Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture Externship
The Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture (PSOT) provides multidisciplinary care for survivors of torture and war trauma. Since its inception in 1995, the program has served more than 1500 men, women, and children from more than 80 countries, providing medical, psychiatric and psychological services, as well as basic social services (including food, clothing, vocational training, legal support, and English classes). The mission of the Bellevue/NYU PSOT is to enhance the resources and strengths of its clients by providing culturally competent medical, psychological, and psychiatric care that recognizes the unique needs of the individual traumatized by war or torture.
An equally important mission of the Bellevue/NYU PSOT is the provision of specialized training and research opportunities for trainees in the psychological, psychiatric, social work, and general medical fields. Our multi-disciplinary staff provides training and supervision in issues such as assessing/treating the severely traumatized patient, addressing issues of refugee and war trauma, and providing culturally appropriate care. In terms of psychological services, the PSOT provides individual, family and group therapy across all ages. Externs with the PSOT will be involved in several aspects of the psychological services provided to our clients and will be exposed to a multi-disciplinary team approach to caring for torture survivors.
Externs’ responsibilities include individual psychotherapy (three or four cases), group therapy, and intake evaluations. Many clients at the program are in the process of applying for political asylum, so externs will often have an opportunity to write a report in support of this application and testify in immigration court. In addition, externs attend a twice-monthly case conference in which trainees and supervisors present and discuss active cases. In the beginning of the training year, these conferences will be used for specific training topics, including intake interviewing with severe trauma survivors; culturally sensitive treatment; working with interpreters in a clinical context; cognitive-behavioral methods of treating trauma; and psychotherapy and counter-transference with trauma survivors. Externs present a case at this conference once during the year. Because working with this population is an emotionally intense experience, externs also attend a process group every two weeks (led by a psychologist outside the PSOT program) where they are invited to talk about feelings arising from their clinical and supervisory encounters. Finally, PSOT occasionally offers research opportunities to externs who can dedicate extra time beyond the clinical requirements of the program. Research interests should be discussed with the Research Director of PSOT.
Training Period and Time Commitment:
Twelve months long. Start dates are July and September. Two full days a week required. Externs must attend seminar every other Tuesdays at noon.
Qualifications:
Open to doctoral students enrolled in a program in Clinical, Counseling, School, or Forensic Psychology who have completed at least their first year of study. Prior externship experience is required, with preference given to applicants who have had experience in conducting psychotherapy, as well as conducting outpatient intake interviews and Mental Status Exams, and working with traumatized patients. Bilingual English/French speaking candidates are strongly encouraged to apply, as are other applicants with foreign language fluency.
Application Procedure:
Send a cover letter detailing your interest in training at the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture (briefly discuss your educational background and clinical experiences that are particularly relevant to psychotherapy with traumatized patients), a c.v., two letters of recommendation (including at least one from a clinical supervisor at a practicum/externship site), and an official transcript from your doctoral program to:
Dr. Leahn Nguyen
Bellevue Hospital Center
462 First Avenue
CD 746
New York, N.Y. 10016
Also e-mail the same application material (except transcript and recommendation letters) to Dr. Hawthorne Smith at smithh01@med.nyu.edu.
Deadline is February 1. Applications will not be reviewed before January 15. Most interviews take place in February and offers are made thereafter.