Heritage Clinic offers professional training for graduate students in various disciplines of mental health.
We offer an American Psychological Association (APA) accredited doctoral internship program, post-doctoral psychology training, social work and marriage and family therapy associate training and practicum training in psychology.
Psychology Practicum Training: students in a graduate psychology program who have had at least one year of clinical training may apply for a one-year practicum placement at Heritage Clinic. Psychology practicum students are engaged in seeing 7 to 10 clients per week, receive one hour of individual supervision per week, attend one Treatment Team (group supervision) per week and attend the clinical Gero-psychology training seminar. Applications are taken in the fall and early winter months to start training on September 1. To apply, please apply through the portal on practicumfit.com which will send an email and your resume and a cover letter to Jennifer DerGregorian, Psy.D at jdergregorian@heritageclinic.org.
Social work and Marriage and family therapy training: Heritage Clinic offers training to graduate level students in social work and marriage and family therapy who have completed at least one year of clinical experience, when specific other requirements are met. Interested students can contact Jennifer DerGregorian, Psy.D at jdergregorian@heritageclinic.org.
Post-doctoral training is available when budgetary circumstances permit. More information is available from Jennifer DerGregorian, Psy.D at jdergregorian@heritageclinic.org.
The APA accredited internship is described below.
Psychology Internship Training
NATURE OF AGENCY
Heritage Clinic is a geropsychological center for older adults and their families. Heritage Clinic provides community-based mental health services and adult daycare for cognitively impaired adults and older adults. Services include in office, in-home and telehealth psychotherapy for homebound seniors; field-based services for seriously mentally ill elders; individual, collateral and group psychotherapy for older adults in the clinic; psychological assessment, cognitive screening for older adults concerned with memory changes, clinical mental health outreach with hard-to-reach elders, and adult daycare. Heritage Clinic’s mission is to “enhance the behavioral health and quality of life of older adults and their families.
Heritage Clinic’s services focus on reducing risk of premature institutionalization and on reducing barriers to service often experienced by older adults and reducing functional impairment of seriously mentally ill older adults. Thus, services are offered in nontraditional manners, including providing services in clients’ homes and in the field, extending services when clients may be hesitant to receive services, assisting those who have limited cognitive ability (service to persons with dementia), and extending services to those who have a wide range of ethnicities and have low incomes.
Heritage Clinic began operating in 1979. For 22 years, it was a department of Fuller Seminary’s Graduate School of Psychology’s training clinic. Heritage Clinic amicably separated from Fuller in 2001 in order to expand its service mission for the older adult community. Heritage Clinic is a private, religious nonprofit organization, based on a Christian tradition. It provides services to any older adult regardless of religion, or any other diversity characteristic.
Operations due to COVID 19 Pandemic
As of June, 2020, Heritage Clinic’s mental health services are provided via a hybrid of in office, in home and telehealth approaches. All in-person services will follow current health department approved procedures. It is likely that services provided in 2024 will continue to be provided via this hybrid manner of telehealth and in person.
POPULATION SERVED
Heritage Clinic focuses on serving older adults for whom financial, cultural, linguistic, physical, stigma and/or other barriers prevent access to traditional mental health services. It serves older adults (55 years and older). Many are of low income and varied ethnicity. Clients are eligible for services regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious affiliation. Services are offered in varied languages. Clinical issues include: serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, suicidality, physical disability, chronic illness, crime victimization, elder abuse, domestic violence victims/perpetrators, homelessness, and a broad range of other psychopathology (depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders, psychosis, psychosomatic disorders, cognitive impairment, etc.). Occasionally younger family members are seen.
LOCATION OF THE AGENCY
Heritage Clinic is headquartered in Pasadena, California. Pasadena is a moderate sized city in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. Heritage Clinic and the Community Assistance Program for Seniors also operates two adult day-care centers that serve the communities of West Covina and Pasadena. Additionally, Heritage Clinic operates mental health offices in the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Palmdale areas of Los Angeles County. The administrative office and the primary headquarters for interns’ operations, is in an historical craftsman house in Pasadena.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF TRAINING
The internship model at Heritage Clinic was initially founded on guidelines set forth in and subsequent to the 1981 and 1992 “Older Boulder” Conferences on Training Psychologists for Work in Aging (Santos & VandenBos, 1982; Knight et al., 1995). It has subsequently been augmented and refined with reference to the Pikes Peak Model of Training in Professional Geropsychology (Knight et al., 2009). Our model is one of strengthening interns’ general psychological skills and their knowledge and skill in areas needed to serve older adults, and in providing services in a community-based model. Interns with no previous experience working with older adults will be introduced to geropsychology and those with previous geropsychological experience will receive further training with older adults, as well as strengthening of general skills and skills for working in a community mental health setting.
The training goals of Heritage Clinic are, in order of importance, to:
- Train interns in high quality, general skills in psychological assessment and diagnosis, intervention, supervision, consultation, research and inquiry, consumer protection, professional development and cultural diversity;
- Develop interns’ understanding and skill in geropsychology; and
- Help clinicians understand community psychology, with particular focus on methods of reaching underserved and culturally diverse populations.
We train interns to be prepared for entry-level positions as general psychologists and have skills to work with older adults who may present in their general work, or to secure postdoctoral positions in geropsychology. Our model of training also follows a practitioner-scholar model. We train interns to be practitioners who apply scholarly knowledge and methods of scientific inquiry to the clinical and community situations in which they are asked to intervene.
Heritage Clinic provides training with emphases in nine skill areas: Assessment and Diagnosis, Intervention, Supervision, Consultation, Research and Inquiry, Ethical and Legal Standards, Communication and Interpersonal Skills, Individual and Cultural Diversity and Professional Values, Attitudes and Behaviors.
Within the realm of Assessment and Diagnosis, intern graduates are expected to be able to: 1) Know about and choose appropriate assessment procedures (Goal 1); 2) Integrate medical issues and communicate with physicians (Goal 2); 3) Know about and use the DSM V and ICD 10-CM in diagnosis (Goal 1); 4) Refer to other professionals as needed (Goal 1); 5) Be familiar with dementia screening protocols (Goal 2); 6) Administer, score and interpret data using age and culture appropriate norms (Goal 2); 7) Evaluate the appropriateness of the person’s environment to his/her functional abilities (Goal 2); and 8) Integrate data from multiple sources and write a well written report (Goal 1).
Within Intervention, intern graduates will be trained to 1) Form empathic relations with a range of clients (Goal 1,3); 2) Provide clinically beneficial psychotherapeutic interventions in a variety of modalities, such as behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, interpersonal and existential approaches (Goal 1); 3) Develop appropriate treatment goals and treatment plans within one or more theoretical frameworks (Goal 1); 4) Provide treatment to older adults with cognitive impairment (Goal 2); 5) Be able to use treatment approaches specifically appropriate to older adults including grief therapy and life review techniques, (Goal 2); 6) Be able to use treatment approaches specifically appropriate for the underserved (Goal 3); 7) Maintain appropriate boundaries and awareness of transference and counter transference (Goal 1); 8) Use empirically based treatment approaches specifically appropriate for older adults and for the underserved (Goal 2, 3); and 9) Take clients’ own goals into consideration (Goal 1).
In the area of Supervision, intern graduates are expected to be trained to: 1) Keep appropriate appointments for supervision, take initiative and come prepared to supervision (Goal 1); 2) Recognize and report problems to supervisor, relate nondefensively and make good use of feedback (Goal 1); 3) Be aware of own strengths and weaknesses (Goal 1); 4) Be skilled in case presentation (Goal 1); 5) apply supervision knowledge in role plays; 6) apply supervision knowledge when leading Treatment Team meetings (Goal 1); and 7) demonstrate competency in providing clinical supervision/consultation to case managers (Goal 1).
In Consultation, intern graduates will have been trained to 1) Communicate with multi-disciplinary professionals, including, among others, social workers, physicians and nurses (Goal 1); 2) Articulate the goals of multidisciplinary consultation in the geropsychological community (Goal 2); 3) Provide consultation to other professionals (Goal 1); 4) Provide and receive consultation within Heritage Clinic’s treatment teams (Goal 1); and 4) Demonstrate understanding and respect for the roles of other professionals (Goal 1).
Research and Inquiry: Intern graduates are expected to 1) Understand the need to base assessments on appropriately researched and normed assessment tools (Goal 2, 3); 2) Demonstrate appropriate knowledge of psychology in general (Goal 1); 3) Demonstrate appropriate knowledge of geropsychology in particular (Goal 2); 4) Complete outcomes measures to assess client recovery (Goal 1); and 5) be able to evaluate and disseminate research and/or scholarly activities at the local, regional and/or national level.
Ethical and Legal Standards: Intern graduates are expected to be trained to 1) Demonstrate clear and consistent adherence to legal requirements (Goal 1) ; 2) ) Demonstrate clear and consistent adherence to the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (Goal 1); 3) Recognize ethical dilemmas and effectively apply ethical decision making (Goal 1): and 4) Appropriately seek supervision (Goal 1) .
Professional Values, Attitudes and Behaviors: Intern graduates are expected to be able to 1) Be able to be available for clients’ clinical urgencies (Goal 1); 2) Complete necessary clinical documentation in a timely manner (Goal 1); 3) Demonstrate integrity, deportment, accountability, self-reflection and openness to feedback; 4) Enact professional behavior; (Goal 1); 5) Reliably and responsibly meet the needs of the clients and the agency (Goal 1); 3).
Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Intern graduates are expected to be able to 1) Communicate effectively orally (Goal 1); 2) Communicate effectively in writing (Goal 1); 3) Communicate effectively nonverbally (Goal 1); 4) Work well in a team (Goal 1, 2, 3).
Individual and Cultural Diversity: Intern graduates are expected to be able to 1) demonstrate awareness of the impact of their own cultural assumptions on clients;(Goal 3); 2) Incorporate knowledge of cultural issues into therapeutic interventions (Goal 3); 3) Modify assessment approaches for cultural differences (Goal 3); 4) Design and implement culturally proficient, effective treatment plans and interventions for diverse groups (Goal 3).
Interns are expected to achieve at least average-for-interns performance in each of the nine skill areas. Supervision, guidance, and feedback are provided to interns throughout the training year to facilitate interns achieving and maintaining this level of performance.
SERVICES PROVIDED BY INTERNS
In order to develop these skills, doctoral interns in Pasadena will become involved in the many diverse mental health services provided by Heritage Clinic. These services include: in-home psychotherapy with homebound seniors, psychotherapy in the clinic, psychotherapy via telehealth, limited psychological assessment, cognitive screening for older adults concerned with memory changes, field-based clinical mental health outreach with seriously mentally ill older adults, clinical case management, consultation with multi-disciplinary professionals and psycho-educational outreach. Screenings include the Folstein Mini-Mental State Exam, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PhQ-9), the PCL-5, the Outcomes Questionnaire 45, substance abuse screening, and behavioral observation checklists. Psychological assessment batteries include a range of assessment procedures relevant to older adults.
Therapy is offered largely in a longer-term model, although some clients are seen short-term. Most clients are seen throughout the training year. Interns will primarily provide services to clients in their homes and in the field; some are seen at the clinic. Interns will offer limited case management services, and are on call with supervisory backup for urgent calls. Interns participate in multi-disciplinary team consultation with social workers, psychiatrists, nurses, physicians, etc., and multi-agency outreach and networking. Additional services provided may include community outreach, referral, trauma debriefings, community psycho-educational presentations and consultation.
SUPERVISION
Each week, interns receive two hours of individual supervision and two hours of clinical treatment team consultation supervised by licensed clinical psychologists. In addition, interns receive one-and-a-half hours of group supervision per week. One group supervision focuses on Assessment and the other covers various clinical topics. Videotaping of at least 12 sessions is required.
Heritage Clinic does not adhere to one particular theoretical orientation. Perspectives of the supervisors include Attachment-Oriented, Object Relations, Psychodynamic, Client-centered and Cognitive-behavioral, with psychodynamic perspectives being more prevalent. Interventions are planned with regard to both the longer-term theoretical conceptualization and the short-term, imminent needs of the clients.
SEMINAR TRAINING
The internship begins with a five-day orientation at the beginning of September. Weekly, one-hour didactic seminars follow. Seminars focus on geropsychology, including: Psychotherapy with Older Adults, Elder Abuse Recognition and Reporting, Loss and Grief, Grief Therapy, Dementia, Substance Abuse, Therapy with the Cognitively Impaired, Depression and Suicide in Older Adults, Psychotic Disorders in Later Life, Psychopharmacology with Older Adults, Life Review and Reminiscence, Working with Diverse Ethnic Elders, Religion and Spirituality, Death and Dying, Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Older Adults, etc. A number of Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health workshops are also available.
AGENCY AND TRAINING STAFF
Heritage Clinic, Pasadena Office, is staffed by 6 licensed psychologists, 1 waivered psychologist, 1 master of social work, 2 marriage and family therapists, mental health rehabilitation specialists, case managers, as well as day-care and support staff. Trainees include 1-2 postdoctoral fellows, 2 doctoral interns, 1-2 practicum psychology students as well as other volunteers. As Director of Training, Dr. Jennifer DerGregorian oversees the training. Dr. Jennifer DerGregorian, Dr. Janet Yang, Dr. Robin Kietzman, Dr. Lauren Fox MacMillan, Dr. Grace Kim and Dr. Jamie Garis provide supervision. All psychologists are trained in geropsychology and are licensed in the state of California.
SAMPLE INTERN SCHEDULE
Heritage Clinic offers a one-year full-time internship. During a typical 40-hour week, interns will participate in the following activities and responsibilities:
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- Provide 20-22 hours per week of direct clinical work: individual and collateral psychotherapy; phone calls, care management; etc.;
- Participate in ongoing projects with outside agencies in the community (2 hours/month);
- Complete 8-10 hours of documentation and driving per week. Mileage reimbursement is provided;
- Complete 2 to 3 neuropsychological assessments during the year;
- Complete 2-3 Diagnostic Intake assessments during the year;
- Provide small group supervision/consultation to case managers in Heritage Clinic;
- The combined total of direct clinical work, consultation with outside agencies, paperwork and driving time, and assessments is expected to produce a minimum of 60 percent of the intern’s 40 hours per week as billable time;
- Meet supervision requirements (2 hours individual; 1 1/2 hours group supervision per week);
- Attend 2 Clinical Treatment Teams, and one-hour didactic seminar each week.
All interns’ hours are scheduled within the clinic’s regular business hours: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, with no weekend hours.
INTERNSHIP ADMISSIONS, SUPPORT AND INITIAL PLACEMENT DATA
PROGRAM SUPPORT PROVIDED TO INTERNS
Internships start at the beginning of September. The one-year, full-time positions (2000 hours over 12 months), include a stipend of $50,000 plus health insurance and usual holidays. Interns receive three weeks of Personal Time Off (PTO), which become available after the first three months of the training year. Vacation scheduling is negotiable, but not to be taken during the last month of training. At the start of internship, interns receive electronic copies of the clinic’s Training Manual and Clinical Policies and Procedures, as well as a copy of its Employee Handbook.
Interns have a desk, a computer and phone usage in a common room. The program has numerous testing instruments that are available to check out through the clinic’s administrative assistant. Technical support is available through an onsite technology assistant. Most therapy is conducted in clients’ homes. Mileage reimbursement is provided. Therapy rooms are available in the clinic, by reservation for an appointment time. Parking is street parking.
ADMISSIONS EXPECTATIONS
Heritage Clinic recruits applicants who are students of advanced standing from clinical or counseling psychology doctoral programs. Students from clinical psychology doctoral programs and APA-accredited programs are strongly preferred. Applicants will have completed the following requirements:
Clinical preparation: At least two years practical training with a minimum of 1000 hours clinical training, and at least 300 hours face-to-face psychotherapy experience. Minimally, 24 hours of psychological assessment experience and the completion of at least six integrated assessment reports.
Academic preparation: Completion of all doctoral course work, including courses in human development, assessment, intervention, psychopathology, professional standards and ethics, and cultural diversity, as well as doctoral dissertation proposal.
Additional preparation and criteria: Expressed interest in working with older adults, expressed openness to a community-based service provision model, a valid CA driver’s license, and a car with active automobile insurance. Upon entry into the program, interns are required to show documentation of complete COVID 19 vaccination. Interns are required to successfully pass background checks and drug screens. This includes drug-free status indicated by pre-employment drug screening and post-employment individualized suspicion testing and post-accident testing. The following are screened for: cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, PCP, propoxyphene, opiates, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and methadone. Medications with medical prescription are not screened out. For additional clarification please contact Jennifer DerGregorian, Psy.D at jdergregorian@heritageclinic.org.
When all the above eligibility requirements are met, priority is placed on professional geriatric experience, additional psychotherapy experience and/or bilingual ability.
APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS
As an APPIC member, Heritage Clinic’s internship program receives applications solely through the AAPI Online service, which can be accessed at www.appic.org. The internship site requires AAPI Online applications to include curriculum vitae, cover letter with personal statement, APPIC application and graduate transcripts, and three letters of reference. In the personal statement, please address degree of interest in working with older adults and working in community mental health. The application deadline for Heritage Clinic’s two full-time internships is November 5, 2023. Interviews are required and will be offered by virtual means. Interviews will be offered to the top candidates and held in mid-January (tentatively January 10th, 2024). All applicants will be notified by December 1st, 2023 regarding whether or not they are being offered an interview.
Applicants are offered an interview based on Heritage Clinic’s evaluation of depth and strength of clinical experience, doctoral course completion and geropsychology interest, in their written materials. All interviews will be conducted via video platform. Interviews consist of a group orientation, meeting with 2 psychology staff and a current trainee. Applicants are ranked for selection based on: a) degree of clinical experience; b) clinical acumen/ability to identify key clinical issues in interview case discussions; c) expressed and demonstrated eagerness to learn about geropsychology; d) openness to working in a community service provision model; and e) professionalism and responsibility. Additional value is placed on geriatric experience, additional psychotherapy experience and bilingual abilities. Heritage Clinic’s internship program in Pasadena will participate in the APPIC match, for which applicants and internship sites must submit rank order lists in February, 2024.
When starting the internship, interns need to pass Heritage Clinic’s employee screenings. These include documentation of COVID 19 vaccination, DMV screening, TB test, drug testing and criminal background check. Evidence of any illegal substances, including federally illegal marijuana, and felony background will be grounds for exclusion from employment/internship. For more details regarding the required criteria on these screenings, please contact Jennifer DerGregorian, Psy.D at jdergregorian@heritageclinic.org.
The internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant.
Internship Admissions, Support, and Initial Placement Data
| Briefly describe in narrative form important information to assist potential applicants in assessing their likely fit with your program. This description must be consistent with the program’s policies on intern selection and practicum and academic preparation requirements: | ||||||||
| Intern applicants who are likely to be a good fit with Heritage Clinic’s doctoral internship program are those who have had 300 hours or more of direct face to face psychotherapeutic experience. While psychotherapeutic experience with older adults is not always necessary, having enjoyed older adult experience and prior work in a community model does indicate a higher likelihood of being a good fit. | ||||||||
| Does the program require that applicants have received a minimum number of hours of the following at time of application? If Yes, indicate how many: | ||||||||
| Total Direct Contact Intervention Hours | YES | Amount: 300 | ||||||
| Total Direct Contact Assessment Hours | YES | Amount: 24 | ||||||
| Describe any other required minimum criteria used to screen applicants: | ||||||||
| 6 Integrated Assessment Reports; completion of doctoral course work; completion of dissertation proposal; interest in working with older adults; openness to community based service provision model | ||||||||
| Financial and Other Benefit Support for Upcoming Training Year* | ||
| Annual Stipend/Salary for Full-time Interns | $50,000 | |
| Annual Stipend/Salary for Half-time Interns | N/A | |
| Program provides access to medical insurance for intern? | YES | |
| If access to medical insurance is provided: | ||
| Trainee contribution to cost required? | No | |
| Coverage of family member(s) available? | Yes | |
| Coverage of legally married partner available? | Yes | |
| Coverage of domestic partner available? | Yes | |
| Hours of Annual Paid Personal Time Off (PTO and/or Vacation) | 120 | |
| Hours of Annual Paid Sick Leave | N/A | |
| In the event of medical conditions and/or family needs that require extended leave, does the program allow reasonable unpaid leave to interns/residents in excess of personal time off and sick leave? | Yes | |
| Other Benefits: Option to purchase dental insurance, 12 holidays, option to pay into Flexible Spending Account | ||
| Initial Post-Internship Positions | ||
| 2018-2023 | ||
| Total # of interns who were in the 5 cohorts | 10 | |
| Total # of interns who did not seek employment because they returned to their doctoral program/are completing doctoral degree | 1 | |
| PD | EP | |
| Community mental health center | 3 | 0 |
| Federally qualified health center | 0 | 0 |
| Independent primary care facility/clinic | 0 | 0 |
| University counseling center | 1 | 0 |
| Veterans Affairs medical center | 3 | 0 |
| Military health center | 0 | 0 |
| Academic health center | 0 | 0 |
| Other medical center or hospital | 0 | 1 |
| Psychiatric hospital | 0 | 0 |
| Academic university/department | 0 | 0 |
| Community college or other teaching setting | 0 | 0 |
| Independent research institution | 0 | 1 |
| Correctional facility | 0 | 0 |
| School district/system | 0 | 0 |
| Independent practice setting | 0 | 1 |
| Not currently employed | 0 | 0 |
| Changed to another field | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown | 0 | 0 |
| Note: “PD” = Post-doctoral residency position; “EP” = Employed Position. Each individual represented in this table should be counted only one time. For former trainees working in more than one setting, select the setting that represents their primary position. | ||
Updated July 14th, 2023
Further information is available from Jennifer DerGregorian, Psy.D at jdergregorian@heritageclinic.org, by mail to Heritage Clinic; 447 N. El Molino Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101 or by phone: (626) 577-8480.
PROGRAM
Heritage Clinic’s internship in professional psychology is located in Pasadena and is a member of APPIC (Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Center; 10 G Street NE, Washington DC 20002; 202-589-0600).
The internship is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association.
Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:
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May 28th, 2015 View Profile