and many of our forensic clients are located out-of-state. IVAT currently provides therapeutic services to clients living in a domestic violence shelter, as well as consultation services to adolescent youth in foster care and supervised visitation services to a wide range of families.

Staff (#, Degree, Prof. Lic.)

# of Psychologists: 3

Required days and times

Psychology Interns are required to be present 5 days per week.

Training and Education Offered

The following objectives are set for the predoctoral interns: 1. Increased competency in forensic evaluations as evidenced by an increase in intern’s ability to write forensic reports with decreasing assistance from the primary supervisor. 2. Enhanced development of psychotherapy skills as evidenced by an increase in the intern’s ability to conceptualize a case from multiple perspectives with decreasing assistance from the primary supervisor. 3. Increased expertise in trauma and family violence as determined by the intern’s ability to incorporate this knowledge into his or her clinical work and forensic writing skills. 4. Increased writing and research skills as demonstrated in the submission of one journal article for publication. 5. Increase in multicultural competence as evidenced by an increase in the intern’s ability to conceptualize cases and formulate treatment plans from a cultural perspective. Interns will attend weekly trainings on clinical and forensic topics and be supervised by licensed professionals with a background in forensic work. Objectives fit into the mission of this agency by increasing skills and knowledge and promoting violence-free living.

X-Cultural Training

Responsibilities

In this role, interns will be under the supervision of Dr. Morgan Shaw, Dr. Gimel Rogers, and Dr. Robert Geffner. Interns will be expected to attend a minimum of 2 hour of individual supervision and 2 hours of group supervision each week. In addition, it is expected that interns attend and work at IVAT’s annual International Summit (held in September in San Diego). Interns' responsibilities will include conducting record reviews for court cases, providing psychological assessment and therapy to clients, providing supervised visitation for parents and their children, and conducting relevant literature searches related to journal articles or court cases. Though there are opportunities to conduct therapy, the bulk of the work at IVAT/FVSAI is in forensic work. Interns will also be expected to contribute to a journal article to be published during your training year.

Prerequisites

Application Procedures

Additional Comments

N/A