Introduction | Emory School of Medicine

Training Overview

The Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is Georgia’s leading pediatric healthcare provider with three hospitals and multiple neighborhood locations. For more than 100 years, our purpose has been the same: making kids better today and healthier tomorrow.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta offers you the chance to build a stellar career with unmatched opportunities for collaboration among some of the best clinical and academic centers in the nation. We work with the following neighboring institutions to develop cutting-edge treatments and technologies to answer the most perplexing childhood medical questions:

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology at Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics offers a tailored curriculum providing didactic and clinical training designed to meet the skill level and learning objectives of each intern. The internship offers the opportunity to match in one of seven tracks to provide interns to gain a significant level of clinical expertise in a particular area. Although the tracks emphasize distinct areas of practice, all tracks endeavor to (A) train providers with the core skills required to provide clinical assessment and treatment services, to children and families, (B) create a learning environment where people effect treatment, research, and teaching characterized by respect, openness, and compassion toward others, and (C) foster skills, values, and awareness that promote the application of research science to innovate clinical practice within a pediatric medical clinic.

Assessment Track (2 positions)

The Assessment Track emphasizes early and accurate diagnosis of autism spectrum and other neurodevelopmental disorders within the Clinical Assessment & Diagnostic Department. The CAD department is a multidisciplinary clinic and research enterprise that provides diagnostic assessments of individuals with a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders. Children seen in the CAD clinic range from infancy to late adolescence with a focus on children ages 16 months to 6 years. Each child is assessed for Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as the many differential diagnoses commonly seen in this population, including developmental delay, intellectual disability, anxiety disorders, behavioral disorders, ADHD, genetic syndromes, such as Fragile X syndrome, as well as many others.

Pediatric Feeding Track (4 positions)

The Pediatric Feeding Track offers an intern the opportunity to work with children ages 9 months to 21 years who do not consume enough volume or variety of food to maintain adequate growth or nutrition. Children with this level of feeding disorder fall under the broader psychiatric diagnosis of Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). ARFID in pediatric populations often co-occurs with complex medical and/or developmental conditions (e.g., pre-maturity, gastrointestinal, cardiac, food allergy, autism.

Severe Behavior Track (1 position)

The Severe Behavior Track provides interns an opportunity to work in a continuum of services for individuals with developmental disabilities between the ages of 2 and 21 years who display severe destructive behavior such as self-injurious behavior (SIB), aggression, property destruction, noncompliance, tantrums, elopement, pica and toileting deficits. The primary goals of the program are to: (a) serve as a model for the evaluation and treatment of destructive behavior displayed by persons with developmental disabilities, (b) foster the development of new therapeutic procedures through systematic research on the nature and management of destructive behaviors, and (c) promote the effective application of currently available treatments through training and consultation.

Treatment Track (2 positions)

The Treatment Track meets the internship’s core competencies in assessment, treatment, consultation, and professional development through two 6-month major clinical rotations, one year-long minor rotation, and a brief rotation in diagnostic assessment. Core positions within the Treatment Track include a focus in assessment and treatment within the Language and Learning Center, Feeding, and/or Severe Behavior departments. Interns will spend six months in 2 of the 3 treatment departments (i.e., Language and Learning, Feeding, Severe Behavior). The Treatment Track affords experiences in clinical programs that serve many common forms of childhood psychopathology, a spectrum of mental and physical disabilities, medically related behavior disorders, brain injury, and neurological disorders, but also affords experience in assessing and treating other common childhood difficulties.

Behavioral and Mental Health Outpatient Track (2 positions)

The Behavioral and Mental Health Outpatient Clinic Track meets the internship’s core competencies in assessment, treatment, consultation, and professional development through a year-long major clinical rotation and one year-long minor rotation. The clinic serves children and adolescents referred from internal Children’s specialty clinics and aims to increase the continuity of care available to Children’s patients to include behavioral and mental health care. The outpatient clinic serves children with concerns associated with anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms, medical adherence concerns, and behavioral problems. A multi-disciplinary team of psychologists, social workers, and physicians provide both assessment and treatment services for children. Treatment modalities include individual therapy, group therapy, and parent training. Evidence based cognitive behavioral treatments are used within treatment.

School Consultation and Parent Training Track (1 position)

The Marcus Autism Center’s School Consultation and Parent Training Track meets the internship’s core competencies in assessment, treatment, consultation, and professional development through year-long major clinical rotations and one year-long minor rotation. The School Consultation Program provides consultation, direct assistance, and professional development for school systems to help them effectively serve students with educational needs and behavioral challenges—especially those diagnosed with autism and related disorders. Interns provide a variety of behavior analytic services within the school setting aimed at both increasing students’ appropriate skills and decreasing aberrant behaviors that are disruptive in the classroom. In addition to school consultation, this intern provides direct service through the RUBI Parent training program. (Applicants must have a BCBA to be considered for this Track)

Research

The Internship faculty has an internationally renowned research program and a consistent record of research productivity. Whenever possible, interns are supported fully to participate in ongoing research projects encountered through clinical services. Interns may elect to participate in ongoing studies directed by faculty and/or to initiate independent research compatible with the Internship’s mission. Each intern is required to complete at least one research project, separate from the dissertation, that results in a professional product (poster, paper, manuscript), usually as first author. A list of representative faculty publications is available here. Historically, trainees have been active in research activities as evidenced by the number of publications that have included trainees.

Supervision and Mentoring

At least one licensed psychologist is responsible for providing close supervision of the intern's performance on each clinical case. Interns consult daily with a faculty case manager to review case responsibilities, selection and implementation of measurement and treatment procedures, data interpretation, and treatment planning. In addition, there are opportunities for direct observations with feedback both in vivo and by video recording, as well as co-therapy with faculty members. Throughout the Marcus Autism Center there are rooms equipped with two-way mirrors and/or video recording equipment that feed live or recorded video to any computer in the building—including in faculty offices. The program strictly adheres to the APA guidelines of two hours of individual and group supervision.

In addition to supervision, each intern participates in our Mentorship Program and is matched with a faculty mentor that serves in a non-evaluative role. The Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Doctoral Internship Mentorship Program exists to encourage interns’ professional growth and provide support for all interns as future health service psychologists, particularly in the context of diversity and inclusion factors.

The mentor-mentee relationship may include discussions of topics such as:

Professional growth opportunities (e.g., clinical, research, service);
Specific skills (e.g., grant writing, implementation science, program development)
Professional networking;
Work-life balance and burnout prevention;
Aspects of identity (e.g., racial, sexual, gender, religious identity); and
Ethical considerations within professional work.

Resources and Environment

The Internship maintains a supply all materials needed for assessment or treatment sessions, and it has software programs specifically designed for collecting, analyzing, summarizing, and graphing direct-observation data. The data from treatment sessions are collected on computers, saved to a shared computer server and reviewed daily in supervision sessions. Each intern has a workstation and computer capable of analyzing and graphing treatment or assessment data. In addition, interns have access to all the library and related research resources afforded by Emory University School of Medicine.

Interns receive training across several locations in the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Network, specifically the Marcus Autism Center, the Center for Advanced Pediatrics, and the Behavioral and Mental Health Center.

The Marcus Autism Center (MAC) is a National Institutes of Health Autism Center of Excellence and it comprises the Division of Autism and Related Disorders in the Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics. One of the nation’s largest centers for clinical care of autism and related disorders that annually serves over 5000 patients, the Center provides clinical assessment and treatment services for several pediatric populations; conducts translational research in the lab, in the session room, and in the community; and offers training for multiple disciplines at several educational levels. More than 25 treatment rooms and 9 assessment rooms are equipped with one-way mirrors in connected observation rooms and video recording systems that allow for live viewing or review of recorded videos. There is a Social Neuroscience Laboratory equipped with numerous eye tracking devices for infants, toddlers, and school-age children; a Spoken Communication Laboratory with a motion capture system, high speed camera, and audiovisual speech perception; an EEG Laboratory; a phlebotomy room, and a 4-D research ultrasound system. There are 3 indoor play rooms, 2 multipurpose rooms, a childcare/family room, and 2 outdoor play areas. Interns provide services throughout these facilities.

The Center for Advanced Pediatrics (CAP) at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children's) is a 260,000 square foot outpatient clinic facility that utilizes a multidisciplinary, coordinated care approach to provide treatment to children and teens with chronic diseases and complex care needs by enabling access to multiple specialized health services in one place. Servicing thousands of families across Georgia, the center brings together over 20 pediatric specialties under one roof, harnessing the expertise and skills of more than 450 physicians and staff. The center’s multidisciplinary framework merges both clinical and research services to provide patients with optimal treatment options and state of the art care. CAP is the first building of its kind for pediatrics in Georgia, conducting state of the art research and providing more than 100,000 patient visits per year. CAP’s pediatric specialists provide treatment to a significant number of children with medically complex conditions who require multidisciplinary, coordinated care to optimize their outcomes. Providing “patient-centered” care, the center allows access to specialized programs and services, improved appointment availability, and a “child-friendly” design and setup.

The Behavioral and Mental Health Outpatient Clinic is a centralized clinic that serves as a resource for internal teams to refer children and adolescent when they require longer term mental and behavioral healthcare that what can be offered elsewhere in our healthcare system. Located in 4,800 square feet of clinical space, newly renovated with this population in mind, this clinic includes 12 individual therapy rooms, as well as capacity for group therapy and in-vivo observation.

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Introduction & Background