Practicum trainees may be placed in one of a variety of settings throughout Cambridge Health Alliance. Descriptions of current settings are listed below, though some program components may be subject to change.
Accepting applications for the following training sites for the 2026-2027 training year:
Adolescent Inpatient Unit
The Psychology Practicum offered by CHA's Adolescent Inpatient Service provides experience in assessment of and psychotherapeutic intervention with acutely distressed adolescents, ages 13-to-17, in an inpatient setting. Diagnoses of patients on the units include affective, anxiety, psychotic, trauma-related, autism spectrum, attachment disorders, and psychotic disorders, as well as intellectual and learning disabilities. The training experience occurs in the context of multidisciplinary care involving psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing, occupational therapy, and other forms of intervention. Clinical interventions are patient-centered, culturally-responsive, and trauma-informed. They include individual, group, and milieu treatment integrating behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, and dynamic approaches. Trainees also develop skills in the negotiation of complex social systems (e.g., schools, social service agencies) that interface in the lives of youth. Individual and group supervision, multidisciplinary huddles and team meetings, inpatient psychology meetings, and case conferences enhance understanding of the assessment, formulation, diagnosis, and stabilization process with these acutely distressed patients. Trainees will serve as consultants to treatment teams, providing brief individual therapeutic intervention, group therapy, and psychological and/or safety assessments.
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Psychological Assessment
The Psychological Assessment Practicum offered by CHA’s Neuropsychological and Psychological Assessment Service (NAPA) provides advanced training in outpatient psychological assessment with adults and older adolescents. Trainees will gain experience conducting psychodiagnostic, cognitive, and personality assessments. Referral questions range from complex diagnostic clarification in the context of serious mental illness, trauma, and comorbid conditions to more circumscribed evaluations on executive functioning difficulties, mood and anxiety disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, and personality disorders in older adolescents and adults. All assessment work is person-centered, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed. Consistent emphasis is placed on culturally responsive assessment and the thoughtful selection and interpretation of measures that are sensitive to culture, language, educational background, and social determinants of health. Under close supervision, trainees review referral questions and available records, conduct diagnostic and semi-structured clinical interviews, and choose assessment tools that are suitable for the questions asked and aligned with the patient’s cultural, linguistic, and educational background. Trainees are responsible for administering, scoring, and interpreting standardized measures, and integrating test data with clinical observations, collateral information, and relevant history to develop cohesive, person-centered case formulations. Trainees provide feedback directly to patients and, when appropriate, to family members, emphasizing therapeutic assessment principles, collaborative meaning-making, and stigma reduction. They also communicate findings to referring clinicians and other members of multidisciplinary teams and may be asked to offer recommendations to outpatient programs and primary care providers involved in the patient’s ongoing care.
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