Advanced Therapy Externships
- Liver/Renal Transplant & Diabetes Management
- Heart/Lung Transplant & Pelvic Pain
- Obesity & Bariatric Surgery, Inpatient Health Psychology
- Obesity & Bariatric Surgery, Burn Psychology
- Psychosocial Oncology
- General Adult Outpatient Psychotherapy
Liver/Renal Transplant and Diabetes Management
Externship Supervisor
Todd Doyle, PhD
Associate Professor
Externship Location
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences
Loyola University Medical Center
Fahey Building, Room 227
2160 S. First Ave.
Maywood, IL 60153
Externship Start Date
July 1, 2021 (start date is negotiable) – 2.5 days per week
The behavioral medicine program will offer the extern clinical experiences in psychological assessment and treatment among adult patients within an inpatient/outpatient medical setting. Specific opportunities will include:
- Conducting pre-transplant psychosocial evaluations for patients preparing for liver transplant (inpatient & outpatient) and renal donation; providing follow-up psychotherapy services to patients with liver disease; participation in multidisciplinary meetings to provide feedback to physicians, surgeons, social workers, and nurses about patients’ candidacy for organ transplant; medical report writing.
- Providing clinical assessment and psychotherapy to outpatients attending appointments in the Department of Endocrinology for diabetes management; learning CBT-based strategies for management of diabetes as well as exposure to state-of-the-art, manualized treatments for depression.
- Providing general outpatient psychotherapy services to patients presenting with common medical diagnoses and co-morbid mental health problems.
- Participating in weekly journal club meetings with other externs to discuss research, case presentations and group supervision, as well as didactic lectures.
- Opportunities are available for mentoring in research and several databases are available for secondary data analysis for highly motivated students. Opportunities to learn the art of journal article reviewing are also available to students.
This is an advanced practicum and prior psychotherapy experience is strongly recommended. Interested students should submit an application packet by 02/01/2021 that consists of:
- Letter of interest
- CV
- Two letters of recommendation
- A de-identified writing sample from a psychosocial evaluation
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis prior to the deadline.
Please submit your application packet to:
Todd Doyle, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences
Email: todddoyle1@lumc.edu
Phone: 708-216-4303
Heart/Lung Transplant and Pelvic Pain
Externship Supervisor
Mekhala Samsi Merchant, PhD
Associate Professor
Externship Location
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences
Loyola University Medical Center
2160 S. First Ave., Building 54
Maywood, IL 60153
Externship Start Date
July 2021 (start date is negotiable) – 2.5 days per week (Thursday will need to be available for a full day)
Externship Practicum Description
The behavioral medicine practicum will offer the extern clinical experiences in psychological evaluation and treatment with adult patients within the medical setting. Specialties will include cardiothoracic organ transplantation, chronic pelvic pain in women and general outpatient psychotherapy with a focus on behavioral medicine.
The psychology extern will gain experience in inpatient and outpatient settings, conducting clinical interviews, comprehensive evaluations to determine psychological candidacy for transplantation, report writing, providing feedback to members of a multidisciplinary team of physicians and nurses and administering cognitive-behavioral interventions and supportive therapies.
In the outpatient setting, the extern will also be expected to carry a caseload of several general psychotherapy patients each week.
The extern’s time is divided between providing in-patient consultation to hospitalized patients and outpatient services. This is an advanced practicum, prior psychotherapy experience is required. Prior research or clinical work with a medical population will be a bonus.
Interested students should submit the following by 02/01/2021:
- A letter of interest
- CV
- Two letters of recommendation
- Graduate school transcripts (official or unofficial)
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Please send the above application documents to:
Mekhala Samsi Merchant, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences
Loyola University Medical Center
2160 S. First Ave.
Maywood, IL 60153
Email: msamsi@lumc.edu
Fax: 708-216-6840
Obesity and Bariatric Surgery, Inpatient Health Psychology
Externship Supervisor
Laura Wool, PsyD
Associate Professor
Externship Location
Loyola University Medical Center
2160 S. First Ave., Building 112
Maywood, IL 60153
Externship Start Date
July 2021 to July 2022 (start date is negotiable) – 16 hours per week
Externship Practicum Description
Loyola Medicine's department of psychiatry provides psychological assessment and outpatient therapy services to Loyola's outpatients.
This rotation will provide the psychology extern with therapy experience in general outpatient psychotherapy and behavioral medicine with adults, as well as cognitive-behavioral interventions with a bariatric surgery & medical weight loss population. The extern will split time between these responsibilities.
In addition to further developing general therapy skills, the extern will learn about psychological and behavioral factors impacting weight management, readiness for bariatric surgery and various medical conditions. Opportunities for individual therapy (both inpatient and outpatient), pre-surgical assessment and group facilitation (e.g., binge eating and support groups) are available.
The extern will gain experience in patient interviewing, incorporating data from objective assessments into recommendations for surgical readiness, report writing, cognitive-behavioral and supportive therapies and application of behavioral medicine techniques to the psychosocial problems associated with weight management and other medical conditions.
Prior psychotherapy experience with adults is required, preferably in a medical setting. Strong interest in health psychology and weight management is encouraged.
Interested students should submit the following not later than 02/01/2021:
- A letter of interest
- CV
- Two letters of recommendation
- Graduate school transcripts (official or unofficial copy)
Preference is for materials to be sent electronically (letters of recommendation should be on letterhead, signed and scanned into electronic format). Please send application materials to Dr. Wool (lwool1@lumc.edu).
If submitting hard copies of document is necessary, please send an email informing us of your hard copy application and use the mailing address listed above to mail your application.
Obesity and Bariatric Surgery, Burn Psychology
Behavioral Medicine - Advanced Practicum
Externship Supervisor
Elizabeth B. Simmons, PsyD
Assistant Professor
Externship Location
Loyola University Medical Center
2160 S. First Ave., Building 54
Maywood, IL 60153
Externship Start Date
July 2021 to July 2022 (start date is negotiable) – 16-20 hours per week (Thursdays are mandatory)
Externship Practicum Description
The department of psychiatry provides psychological assessment and outpatient therapy services to Loyola outpatients.
This practicum will provide the psychology extern with therapy experience in general outpatient psychotherapy, as well as assessment and intervention experience with a bariatric surgery and medical weight loss population. Opportunities will also be available for inpatient consult work on the burn unit. The extern will split time between these responsibilities.
Opportunities in outpatient psychotherapy include conducting clinical interviews, creating treatment plans and maintaining a caseload of individual adult psychotherapy patients. The extern will develop psychotherapy skills with an emphasis on cognitive-behavioral, acceptance and commitment and supportive therapies. Opportunities in weight management and bariatric surgery include pre-surgical assessment, post-operative interventions and individual therapy.
The extern will gain experience in conducting comprehensive psychological evaluations, incorporating data from objective assessments into recommendations for surgical readiness, report writing and applying behavioral medicine techniques to the psychosocial problems associated with weight management and other medical conditions.
Opportunities with the burn service may include conducting bedside psychosocial evaluations, supportive therapy, relaxation training and trauma processing with patients hospitalized for burn and wound care.
This is an advanced practicum and prior psychotherapy experience with adults is required, preferably in a medical setting. Strong interest in health psychology and weight management is encouraged.
Interested students should submit the following by 02/01/2021:
- A letter of interest
- CV
- Two letters of recommendation (including at least one from a supervisor of current or previous clinical work)
- Graduate school transcripts (official or unofficial copy)
Preference is for materials to be sent electronically (letters of recommendation can be sent directly from the writer to Dr. Simmons). Please send application materials via email to Dr. Simmons (elizabeth.simmons@luhs.org).
If submitting hard copies of document is necessary, please inform us of your hard copy application preference via email and mail the application materials to the above mailing address.
Applications are reviewed as they are submitted until a candidate is chosen; therefore, early submissions are encouraged.
Psychosocial Oncology
Externship Supervisors
Patricia Mumby, PhD
Associate Professor
Sarah Thilges, PhD
Associate Professor
Externship Location
Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center
Loyola University Medical Center
2160 S. First Ave., Building 112
Maywood, IL 60153
Externship Start Date
July 2021 – 16 to 20 hours per week
Externship Practicum Description
The Psychosocial Oncology Advanced Therapy Externship program provides psychological assessment and treatment services to adult oncology patients and their family members. The psychology extern will have the opportunity to learn about psychological and behavioral factors that impact on patients’ coping efforts and intervene with patients and families to improve coping, facilitate adjustment and reduce emotional distress.
The extern will gain experience in patient interviewing, pre-stem cell transplant psychological evaluations, report writing, cognitive-behavioral and supportive therapies, cancer support groups and application of behavioral medicine techniques to the biopsychosocial problems associated with a cancer experience.
The extern’s time is divided between providing in-patient consultation to hospitalized patients and outpatient services (evaluations and psychotherapy).
This is an advanced practicum and prior psychotherapy experience is required, preferably in a medical setting.
Students who are interested in health psychology should submit the following by January 15, 2021:
- A letter of interest
- CV
- Two letters of recommendation
- Graduate school transcripts (official or unofficial copy)
Early applications are encouraged and applications are reviewed as they are received until a candidate is chosen.
Complete applications (including letters of recommendation) should be submitted via email to Dr. Mumby (pmumby@lumc.edu) and Dr. Thilges (sarah.thilges@lumc.edu).
General Adult Outpatient Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy - Advanced Practicum
Externship Supervisors
Carla M. Beatrici, PsyD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Kate Goldhaber, PhD
Associate Professor
Course Director, Behavioral Medicine
Learn more about Dr. Goldhaber
Externship Location
Loyola University Medical Center
2160 S. First Ave.
Maywood, IL 60153
Externship Start Date
July 2021 to June 2022 (start date is negotiable) – 20 hours per week (three days per week, Thursdays required on site at Loyola University Medical Center)
Externship Practicum Description
This externship primarily offers training in both adult psychodynamic and adult CBT/DBT psychotherapy in an outpatient setting.
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Rotation
The extern will work with Dr. Beatrici for six to eight hours per week, gaining clinical experience in a relationship based psychodynamic psychotherapy model (intrapsychic humanism) with adults (possibility of seeing preschool age children but less likely) on an outpatient basis.
Additionally, the extern may have an opportunity to learn how to help parents in parent guidance. Some opportunity to help co-teach developmental theories to psychiatry residents is also a possibility.
Adult CBT/DBT Trauma Focused Psychotherapy Rotation
The extern will also have a rotation (up to six to eight hours) as part of their practicum experience with Dr. Goldhaber.
Dr. Goldhaber is available to train the extern in treating adults and couples utilizing dialectical behavior therapy, trauma focused CBT and prolonged exposure with adult patients, including patients with trauma histories.
The extern may also sit in on Dr. Goldhaber’s DBT class she teaches to psychiatry residents.
Educational Opportunities
The extern also has an opportunity to participate in weekly psychiatry grand rounds as well as a weekly training seminar on relevant clinical psychology topics.
Supervision Philosophy
We value creating a supervisory relationship that is respectful, safe, available, and reliable for the supervisee.
We believe that the most important quality in a supervisory relationship is one in which the supervisee feels they can be open and honest and bring in the clinical issues/cases they are struggling with, has questions about, or in which s/he may be aware of making mistakes (rather than feeling they need to hide what’s not going well or present only cases going “well”.).
We also value helping the therapist in training think about their own responses, the reasons for their interventions and to reflect on any personal motives they have that unknowingly may interfere with accurate therapeutic responses.
Further, we believe that it’s important that supervisees are open to learning the specific treatment models that each supervisor practices and utilizes professionally, while learning to become their own therapist.
Because this is an advanced therapy practicum, we also seek a supervisee who is comfortable working independently, while simultaneously knowing when to seek supervision outside the supervisory hour if needed.
Ideal Applicants
We seek applicants who are:
- Mature and comfortable working independently
- Open and eager to learn new material/interventions
- Values being honest and open about mistakes/lapses
- Values self-reflection
- Values the therapeutic relationship and the importance of consistency/reliability with patients
Requirements and Application Process
Students should have prior psychotherapy experience. Interested students should submit the following via email (cbeatrici@lumc.edu) by 02/15/21:
- A letter of interest
- CV
- Two letters of recommendation
- Graduate school transcripts
For additional questions about this externship, please contact:
Carla M. Beatrici, PsyD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
Loyola University Medical Center
2160 S. First Ave
Maywood, IL 60153
Email: cbeatrici@lumc.edu
Phone: 773-665-8052, ext. 200