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Off Campus Applied Practica Sites

PSYC 4770--Off Campus Applied Practica Sites

Caminar Latino (Atlanta area)

Program Description: Caminar Latino ("Latino Journey") was founded in 1990 and its mission is to provide opportunities for Latino families affected by violence to transform their lives and their communities. Caminar Latino carries out its mission by creating safe spaces for each family member to begin their journey towards non-violence, and remains Georgia’s first and only comprehensive domestic violence intervention program for Latino families. Caminar Latino currently offers: support groups for Latina survivors, a certified 24-session intervention program for Latino males who have used violence, 5 sharing groups for Latino Youth witnesses of violence, information and referral services, parenting classes, and community outreach and education. Caminar Latino serves as training and research site for university graduate and undergraduate students and has practicum positions and volunteer opportunities available. Direct service volunteer/ practicum opportunities require that individuals be available Wednesday evenings from 6pm-9:30pm. The purpose of the practicum is to provide the student with hands-on experience in a group setting with Latino children affected by domestic violence. The students will co-facilitate one of the sharing groups for children, together with an experienced graduate student or community member.

  • Hours: 4 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 2 semesters
  • Supervision: Students will meet with supervisors on a weekly basis
  • Duties: Group facilitation will include planning for session, working directly with children during group activities, learning to identify behaviors that may signal potential problems in individual children, developing new experiential exercises in order to access and understand children’s feelings, among others.

Cool Girls, Inc. (Atlanta area)

Program Description: Cool Girls, Inc. is dedicated to the self-empowerment of girls in low-income communities. Cool Girls offer opportunities for young girls (six to sixteen) to gain confidence by providing: mentoring relationships, field trips, health and life skills education and academic support.

  • Hours: 5 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 2 semesters
  • Supervision: Students will meet with supervisors on a weekly basis
  • Duties: Students will assist with administrative tasks needed to support curriculum development for existing after school programs (Cool Scholars and Cools Girls Club.) Students will also assist in the following: program development, and support for staff delivering four-to-six week training modules on life skills, pregnancy prevention, conflict resolution, self-esteem and cultural awareness.

Faculty Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) (Emory University Campus)

Program Description: This site will expose students to a breath of services provided as part of the core services of the EEAP.  Students will receive supervision in the four core services: Organizational Dynamics, Health Promotion and Wellness, Education and Outreach, and Behavioral Mental Health.  This dynamic program serves a diverse population of faculty, staff, administrators, physicians, residents, and their immediate family members.

  • Hours: 5-8 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 1 semester
  • Supervision:  1 hour of individual supervision weekly with professional staff
  • Duties:  Students will participate in specific activities in each of the four core service areas with the option of selecting one area that is of most interest in which they can devote more time and effort.  Students will also be invited to attend at least one clinical case conference where an interdisciplinary team of mental health professionals discusses challenging clinical cases.  Finally, students are asked to develop a workshop or project of special interest to them and present this to the FSAP team at the conclusion of their practicum experience.

Flint Circuit Council on Family Violence, Inc. (Haven House) (McDonough, GA)

Program Description: FCCFV, Haven House, is dedicated to ending the cycle of family violence for all victims regardless of race, class, sexual orientation, age, disability, political affiliation, national origin, ethnicity, or religious belief. They provide services that include: 24 hour crisis line, battered women's and children's support groups, individual counseling, legal advocacy, temporary protective orders, legal and medical counseling referrals and emergency shelter.

  • Hours: 5 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 1 semester
  • Supervision: Students will meet with supervisor on a weekly basis
  • Duties: Students will assist clients in an 18-bed shelter in various areas such as, helping with legal advocacy, coordinating activities for women and children, and escorting individuals to the shelter

Georgia Center for Child Advocacy (Dekalb or Fulton)

Program Description: The Georgia Center for Child Advocacy serves children who are victims of sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, or a witness to a violent crime. The Center provides services including forensic interviews of alleged victims, forensic evaluations of alleged victims, therapy services for victims of sexual abuse, and family advocacy for the non-offending caregivers of abuse victims. The Center also coordinates the multidisciplinary case review meetings (bi-weekly) to fully assess each case of possible child abuse.

  • Hours: 5 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum 1 semester, 2 preferred 
  • Supervision: Students will meet with supervisor on a weekly basis
  • Duties: Students will attend an orientation session which will provide the students with an overview of the services offered by the center and will enable the students to gain a clear understanding of thedynamics of child sexual abuse. Students will assist in the coordination with agencies involved in the investigation of child abuse. Students will also assist in case tracking and statistical data collection. If interested, students will have the opportunity to meet with families during the forensic interview process in the role of the family advocate to distribute required information and respond to questions and needs of the families. Students will be asked to work on other projects/tasks as needed by the Center.

Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault (GNESA) (Atlanta area)

Program Description: Our organization is a non-profit coalition of 23 sexual assault agencies and concerned individuals who share the common goal of ending sexual assault. Our group serves in the following way: provides a network of organizations and individuals to address the concerns of all persons affected by sexual assault, provides technical support for new and emerging rape crisis centers, advocates on behalf of rape crisis centers and sexual assault victims they serve, coordinates statewide SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) and law enforcement training, and coordinates education and prevention programs. This practicum would involve reviewing sexual assault statistics from around the state to determine what sexual assault currently looks like (i.e. age, location, type of assault, conviction, etc). 

  • Hours: 3-5 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 2 semesters
  • Supervision: Students will meet with supervisors on a weekly basis
  • Duties: Reading, compiling, and calculation sexual assault statistics, and developing a final report of findings. Students will be trained on site.

Hearts to Nourish Hope (Riverdale, GA)

Program Description: This is a place where youth can develop life coping skills and successfully put them into practice while connecting with the community by serving others.

  • Hours: 5 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 1 semester, 2 preferred
  • Supervision: Students will meet with supervisor on a weekly basis
  • Duties: Students will assist in the classroom and work one-to-one with high-risk teens. Duties also include developing academic plans and assisting in the delivery of group classes on life and job skills. Students will also participate in the following in-service training classes: rape counseling, drug prevention, and working with forensic populations.

Hillside Hospital (Community Intervention Program) (Atlanta, Midtown) CLOSED

Program Description: Hillside Hospital is a private non-profit agency. This agency provides a Residential Treatment Program, which offers individualized treatment and education to severely emotionally disturbed children and adolescents. Hillside offers a Community Intervention Program providing family-based treatment and services for clients and their families when their child is at high risk for out-of-home placement. Additionally, Hillside has a Therapeutic Foster Care program that works with children who have had little or no exposure to stable family environments. Hillside was licensed in1987 as a Specialty Psychiatric Hospital providing long-term intervention care to children and adolescents, ages 8-17.

  • Hours: 5
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 1 semester prefers 2 semesters.
  • Supervision: Students may receive individual and group supervision at the site. The Human Resources Department, will provide Administrative supervision, and serve as the "contact" for the site. Clinical supervisors will guide the practicum student in the treatment aspects of the program. Clinical supervisors will meet with students one hour weekly.
  • Duties: Students will have an opportunity to rotate throughout the different programs at Hillside. All practicum students must attend the hospital orientation program. Students will also attend weekly staff meetings and in-service trainings at the site. All students are provisionally accepted at the site while a fingerprint background check is performed. This background check is required of all persons working at the hospital. Additionally, students may be required to have clearance for tuberculosis and/or a physical exam.

Marcus Autism Center – Pediatric Psychology and Feeding Disorders Program (Atlanta, GA)

Program Description: The Marcus Autism Center (MAC) is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to provide information, services, and programs to children with autism and related disorders, their families and those who live and work with them. We offer integrated advances clinical, behavioral, and educational and family support services through a single organization to reduce the stress for families that use our services. This placement is ideal for students considering graduate training in psychology, pediatrics, family social work, or a related behavioral health fields. Students will gain valuable training by participant in clinical and research activities addressing a variety of pediatric populations, including Pediatric Psychology and Feeding Disorders Program and Language Learning Clinic. 

A 10 hour commitment per week is preferred. Fall, spring, summer semesters are available. Efforts will be made to match student interests with the needs of each program. Training will involve both individual and group supervision. At a minimum, individual and team supervision is provided weekly, although the nature of the clinical services provided at MAC often necessitates more frequent/daily supervision to guide treatment procedures. A description of each program and corresponding responsibilities is provided below:

Pediatric Psychology and Feeding Disorders Program: The pediatric feeding disorders program services children who have chronic issues with nutritional and/or caloric intake. A large percentage of the population treated at the clinic rely on alternative means to meet their nutritional needs (e.g., a feeding tube) or display very selective eating patterns, which compromises their intake of essential vitamins and minerals. The average age of children treated is about 3 years of age. Feeding difficulties displayed by children in the program are often the result of a complex interaction between a numbers of factors. Many have complicated medical histories, such as food allergies or reflux. Problem behaviors (e.g., crying, disruptions, aggression) develop as a means to escape food presentations intense refusal behaviors occur during most meals and maintaining low levels of intake after the medical issues are resolved. Interest in working with children in an interdisciplinary team is preferred. Training will include mealtime data collection of target behaviors using an event recording procedure, as well as tracking parent-child interactions during meals using a behavioral coding system. Students will also assist in ongoing research protocols, including scoring of instruments, data entry, and other administrative research tasks. Students may rate family interaction variables from videotaped family assessments. 

Language and Learning Clinic (LLC): Intervention offered through the LLC is specifically designed to promote skill acquisition in the domains of functional communication, adaptive daily living skills, pre-academic and academic skills, and social relationships. The LLC offers intensive 1-on-1 ABA/Verbal Behavior services to children with significant language and adaptive skills delays. We serve children in need of services targeting increases in receptive and/or expressive language, pre-academic training, and social skills. Clients are primarily between the ages of 2-12 years. Language and adaptive skills are assessed via the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills-Revised (ABLLS-R) and acquisition programming is based on these results. Students will learn to implement discrete-trial training, verbal behavior programming, and natural environment teaching with a variety of cases. In addition, functional analyses and functional assessments are conducted to assess problem behavior and structures behavior protocols are frequently implemented. Students will be observed in vivo or via videotape implementing treatment procedures. 

  • Hours: 10 per week
  • Number of Semesters: 2 semesters
  • Supervision: at least once a week

Project Open Hand (Atlanta area)

Program Description: Open Hand began in 1988, providing meals to Atlantans who were dying of AIDS. In 2000, Open Hand expanded its mission and began to serve homebound seniors and others suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, renal disease, etc. Today, Open Hand prepares, packages, and delivers up to 5,500 meals daily, TWO MILLION meals per year, throughout 17 metro Atlanta counties and Athens, Georgia. Open Hand’s registered dietitians plan balanced menus and select products according to the level of nutrition care determined for each client’s needs. All clients receive nutrition education, delivered on a regular basis with the meals, and can access individual or group nutrition education and counseling sessions on topics such as portion control, healthy eating, hands-on food preparation, physical activity, goal-setting, and self-management.

  • Hours: 10 per week preferred
  • Number of Semesters: Minimum 1, 2 preferred
  • Duties: Students will gain a deeper understanding of how a non profit works: students will be exposed to most duties that volunteers perform (including preparing meals) and will also be exposed to the scheduling, fundraising and other activities vital to running a successful nonprofit agency. Students may enhance public speaking skills by facilitating orientations and trainings, as well as provide administrative and staff support. Additionally, students will schedule volunteers and maintain calendars, maintain a volunteer database, and assist in creating and editing documents such as emails, letters, flyers, agendas, and reports. Interested students can also deliver meals to clients (must have a vehicle). These tasks will allow students to gain knowledge of volunteer management and its importance to nonprofit operations.

Vistacare Hospice  (Atlanta area)

Program Description: Vistacare Hospice provides medical, psychological and spiritual care to persons with a prognosis or 6months or less regardless of their financial situation or complexity of care needs. In this practicum, students will acquire hands-on experience by working with hospice patients, offering companionship and emotional support to people with life-limiting illness. You will work with VistaCare’s interdisciplinary team, which is charged with relieving the physical, emotional, spiritual and social pain of patients and their family members. Volunteers will visit patients living in private residences, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities in Cobb County, North Fulton and North DeKalb. You may also work a shift and see patients at one of our in-patient facilities located at Emory University Hospital and at Emory Hospital Midtown. OR, for a complete experience of hospice care, you may want to combine a shift at an in-patient unit with visits to home care patients.

Practicum students must meet for an initial interview with VistaCare’s Manager of Volunteer Services, submit an application, and attend a 4-hour training class. Also required: a 2-step TB test, a background check and two references.

  • Hours: 5 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 1 semester
  • Supervision: Students will meet with supervisor on a weekly basis
  • Duties: Duties are flexible based on students’ interests. Duties include working with patients in the end stage of life by doing visitations to patients’ homes or nursing care facilities. Students can also work with a chaplain to help patients and their families deal with grief. Students could also work with a social worker and talk with families about a variety of issues including funeral arrangements, financial situations, family relationships, etc. Practicum students will also learn about how the hospice office works by assisting our administrative staff with their efforts to support our field staff.

Women's Resource Center (Decatur, GA)

Program Description: The WRC is a comprehensive center that provides training for volunteers to work in various programs that expend women's' issues (i.e. domestic violence, rape, homelessness, lesbian issues, etc.). This practicum opportunity focuses on the program to end domestic violence

  • Hours: Minimum of 5 hours per week
  • Number of semesters: Minimum of 1 semester
  • Supervision: Students will meet with supervisor on a weekly basis
  • Duties: Opportunities include positions in emergency shelter (assist with children’s programs, support groups for residents and household tasks), hotline advocacy (trained volunteers provide telephone support to women who call needing a compassionate ear and/or information about domestic violence), children’s program (assist with support groups and child centered services) and legal advocacy (assist staff legal advocates as they help women fill out and file Temporary Protective Orders). Students will attend training classes.