How did you decide to enter the field of school psychology and why do you stay in the field?

I'm currently in my 5th year of my school psychology graduate training, completing my doctoral internship with Michigan Medicine in their Pediatric Psychology and Integrated Behavioral Health program. I’ve always loved learning about how people think and work together, and have always loved school and helping kids grow, but I have both friends and family members who struggled with learning and with getting access to mental healthcare. One day in 2017 while researching next steps, I experienced a lightbulb moment for the first and only time in my life – school psych, of course! Though I hadn’t known of the discipline of school psychology until after I completed undergrad, I felt connected to it instantly and continue to be amazed by its versatility and breadth, as well as the people it attracts.

Can you describe where you’re at for internship (e.g. location, site, department, track) and what your role and responsibilities have been?

I matched with Michigan Medicine through applying to the Mid-Michigan Consortium (MMPIC) and am currently living in Ann Arbor. My track is with Pediatric Psychology and Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH), with time split between research, primary care, and specialty medical clinics. A majority of my time is spent working with families who are struggling with behavioral problems with their kids, but since the IBH clinics are embedded into primary care I get to work with families closer to the onset of the concern in question as they are often identified and referred quickly by their pediatrician. Common referrals I see are for behavior management skills training, ADHD evaluations, anxiety, and trouble adjusting to medical issues. Right now I provide the majority of care through telehealth.

What has your experience been like on internship? Biggest learning experience? Challenging and/or rewarding experience?

The people at my internship have been very welcoming overall – I got lucky with having an intern cohort of 6 other interns at Michigan Medicine, and 5 others in the rest of MMPIC – and have gotten to work with intelligent and established supervisors in my different clinics. It’s always hard moving to a new place when you feel like you have a full life in progress, and doing the majority of work over telehealth could have been very isolating, but the community I stepped into has made me feel like I’m part of a team. There can be quite a few parts of grad school that press on that element of loneliness, especially for all of us who navigated it through the pandemic, and I’m extra appreciative of the moments of connectedness I’ve felt along this journey.

Biggest advice for CFSP students looking to go on internship?

Finish your dissertation before going on internship. Continue to nurture your school psych cohort contacts.

What do you see as your greatest contribution to school psychology as of yet OR what do you hope to accomplish/fulfill in the next 5-10 years?

In 5-10 years I hope to accomplish quite a few things, though who knows what the future actually holds. One day, I hope to split my time between working clinically in an academic medical center as well as a part-time private practice, and to help address systemic issues through the wider spread of preventative care and education particularly with rural and marginalized communities. I have grown to love working with family systems, often with a focus on behavior management parent training, but I’m also interested in probing education policies at various levels (e.g. making trauma-informed training accessible to all school personnel, rethinking how we approach healthy relationship education in K-12s, altering school start times to support better sleep, having better integration with family systems, etc.) and understanding how different manifestations of isolation impact our communities and show up in our metrics of health. If I can continue to build a career that in some way fosters healthier generational cycles of care and communication, whether that be working with an individual dealing with trauma, a family unit dealing with behavioral problems, a school system adopting comprehensive/inclusive/preventative care, or something else, I will consider that to be a great success.

If you could go back in time to your first year of graduate school, what would you tell your younger self?

You’re here for a reason, and it will benefit many parts of your life if you incorporate these components into your mindset now: assume positive intent, approach conflict through a lens of curiosity, keep asking questions, and remember that learning occurs when your world view has shifted; it’s more helpful to reframe tasks as, “I get to do xyz.”

How do you find balance in your life?

I love to hike, run outside, and climb 14ers (54 down, 4 more to go!). I love many other things as well, but these are the ones that I’ve found that best balance the intensity of our graduate pursuits.

Outside of internship training, what have you enjoyed most about this new experience? What do you like to do outside of internship?

Though it was hard to leave Colorado, I have enjoyed getting to explore a new area of the country (this lovely Great Lakes region) where I haven’t spent much time before. So far, I’ve been embracing the world of Big 10 football and life in the “water-winter wonderland” by exploring Ann Arbor and Detroit’s food and brewery scenes and admiring Michigan’s general adoration of fall and tailgating. That the entire town – young and old, big and small – of Ann Arbor turns blue and yellow on game days is still wild to me. I’m also hoping to get up to the UP (Upper Peninsula for you non-mitten folks) and across the border. I didn’t realize until plotting my move out here that I am now 1 hour away from Canada. There are signs all around the highways in Detroit trying to decrease the frequency of unintentional border crossings, yet people apparently take the wrong exit quite often and end up having very flustered conversations with border patrol.

What from your graduate schooling/training has helped most so far during your internship year?

I’ve thought about this question often throughout my time on internship. In particular, the solid foundation of education law and ethics in our courses has served me well, and even though I’m in a more clinical setting now than a school, coming here with a school psych background has helped me have a greater holistic understanding of a child’s life and the potential points of intervention and support. I think our field arms us with a very comprehensive and wide-reaching set of skills regardless of where we may end up practicing. I’m also immensely grateful for my previous practicum placements, both in schools in DPS and Westminster, and the two years at Children’s Hospital Colorado – they all taught me so much and prepared me well for this next step.

How did DU’s school psychology program help prepare you for your professional career?

The people I’ve met through this program have continuously amazed me with their brilliance, passion, and dedication to helping others. I feel extremely lucky to have gotten to learn from the professors here, especially my advisor Dr. Talapatra, and to have grown alongside peers and colleagues who I now consider great friends. I’ve appreciated the well-rounded nature of the coursework, including the focus of teaching the philosophies behind different assessments and not just the assessments themselves, working in our clinic as well as outside practicums, having a class dedicated to supervision, and generally being embedded in the community of the greater Denver area. Looking back on the past few years, it’s clear though that the people do shape the place. I’m grateful for both the education received and connections formed here as I look towards the future. Thank you for this opportunity to share and reflect as I sit perched on this final precipice!

Can you tell me a little about where you were for internship, what student populations you worked with, and what your different roles/responsibilities at your site(s) were?

I am currently interning in the Burlingame School District (BSD) in the Bay Area of California. I work at multiple school sites, including pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students. BSD is a diverse school district with minority students making up 53% of the student population. My primary responsibility is to conduct initial and triennial evaluations. In addition, I am also responsible for providing individual and group counseling as well as offering behavioral and academic interventions to help students improve academically, emotionally, and behaviorally.

What was your overall experience like on internship this year?

It has been an amazing learning experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with a supportive special education team. In addition, working in BSD has also given me a lot of experience working with underserved populations (i.e., immigrant families, culturally and linguistically diverse communities), which is one of my professional passions. Another thing I am grateful for is the opportunity and autonomy my supervisors have given me to help me develop as an independent practitioner. Beginning this school year, I began to have my own independent assessment caseload. As my competency and familiarity with the school system increases, I have taken on more responsibilities and go to all the IEP meetings on my own.

What were some of your biggest learning experiences and/or takeaways from internship?

From studying at DU to working as a full-time intern, my biggest learning experience has been about how to handle my own workload independently and take 100% responsibility for everything within my scope.

What were some of your biggest challenges or obstacles on internship this year? What helped you overcome those challenges

The greatest challenge I have faced this past year was to convince parents that their children should be put on a special education program. A good example of this was when I was doing an initial evaluation for a third grader whose family members were immigrants from Turkey. After the evaluation, the parents disagreed with the label of learning disability and refused to accept special education services because of the cultural stigma. However, through several two-way communications in person and through emails and phone calls, they finally agreed to receive IEP services. I convinced them that it was for the student’s benefit and that their child would be re-evaluated regularly and possibly withdrawn from special education. The passion for serving students and compassion for the cultures and backgrounds of diverse families have helped me overcome these challenges.

What training and knowledge did you gain as a student from the program that helped you most on internship?

Since my current primary role at BSD is to conduct evaluations, I greatly appreciated the two years of clinical experience I gained from our program. Specifically, at that time at DU, we were given the autonomy to conduct intake interviews, administer various assessments, write reports, and provide feedback and recommendations. The entire training piece helped me develop the professional skills needed to become an independent intern.

Any advice for students in the program going on internship next year?

I have two suggestions to balance our internship with the course work: complete the praxis exam in the summer before your internship begins, and plan your assignments early and start the two case studies as soon as possible.

What’s next for you now that you are about to graduate and become a practicing school psychologist?

I will be staying in the Bay Area to work as a school psychologist. Family-school partnerships, equity, and access to education are areas of interest to me, and I am always actively seeking opportunities to work with underserved populations. In my future practice, I hope to use the skills I have acquired to support and develop family-school partnerships and reduce academic disparities.

Havern School

This year I have been fortunate to do be doing my practicum experience at the Havern School, in Littleton, CO. The Havern School is a small private K-8 school developed for students with a diagnosed learning disability. Several students within Havern also have comorbid disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and various emotional and mood disorders. Havern has been a great placement and learning experience thus far. What I have enjoyed about my experience is that in addition to a great supervisor, who is well versed around various school psychology practices/strategies to best support students as well as how to support my knowledge and growth in this field, Havern offers a wide array of unique experiences and the opportunity to work with a wide range of age groups from kindergarteners to middle schoolers. What is also great about Havern is that no day is ever the same, and every day has offered a new experience and situation to take on and learn from. I have had the opportunity to take on various roles ranging from conducting functional behavioral analyses and developing behavioral plans, co-teaching the sex education class, leading various social-emotional groups, using play and creative therapy to teach emotional and behavioral skills to kindergarteners, and leading individual therapy sessions.

As mentioned, days at Havern really vary and depend on the day of the week and situations that arise, but to give some idea of what a day at Havern may look like here is an account from my last day at Havern. My morning started off by running a friendship group with a group of middle school boys, where I worked with them around developing social skills and awareness regarding developing and maintaining friendships, and handling conflicts with friends. After my group, I met for individual therapy with one of the middle school boys on my caseload, who I’ve been working a lot with on teaching effective emotional recognition/ regulation, perspective taking and responsible decision making. At the end of our session, I rewarded my student with 10 mins of kickball in the gym, as I’ve been working with teachers around incorporating movement breaks into his day and using sports to motivate him to engage in the therapeutic work. After our session, I checked in with another boy on my caseload after a conflict occurred between him and another student. Following the incident, we worked on some conflict resolution skills, behavior recognition, and perspective taking. This student is also on a behavior plan I helped developed with my supervisor, so this student and I reviewed some of his behavior goals for the week and expected behaviors to meet his goals.

After my check-in, I met up with my supervisor, where we conducted a co-therapy session with two kindergartener boys. That day we were working on teaching self-control, so I read the My Mouth is a Volcano and played a game to help teach both boys about impulse control and the importance of waiting their turn. After our session, it was around lunch, so I ate my lunch and then joined students outside during recess. During this time, I like to sit and talk with different students, getting to know them better, or play football with some of the boys. After lunch, I met with another middle school boy on my caseload for individual therapy, where we’ve been engaging in CBT work around his anxiety. After my session, I spent most of the remainder of my day typing up my therapy notes, meeting with my supervisor for our supervision time, lesson planning for my next therapy groups/social skills classes, and sending out emails to parents and teachers around updates with students and suggestions/input regarding ways to further supports students at Havern. The day concluded with a therapist staff meeting, where all the therapist at Havern (psychologist, speech therapists, occupational therapists) met to discuss students, give updates, and collaborate around ways to support student outcomes.

- Mark Thomas

CHCO Developmental Pediatrics

I have been fortunate enough to complete two years of advanced practicum at Children’s Hospital Colorado – last year within the Child Clinical Psychology externship and this year within Developmental Pediatrics. Within Developmental Pediatrics, I work closely with my supervisors to provide bilingual neurodevelopmental assessments and lead a parenting group addressing behavioral challenges.

A typical day goes like this: I meet my supervisor in clinic between 8-8:30am, where we review the family’s details that we will be meeting that day for their intake and assessment and refresh ourselves of the key points of their medical chart before they arrive. Our plan varies based on the patient’s needs, but always begins with the family interview (in Spanish) where we go through developmental questions, an overview of their concerns, and other current pertinent details. The interview often takes around two hours, and is then followed by a cognitive assessment with the child. The most common cognitive assessments we use are the DAS-II and the WISC-V, and the time it takes to complete these can vary significantly based on the child’s developmental level and additional needs. We provide snack and brain breaks as needed, and while we are completing this assessment often the parent is in another room completing social-emotional and adaptive questionnaires. After the cognitive assessment, a check-in with the parent, and another break, we switch to administering the ADOS-2 if autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was part of the referral question. Most of the time, we are answering questions around intellectual disability (ID) and ASD, but occasionally receive referrals that are more linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or a specific learning disability.

When these assessments have been completed, we wrap up with the family by discussing plans for the feedback session the following week, which will involve a detailed overview of the assessment results and any diagnoses given, an abbreviated edition of the final report, and a thorough explanation of what recommendations we have and what resources are available to the family, such as community-based supports and genetic testing. After the family leaves, my supervisor and I debrief the day in detail, score the assessments, and review our collected data to plan for the writeup and the feedback. We tend to finish assessment days around 2pm and go straight through the day, and at that time I often leave to complete my clinic notes and report at home. After those are finished, I switch to preparing for the 2-hour parenting group I lead later that week, which is focused on teaching applied behavioral analysis (ABA) based skills to parents with children of varying ages over the course of 8 weeks. Each week is different and there is always something new to think about!

- Ashley Hudson

Application Season is here!

Whether it is for a practicum experience, an internship or post graduate career, having a good plan in addition to a solid CV as well as acing the interview are important parts of obtaining a position you will thrive in.

Preparation Steps

1. Get clear on what type of experience you are looking for.

2. Compile a list of strengths, including what knowledge and skillset you can contribute to the position.

3. Research potential positions on sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, Job.com and SimplyHired.

4. Once you find a position, research the company. Get a sense of how the organization operates, look into their mission statement, read their history and plans for the future. Their social media accounts can give insight into the company culture.

CV

Tailor your CV to the job description. Highlight skills or previous experience you have that is a good match to the position you are applying for. Consult with the Graduate Career & Professional Development center to get individualized advice on your CV and other parts of your application!

Interview day

First impressions are key. Dress for the position. Checking the company website may give you an idea of the overall dress code. Wear something that you feel confident in!

Sell yourself in the interview. Know your strengths and past experiences well enough to explain them to the interviewer. Practice interviewing! Have someone ready with constructive feedback ask you questions so you can practice giving answers on the spot.

At the end of the interview, ask clarifying questions. Know next steps, such as if they will they call you. Should you follow up in a specified amount of time? Will there be a second interview? Etc.

After the interview, you may choose to follow up with the interviewer via email and thank them for the opportunity.

Have Faith

Remember, this is a process. Have faith you will find the position that is right for you even if it takes a couple tries. Interviewing and position searching can be intimidating, but you got this!

- Charisse Montoya