Wabash Valley Alliance – IHC Grant Funded Positions

Match #228817

The Family Health Clinic of Carroll County is a federally qualified health center affiliated with and managed by the Purdue University School of Nursing. Many of the clinic’s patients are uninsured or under-insured. Faculty from the Purdue School of Nursing launched the clinics in the mid-1990s to respond to this patient population, and some faculty continue to practice in them. They oversee Purdue students from multiple professions, such as nursing, pharmacy and nutrition science, who have the opportunity to learn how primary care works, and how their roles can complement each other to provide high-quality healthcare.

The main center is in Delphi, located 20 miles northeast of Lafayette. Advance Practice Nurses consult with and refer to their collaborating physicians. In addition referrals are made to specialists in the Greater Lafayette area. The clinic has a mental health staff consisting of two LCSW’s and an MSW, as well as a consulting psychologist.

Established in 1995 the Family Health Clinic has developed a history and reputation for offering quality medical care in the community for over twenty years. Starting with a staff of three people, the clinic expanded opening a satellite location in Monon, Indiana in 2006. Employing over 40 staff members between the two locations, the Family Health Clinic has grown to accommodate the communities it services offering high quality medical care, laboratory services and expanded services. Recently two more part-time satellite clinics have been established in Wolcott and Burlington, Indiana. There would be some opportunity for the intern to work in these satellite clinics.

In March 2009, the Family Health Clinic received Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Designation. Comprehensive primary and preventive health services are provided in a convenient alternative to out-of-town providers. Being conveniently located in the community, the Family Health Clinic helps reduce emergency room visits for local residents.

In June 2014 the Family Health Clinic received the National Committee for Quality Assurance Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Level 2 Designation. The Clinic also provides training opportunities for more than 30 Purdue School of Nursing students throughout the year as well as Purdue College of Pharmacy Fellows and Interns at each site.

The clinic provides basic healthcare services to the growing Hispanic and Latino populations in that medically underserved area. Several of the Monon clinic staff are bilingual and provide translation. About 3,000 uninsured and under-insured patients are seen here each year. The center recently received federal grant money to address the opioid epidemic as well.

Psychologist supervision will be by WVA psychologists who work off-site at WVA outpatient offices, so an intern at this location will need to be someone who is comfortable working relatively independently.  Each integrated healthcare intern will have two different WVA supervisors, as well as supervision from the clinic social workers. The emphasis will be on bringing psychological perspective and interventions into the treatment of patients in primary care.  Both traditional scheduled therapy and on-the-spot consultations and crisis interventions will be a part of the services the intern will offer.  An intern’s ability to speak Spanish would be a bonus at this site, but not a need, as the clinic has some in-house interpreters as well.

Example treatment modalities for this rotation (as listed by APPIC):

• Assessement
• Individual Intervention
• Couples Intervention
• Family Intervention
• Consultation
• Crisis Intervention
• Brief Intervention
• Primary Care
• Evidence-Based Practice

Example supervised experiences (as listed by APPIC):

• Health Psychology
• Sexual Disorders
• Physical Disabilities
• Assessment
• Anxiety Disorders
• Trauma/PTSD
• Sexual Abuse
• Substance Use Disorders
• Pediatrics
• Integrated Primary Health Care – Primary

Example patient populations (as listed by APPIC):

• Children
• Adolescents
• Adults
• Older Adults
• Outpatients
• Spanish-Speaking
• Rural
• Low Income

Match #228818

Riggs Community Health Center in Lafayette, Indiana is one of over 8,000 community health centers nationwide helping patients avoid emergency rooms and offering preventative care. The Community Health Center model of health care is patient-focused, coordinated, and proven to yield better health outcomes, remove barriers to needed care, minimize health disparities, and lower overall costs.

Riggs CHC has a mental health staff consisting of 3 full-time LCSW’s, one of whom is also credentialed in addictions, and a psychiatrist who consults via telemedicine. There is an addiction program featuring Vivitrol injections and offering both individual and group therapy. The mental health staff are integrated with 8 full-time primary care providers consisting of one MD and 7 nurse practitioners.

Riggs CHC has a rich 25-plus year history of providing high quality, comprehensive primary health care to the uninsured and underinsured men, women and children of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Wendell Riggs, M.D., a pediatrician after whom the clinic was named, envisioned increased access for the area’s uninsured and underinsured children and their families. With support from St. Elizabeth Medical Center and a few dedicated community members who shared his zeal to help, he was able to provide affordable primary care for women and children by opening a part-time prenatal and well-child clinic in 1988. This was the beginning of access to vital health care services for the under-served in Greater Lafayette and the surrounding area.

From humble roots, through what was then known as the Community Health Clinic under the County Health Department, Dr. Riggs and his colleagues served 240 patients in the Clinic’s inaugural year. During the course of the following years, the clinic became known as the Tippecanoe Community Health Clinic, officially separated from County government, obtained status as a not-for-profit entity, became a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), and in 1998, opened its own 19,000-square foot, epitomizing an outstanding public/private partnership with the community. From 1999 to 2017, annual patient visits at Riggs CHC increased from 21,000 to over 60,000.

Psychologist supervision will be by WVA psychologists who work off-site at WVA outpatient offices, so an intern at this location will need to be someone who is comfortable working relatively independently.  Each integrated healthcare intern will have two different WVA supervisors, as well as supervision from the clinic social workers. The emphasis will be on bringing psychological perspective and interventions into the treatment of patients in primary care.  Both traditional scheduled therapy and on-the-spot consultations and crisis interventions will be a part of the services the intern will offer.  An intern’s ability to speak Spanish would be a bonus at this site, but not a need, as the clinic has some in-house interpreters as well.

Example treatment modalities for this rotation (as listed by APPIC):

• Assessement
• Individual Intervention
• Couples Intervention
• Family Intervention
• Consultation
• Crisis Intervention
• Brief Intervention
• Primary Care
• Evidence-Based Practice

Example supervised experiences (as listed by APPIC):

• Health Psychology
• Women’s Psychology
• Sexual Disorders
• Physical Disabilities
• Assessment
• Anxiety Disorders
• Trauma/PTSD
• Sexual Abuse
• Substance Use Disorders
• Pediatrics
• Integrated Health Care – Primary

Example patient populations (as listed by APPIC):

• Children
• Adolescents
• Adults
• Older Adults
• Outpatients
• Rural
• Urban
• Low Income
• Homeless

We want our interns to come from strong clinical or counseling programs and to have an interest in the community mental health setting as a career goal. Interns must be willing to work with a variety of clients from all SES levels and many different diagnoses. They must be willing to work within a system which expects clear documentation in a problem-oriented treatment model. Applicants will be screened by the training director and primary supervisors, interviewed by the training director, and selected by the training director and primary supervisors. Interviews can be face-to-face or telephone or Skype / Facetime interviews. Receipt of a Master’s degree (rather than education equivalent) is required at this site. Preference will be given to students who envision practicing in Indiana for their career. We hope that a proportion of interns will decide to pursue employment with Wabash Valley Alliance after attaining their doctorate.

IHC Grant-Funded Positions Only: Due to the requirements of the HRSA grant, any intern applicants for the IHC-Grant Funded positions must be citizens of the United States, a noncitizen national of the United States, or a foreign national who possesses a visa permitting permanent residence in the United States. Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible to participate. Please note that this requirement only applies to the Grant-Funded positions and not the traditional positions available at each of our sites. If you have any questions about eligibility for the program please contact Katherine Dixon at kdixon@psychologyinterns.org.

As a part of this grant, Interns are also required to sign an agreement that they will seek out job positions in rural and/or underserved areas following graduation. An example of this agreement is linked here.

Wabash Valley does conduct background checks on interns prior to orientation. This site is contracted with DCS of Indiana and DCS requires background checks for all counties and states the intern has lived in for the past 5 years. Please note that having a criminal history does not always have a negative impact on the applicant’s eligibility for an internship. However, if an applicant has a CPS substantiation in any state they have lived in then they are not eligible for internship and that would cause the site to release the intern from a match. A substantiation is when the State’s DCS/CPS feel the person in question has knowingly put a child at risk, such as a DUI with a minor in the car, having altercations in front of child, charges or suspicion of child abuse/neglect, etc. If the applicant feels the substantiation is invalid they can follow up and attempt to clear the substantiation from their record.

DCS also requires a fingerprint and drug screen on each matched intern. A positive drug screen would also cause the site to release the intern from a match. The site is required to list any criminal history reported by the applicant when scheduling the fingerprint appointment. Once the prints are taken they go to the Indiana state police and then they are forwarded to DCS for final approval.  DCS will follow up with the listed criminal history (if applicable) and then make a decision. Prints can come back 1 of 3 ways:

1 – Qualified
2 – Conditionally Disqualified
3 – Disqualified

A fingerprint report returning as “Disqualified” would be cause for the site to release an intern from a match.  If the prints come back Conditionally Disqualified, the intern will need to contact DCS and supply them with any additional info or documents they need to make the prints “Qualified” (this info could also prove them to be Disqualified). If the intern does not take care of this, they would also be released from the match. DCS typically allows up to 3 misdemeanors, but will disqualify anyone with a felony.