Truman Medical Centers
Match #192517
Internship positions available: 2
Residency/Job positions available: 2
Truman Medical Centers is a nonprofit health system located in the Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area, including two hospitals and multiple outpatient locations and programs. The downtown location, TMC Hospital Hill, is the largest provider of outpatient specialty care in Kansas City, operates the busiest adult emergency department in the city, and has a Level 1 trauma center. Our suburban hospital, TMC Lakewood, is located near Lee’s Summit and provides a range of specialty and outpatient services.
TMC, like any other organization, has a “culture” – a set of core values and shared attitudes that guide actions. These core values are a source of pride and professionalism to TMC employees, as they reflect the values of quality, stewardship, diversity, leadership, innovation, and compassion.
- Quality – Optimal clinical outcomes, Commitment to excellence, Service that exceeds customer expectations
- Stewardship – Development of human resources, Financial visibility, Management of facilities and equipment
- Diversity – Understanding and valuing differences, Cultural competence – Knowledge and respect of another’s culture coupled with skills and abilities to work within that culture
- Leadership – Integrity, Accountability, Visibility
- Innovation – Creation and application of new knowledge, Education, Research
- Compassion – Caring, Empathy
Truman Medical Centers Behavioral Health is a leader in the treatment of mental health and substance abuse issues. Helping more than 17,000 patients, we provide a comprehensive array of mental health treatment to persons living in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Students and other trainees maintain a constant presence at Truman. Several local nursing programs utilize the inpatient unit as a chance to expose nursing students to psychiatric nursing practices. The social services department also provides inpatient training for social work and counseling students. Truman also serves as a training center for numerous psychiatry residents in conjunction with the Center for Behavioral Medicine and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Truman also regularly participates in the training of psychology practicum students, doctoral interns, and post-doctoral residents. Psychology residents, interns, and students can expect that interactions with training supervisors and staff will be conducted in a professional and collegial nature, with courtesy and respect for individual and cultural diversity underlying all training activities.
Truman initially provided regular, major acute rotations and minor outpatient rotations to interns of the Center for Behavioral Medicine, which shares a building with the TMC inpatient behavioral health units at Hospital Hill. Eventually, TMC began the process of establishing its own independent internship program. The internship program is forward thinking and strives to meet the highest level of current standards as well as work toward reaching for even greater goals. The internship program was initially accepted as a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) in 2014 and merged with the APA-Accredited National Psychology Training Consortium – Central Region in 2018.
Our Mission
Truman Medical Centers is an academic health center providing accessible, state- of-the-art quality healthcare to our community regardless of the ability to pay.
Our Vision
Leading the way to a healthy community
Site Training Director
Shawn McDaniel, Psy.D.
Dr. McDaniel has 13 years of experience working in psychiatric hospitals that have included child, adolescent, and adult patients as well as specialized facilities for older adult acute patients. This also includes experience collaborating with other hospital departments to address various healthcare issues, such as reducing assaults, managing patient and visitor issues, and furthering integrated healthcare opportunities in various medical inpatient areas and outpatient care clinics. He has also supervised practicum students, doctoral interns, and residents during inpatient rotations. His primary areas of expertise are assessment and diagnosis, and he has been either full-time or adjunct faculty at five different colleges and universities, currently maintaining an adjunct position as an assessment instructor for a doctoral program. Through his private practices, he has provided numerous civil forensic consultations and was added to the panel of experts by the federal criminal court system. His additional criminal justice education and past experience as a firefighter and soldier also aid in his collaboration with first responders and veterans mental health issues.
Primary Supervisors
Eric Shult, Ph.D.
Dr. Eric Shult received his doctorate in counseling psychology at the University of Memphis and his undergraduate degree from Humboldt State University. He is a licensed psychologist in the state of Missouri. After completing his postdoctoral residency at Truman Medical Centers in 2013, Dr. Shut became a psychologist at Truman Medical Centers Inpatient Units. He has extensive experience treating chronic mood, anxiety, and personality issues in both outpatient and inpatient settings. He has extensive experience providing didactic presentations on multiculturalism and suicide prevention and is an adjunct instructor at Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri. Furthermore, Dr. Shult has extensive experience training and providing supervision of masters-level and doctoral-level interns.
Jennifer Keller-McDaniel, Psy.D.
Dr. Keller-McDaniel obtained training in various settings, including inpatient psychiatric hospital, community mental health center, university counseling center, learning diagnostic clinic, multicultural center, and hospice. She works primarily with children and adolescents, though she provides some specific services for the adult population. Dr. Keller-McDaniel was previously employed at the University of Tennessee Martin both as a staff psychologist and later as the clinical coordinator of counseling services. Dr. Keller-McDaniel was also formerly the preadolescent program director at Royal Oaks Hospital, where she provided and supervised clinical services on the preadolescent unit. Dr. Keller-McDaniel was previously an adjunct professor at Forest Institute of Professional Psychology and Missouri Valley College, and she is currently an adjunct professor at Avila University. Dr. Keller-McDaniel is the Section Chief for Psychology at Truman Medical Center and an outpatient psychologist at TMC Lakewood Counseling Service in Lee’s Summit, Missouri where she provides evidence based treatments. She is a licensed psychologist and health service provider in the state of Missouri. She has retired her license in Tennessee. Dr. Keller-McDaniel is a registrant with the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, APA Division 53 (Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology), APA Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology), and the Missouri Psychological Association. Dr. Keller-McDaniel currently sits on the board for the Greater Kansas City Psychological Association.
Training Opportunities
The Turner Medical Centers inpatient psychiatric units are located downtown and housed inside the building for the Center for Behavioral Medicine, where TMC operates two 25-bed inpatient psychiatric units. The bulk of the internship training experience occurs primarily within the acute inpatient psychiatric units located in downtown Kansas City. The patient population includes adults 18 and older with a vast range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. There are also additional clinical opportunities provided when possible at the other Truman hospital’s older adult psychiatric unit, behavioral consultations at the main hospital, and the outpatient neurology clinic.
Interns will also gain exposure to related practice areas, including risk assessment, civil commitment proceedings, and guardianship hearings when available. Interns also routinely gain supervision experience through the use of undergraduate observation students and master’s level and doctoral practicum students. The TMC internship program is designed to provide interns with a breadth of training focusing on empirically-supported assessment and treatment methods. Interns in the inpatient rotation also gain in depth exposure to inpatient mental health treatment, which involves specific services to aid in acute mental health crises and a high degree of interdisciplinary collaboration.Interns will participate in several training programs within the first month of their internship to introduce them to Truman’s corporate policies, behavioral health program, and acute psychiatric setting. There will also be additional required trainings throughout the course of the year.
Interns will be assigned to treatment team groups on either of the acute units (2C or 2D) for a period of six months, although some overlap in clinical responsibilities will occur at times. Students will spend the second six months primarily assigned to the opposite unit’s treatment team. This allows interns to experience both acute units and gain exposure to a greater number of psychiatrists, caseworkers, and other professionals who primarily remain on one unit. However, interns will provide direct patient care on each unit throughout the year depending upon patient population and service needs. Individual supervision will be provided by two staff psychologists who are scheduled full time on the inpatient units. Each supervisor will generally provide intensive supervision for either therapy or assessment. Interns will also participate in group supervision by additional licensed psychologists. The goal of the acute rotations is to ensure that interns achieve an intermediate to advanced level of proficiency in providing professional assessment, intervention, and consultation services that are firmly grounded in psychological science. During the internship year, all interns will complete at least six psychological evaluations. Additionally, interns will provide a range of clinical intervention services and must demonstrate competence in treatment planning, crisis intervention, individual therapy, group therapy, and consultation with other professionals.
Interns will participate in weekly assessment seminars to increase their assessment knowledge and discuss cases. Interns will participate in weekly journal club meetings, both by selecting articles relevant to the training site and participating in article discussions with other psychology staff. TMC interns will also participate in case conferences and grand rounds through the Center for Behavioral Medicine along with its interns and medical residents.
Typical work days will include attending multidisciplinary treatment team meetings, gathering patient outcome data, providing group therapy, providing brief individual therapy, and completing psychological assessments. Each week will also include 2 hours of group supervision, 2 hours of individual supervision, and assessment seminar. While most work-related duties should be able to be accomplished during the normal workday, additional training requirements, such as reading assignments and completion of dissertation requirements, may have to take place outside of normal work hours at times.
Current Locations
Truman Medical Centers Behavioral Health System is comprised of the following locations:
- Truman Medical Center-Health Sciences District: The inpatient unit is located downtown and housed inside the building for the Center for Behavioral Medicine, where Truman operates two 25-bed inpatient units.
- Truman Medical Center-Lakewood: This hospital provides psychiatric treatment for older adult patients and additional mental health treatment, such as electro-convulsive therapy.
It should be noted that the Truman Medical Centers office locations are approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes away from Springfield, Missouri where interns must travel to monthly didactics. Due to the distance, interns at this location will be provided with some travel reimbursement considerations for monthly didactic training.
Possible Internship Placements:
- Lakewood Counseling Service: This outpatient center opened in 2006 to provide mental health and substance abuse services to citizens of Eastern Jackson County. It provides a broad range of clinical services for children, adolescents, and adults.
- Healing Canvas: This outpatient center provides mental health services to citizens in the downtown Kansas City area. It provides a broad range of clinical services for children, adolescents, and adults.
Example Schedule
Interns at Truman Medical Centers typically work a Monday – Friday schedule from 8:00 am to 4:30. Typical work days will include attending multidisciplinary treatment team meetings, gathering patient outcome data, providing group therapy, providing brief individual therapy, and completing psychological assessments. Each week will also include 2 hours of group supervision, 2 hours of individual supervision, and assessment seminar. No weekend work, on-call, or holiday work is required. However, given the nature of working in a hospital setting, additional vacation days must be coordinated to ensure consistent coverage, and no specific days off outside of the actual recognized holidays are guaranteed. Examples of what makes up each work day is provided below:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| ACR | ACR, GRP | ACR, AS, JC | ACR, GR, CC | ACR, NC |
ACR = Acute care rotation with group, individual, assessment, supervision; GRP = Group supervision; AS = Assessment seminar; JC = Journal Club; GR = Grand rounds; CC = Case conference; NC = Neurology clinic
APPIC Training Experiences
TMC has a highly diverse patient population, both by ethnicity and languages spoken. They have live interpreters for several different languages on-site so that clinical services can be provided with limited impact of any language barriers. Their clinical services also offer exposure to a fairly wide array of ages, particularly with the addition of the older adult psychiatric unit and exposure to testing in the outpatient neurology clinic. The following table represents an example of the client demographics served at this location:
|
Patient Demographics |
|
|
Total number of clients (agency wide) |
112,212 |
|
Elderly |
24.64% |
|
Adults |
63.63% |
|
Adolescents |
3.38% |
|
Children |
8.35% |
|
African American |
33% |
|
Caucasian |
50% |
|
Hispanic/Latino |
8% |
|
Asian/Pacific Islander |
1% |
|
American Indian/Alaska Native |
0% |
|
Multiethnic or None of the Above |
16% |
Example patient populations (as listed by APPIC):
- Adults
- Older Adults
- Inpatients
- LGBTQI+
- Ethnic minorities
- Spanish-speaking
- Deaf/Hearing-impaired
- Urban
- Low Income
- Homeless
TMC patients often struggle with a variety of social issues that complicate their cases and create barriers to treatment. Much of the patient population, particularly those in the inner city, face a relatively high degree of violent crime. This results in many patients experiencing high levels of traumatic experiences, which directly impacts their mental and physical wellbeing. Their patient population also experiences frequent substance use issues, which directly and indirectly results in psychiatric hospitalizations as well as negatively impacting their physical health. TMC is also a safety hospital, which provides most of the services for indigent patients, which include a high number of homeless patients. Because of this, TMC’s payment sources are vastly different from many other facilities, such as 22% of their patients qualifying for discounted services or free services and 29% of their patient population receiving Medicaid. For fiscal year 2017, this included 14 million dollars in completely unfunded care and a total of 101 million in unfunded and underfunded care with county and city tax support.
Example treatment modalities (as listed by APPIC):
| Assessment | Major Area of Study (50% or Greater) |
| Individual Therapy | Experience (21% to 30%) |
| Group Therapy | Experience (21% to 30%) |
| Consultation/Liaison | Exposure (1% to 20%) |
| Crisis Intervention | Exposure (1% to 20%) |
| Brief Psychotherapy | Experience (21% to 30%) |
| Evidenced Based Practice | Major Area of Study (50% or Greater) |
| Supervision of Practicum Students | Exposure (1% to 20%) |
Example supervised experiences (as listed by APPIC):
| Developmental Disabilities | Exposure (1% to 20%) |
| Assessment | Major Area of Study (50% or Greater) |
| Serious Mental Illness | Major Area of Study (50% or Greater) |
| Anxiety Disorders | Experience (21% to 30%) |
| Trauma/PTSD | Experience (21% to 30%) |
| Substance Use Disorders | Major Area of Study (50% or Greater) |
| Geropsychology | Exposure (1% to 20%) |
| Empirically-Supported Treatments | Major Area of Study (50% or Greater) |
| Program Development/Evaluation | Exposure (1% to 20%) |
| Supervision | Exposure (1% to 20%) |
The most commonly diagnoses seen at these locations include: Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Phencyclidine Use Disorder, Alcohol Use Disorder, Cocaine Use Disorder, Cannabis Use Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Intellectual Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Mild Neurocognitive Disorder, Major Neurocognitive Disorder, Somatic Symptom Disorder
Salary, Benefits, and Support
Salary for the 2019-2020 Training Year: $30,014.40
Benefits provided at this site include:
- 112 hours of PTO (vacation / sick leave)
- 24 hours of Professional Development
- Health insurance
- Dental insurance
- Disability insurance
- Optional vision insurance
- Prescription benefits
- On-site gym membership
- Flexible spending plan
- Retirement (403b)
- Berevement leave
- EAP program
- Corporate discount plans
- Professional liability insurance (for those not already covered)
Truman Medical Centers observes the following 8 holidays:
- New Year’s Day
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Friday after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Day
Interns have a dedicated workstation located in a shared training office on one of the psychiatric units. Each intern has his or her own permanent workstation for the year, which includes a shared phone and individual computer. All interns have access to terminals connected to the local area network (LAN) through which all staff has access to programs such as Microsoft Office, Internet browsers, electronic records systems, online test scoring, and other online training tools. The Psychology Department maintains various tests utilized in an acute mental health setting, which are generally maintained in the interns’ training office so they read the manuals, practice with the instruments, and easily access them when needed. The trainee room contains commonly used books, including workbooks on DBT and CBT, the DSM-5, and user guides and manuals for all assessments administered at the location. Additional reading materials may also be borrowed from the licensed clinical staff on site. The shared network G:drive can be accessed from all TMC computers and contains group materials, individual interventions, report templates, multicultural articles, journal club articles, and other educational resources on various relevant topics. TMC also subscribes to a multicultural database where clinicians can obtain additional information regarding working with various populations. Each intern also has an H:Drive they can use for online storage.
More information about the Support and Benefits offered in each of our regions can be found here.
Life in Kansas City, MO
The Kansas City metropolitan area offers a wide range of activities and attractions to ensure there are plenty of ways to unwind during time away from training.
Sports
Kansas City offers multiple professional and semi-professional sporting events throughout the year, including baseball, ice hockey, football, soccer, college basketball, and auto racing. Be here to watch the 2015 World Series Champions in action.
Museums and the Arts
Kansas City has a variety of activities related to music, the performing arts, and visual art, including the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the 18th and Vine Jazz District, Crossroads Art Disctrict, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and multiple indoor and outdoor concert centers.
Shopping and Entertainment
The Kansas City area provides several excellent shopping locations, including the Country Club Plaza and Legends Outlets. It also offer a variety of nightlife options, including the Power & Light District, Westport District, and multiple casinos. There are also multiple locations for family fun, including multiple amusement and water parks, the Kansas City Zoo, LEGOLAND Discovery Center, and the Kansas City Sea Life Aquarium.
Background Checks
Prior to onboarding, all interns applicants will have the following background checks provided by TMC:
- Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services – Employee Disqualification List
- US Department of Health and Human Services List of Excluded Individuals/Entities
- Criminal background check with the local jurisdictions as well as the Missouri Highway Patrol
- Local County, State and Multi-State Criminal/Sex Offender check
- Social Security Number Tracer
- Government Services Administration Excluded Parties Listing System
- Review for outstanding warrants
- Family Care Safety Registry
Interns must also pass an initial employment drug screen and verity the following occupational health requirements:
- Measles, Mumps, Rubella
- Varicella
- Flu Shot
- 2-Step TB Test
Every TMC employee, including interns, is also bound by the company’s non-smoking policy, which includes time when not at work.
Intern Selection Process
Applicants will be selected for ranking by their apparent readiness to work primarily in an acute setting, the quality of their answers to the standardized interview questions, and any relevant feedback from their encounters with current trainees and other staff.
Interview Day
In order to reduce the travel expense associated with interviewing, all participating NPTC sites participate in a Universal Interview day in Springfield, Missouri. Interviews can also be arranged at other times and places and Skype interviews are also possible. Please be aware that on-site tours are not a part of this interview process. However, some sites may approve a site tour at a later date if requested by prospective intern. The ability or inability to attend a site tour at another time will not impact match rankings and this is not an option available at all locations.