 |
|||||||
        |
|||||||
|
|
Child ClinicalChild Clinical Overview | Research | Course Work | Clinical Training | Accreditation | Statistics About Our Students and ApplicantsOur program seeks to attract students with a strong interest in clinical child psychology. We are a clinical science/scientist-practitioner program. Our particular goals are to produce Ph.D. psychologists who: 1) have the requisite knowledge and skills for entry into the field of clinical psychology, 2) can contribute to scientific knowledge, 3) can carry out science based clinical work, and 4) approach their work with sensitivity to ethical issues and to developmental, cultural, and individual differences. We believe that the practice of clinical psychology requires a stronger scientific/research foundation than it now has. We are a member of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science, which is a coalition of doctoral training programs that share a common goal of producing and applying scientific knowledge to the assessment, understanding, and amelioration of human problems. Membership in the Academy is granted only after a thorough peer review process. Our membership in the Academy indicates that our program is committed to excellence in scientific training and to using clinical science as the foundation for designing, implementing, and evaluating assessment and intervention procedures. Thus, our program is designed to produce high quality researchers and science-based clinicians. Students also have opportunities to work with faculty in other areas (e.g. McIntosh, Watamura). We believe in an integrative approach to science and practice wherein each must continually inform the other. Practicing psychologists should have a research orientation in their clinical practice. Likewise, researchers should conduct research that is relevant to and informed by clinical work. All of our students are expected to be able to function as both clinical researchers and as science-based practitioners. At the same time, our program is characterized by a high degree of flexibility and a wide range of apprenticeship opportunities, providing students opportunities to develop specializations of their choice. Training opportunities are offered in the context of a junior colleague model, in which students learn to carry out clinical research and practice with increasing degrees of independence and responsibility, preparing them for independent professional careers. We envision a diverse array of professional careers for our students, including research careers in universities, institutes, and medical schools, but also embracing leadership roles in public service, program development, teaching, and clinical practice. Our ideal would be to have 50% of our graduates accept academic or primarily research positions. We believe that applicants primarily interested in careers in private or independent practice will find other programs to be a better match for their interests. Our students' careers are consistent with our program's objectives. In our survey for our 2006 accreditation report, we found that 64% of recent graduates engage in research in their current position at least 20% of their time; 56% engage in direct clinical work at least 20% of the time, and 52% engage in indirect clinical work (supervision/consultation) at least 20% of the time. Finally, 44% did both research at least 20% of their time and direct or indirect clinical work at least 20% of their time. Accredited by APA in clinical psychology since 1964, the University of Denver program is one of the few in the country that primarily focuses on providing training in clinical child psychology. Almost all of our clinical faculty, rather than just one or two, have special interests in children and families. In fact, most of the faculty in the other areas of the department are interested in children or psychopathology. Consequently, the training in research and clinical work with children and their families is much more intensive and comprehensive than in most other graduate programs. Moreover, our program is one of the very few programs in the world that offers graduate training in clinical child neuropsychology. All students in our program receive at least three months of training in this aspect of clinical child work. Clinical students who are also in the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience program receive much more extensive training in clinical child neuropsychology and can pursue careers in this specialty after completing graduate school. An emphasis on children does not, however, mean that training in working with adults is neglected. The child is viewed as a member of a number of important social systems (e.g., school, family, community). Therefore, all students learn to work with parents, the family, and community systems relevant to children (e.g., schools). Furthermore, students receive training in adult psychopathology, adult psychotherapy, marital therapy, and community interventions. Opportunities for working with research-clinical populations such as young couples and distressed adults as well as children are also available. Thus, while we provide much more training with children than do most other clinical psychology programs, we also provide a significant amount of training with adults. Child Clinical Overview | Research | Course Work | Clinical Training | Accreditation | Statistics About Our Students and Applicants |
|
Core FacultyAnne DePrince
|
|||
| home | graduate | undergraduate | people | research | meetings & symposia | resources | contact us | |||||||
