Clinical Neuropsychology

Description

Clinical Neuropsychology is a specialized profession which seeks to apply the knowledge of human brain-behavior relationships to clinical problems. A very detailed assessment of abilities is done and the pattern of strengths and weaknesses is interpreted to determine the level and nature of cognitive, behavioural, and functional abilities.

This internship is focused on both psychiatric adult inpatients and outpatients. Priority is given to referrals from varied MUHC psychiatric clinics (Anxiety Program, Personality Disorders Program, Psychosis Program, Psychogeriatrics, Day Hospital, and Rehabilitation Services). If time permits, referrals from other departments are accepted (Chest Institute, Montreal neurological, outside referrals).

Doctoral interns will be introduced to neuropsychological evaluation of a range of neurological problems such as degenerative disease, trauma, psychiatric disorders, stroke and systemic disease. They will attend weekly psychiatry team meetings and receive a minimum of two hours/week of individual supervision. Neuropsychological assessment includes clinical interview and objective examination of intellectual function, memory, attention, language, executive function as well as functional capacity, personality structure and emotional status in order to inform differential diagnosis, treatment planning and education of family members and/or caretakers.

Interns will learn interview techniques, test selection and interpretation. They will also learn how to conduct a medical/psychiatric chart review, and how to work in the context of a multidisciplinary team. Interns will prepare written reports based on the assessments and will provide feedback to patients, families and treatment teams.

Eligibility: This internship is intended for doctoral neuropsychology students.  Doctoral students with sufficient background in neuropsychology will also be considered. Interns are accepted for a year-long internship on a part-time (3 days weekly) or full time basis. The full time internship includes clinical therapy experience as required by the applicant’s University (e.g., one day weekly).

Two or three applicants are accepted each year.

Supervisors

Marco Sinai, Ph.D.

Staff Neuropsychologist, Adult Services
Department of Psychology, McGill University Health Center

Alain Ptito, PhD

Director, Department of Psychology, McGill University Health Center

Professor, Neurology/Neurosurgery, McGill University

Neuropsychologist, Montreal Neurological Institute

Application procedure: A hard copy application should include CV, graduate and undergraduate transcripts, letter of interest, two or three letters of reference to be sent to:

Dr. Debbie Sookman

Director of Training

Department of Psychology

McGill University Health Centre

Allan Memorial Institute

1025 Pine Avenue West

Montreal, Quebec, H3A1A1

Canada.

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GIANNOPOULOS, Dina

Dina Giannopoulos obtained her doctorate in Psychology from Concordia University in the Summer of 1995. Dina's main research interests include the study of impaired decision making in depression, psychological effects of chronic dieting as well as thought suppression. Academically, she is a part-time faculty member at Concordia University where she has taught courses in clinical as well as I/O Psychology. Dina has received major grant support to study organizational issues in the delivery of services from CLSC’s in the Montreal area. At the Allan, Dina works with inpatients as well as outpatients conducting psychological assessments and cognitive-behavior therapy. She is also involved in clinical supervision of practicum students and psychological consultations to psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers. Administratively, Dina is a member of the Violence Monitoring Committee at the Allan.

GOULET, Sylvie

Sylvie Goulet obtained her doctorate in Psychology from the University of Montreal in 1984 having completed her undergraduate studies at McGill. Dr. Goulet's main research interests include life habit modification including the treatment of eating disorders, hypertension and stress, especially post-traumatic stress disorder. Among her many clinical duties at the Allan, she directs the department's weight control and gambling programs. Sylvie has also been active as an administrator in the Corporation of Professional Psychologists of Quebec. 

Sinai, Marco

As of 2005, the Child and Adolescent Services have been administratively moved to the Montreal Children's Hospital. All inquiries concerning training opportunities should be addressed to its new hospital base.

The Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Service (CBTS) is an exciting and vibrant organizational unit that provides an excellent learning environment for interns. More than any of the other training programs, the CBTS provides the opportunity for an intern to participate in the many programs developed and managed by the Department of Psychology. Although psychologists have, and will continue to play, strong roles in multidisciplinary teams in the hospital, our discipline evolved from a unique background and therefore has a unique contribution to make. We can not only apply research findings in Psychology but also develop psychological conceptualization of problems and approaches in order to offer the public a complement to the traditional psychiatric treatments in a hospital environment. Dr. Sookman’s success in creating a renowned clinic for OCD patients, Dr. Goulet’s programs in addictive disorders including weight control and Dr. Sinyor’s group CBT interventions in depression are just some of the many programs that follow this model.

Observing what some of our staff has accomplished, a few interns have selected to focus more of their internship experience on program development in which they develop a empirically-sound, yet economically viable, intervention in a particular area. The Insomnia program developed by Peter Hoaken and then the Corporate Smoking Cessation Program developed by Jean-Marc Assaad were the first examples of this type of internship. Tavis Campbell from Professor Ditto’s psychophysiology lab at McGill is currently following this model in his internship where he is working to create a lifestyle behavioural intervention to treat hypertensive patients.

We believe that working in program development prepares the doctoral intern for what will undoubtedly become an ever more important role of psychologists in a future health care system. With the combined drivers of increased demands for services especially deriving from an aging population, yet the need to contain the cost of those services, doctoral level psychologists are expected to advance into positions of consultants and service developers. Leaving the delivery to master’s level therapists from a variety of disciplines, our future role will be to develop, test and then disseminate empirically-validated interventions.

It is important to emphasize that these plans for the future health care do not ignore training in the clinical skills involved in cognitive-behavioural therapy. In fact, the interns are presented with an exciting array of patients, modalities of treatment and philosophical approaches within the CBTS stream. For example, interns working with Dr. Debbie Sookman will have the benefit of learning schema-focused cognitive therapy with OCD patients under a supervisor with an international reputation in the areas of assessment and treatment. Students working under Dr. Sookman’s supervision not only learn advanced therapy skills but participate in research that is directly relevant to their clinical work.

If the redundancy of repetition and perfection of OCD are not to an intern’s liking, then Dr. Goulet can open an unpredictable world of luck and chance in maladaptive gambling. After students first make a mandatory staff-led field-trip to the Montreal Casino, they learn a host of CBT interventions to help those who fool themselves into thinking that the path to riches is through a VLT. Interns working with Dr. Sinyor have the opportunity to learn in-depth cognitive assessments to characterize the information processing styles of those with adult ADD. This is a fascinating population made all the more interesting by Dr. Sinyor’s careful approach to assessment and caring approach to patients.

Finally, students can also have the opportunity to participate in an area in which psychologists have until only recently ignored - that is, cognitive therapy aimed at conceptualizing psychotic symptoms. Instead of simply labeling someone’s thinking as psychotic and stepping back as the latest antipsychotic medications are administered, recent advances in both the characterization of delusions / hallucinations and their treatment make this an exciting area of training of CBT psychologists. In addition, Dr. Bradley offers, on alternate years, a seminar entitled Professional Development that captures many of his interests in I/O Psychology as they apply to the health care sector or private practice. Issues discussed include the organizational design of health care systems, health care funding as well as future employment opportunities for psychologists in view of the coming health care revolution.

The Training Program:

The training is designed to help the intern develop the clinical skills required to treat core patient or diagnostic groups as early as possible. Thus, prior to arrival, the interns have read relevant background material in one or two areas of therapy concentration, e.g., key readings in OCD, background readings in psychotic delusions etc. The first months provide more intensive focus on the assessment and treatment of these core patient groups so that by mid-October, the intern has the capacity to take-on active cases. Thereafter, broader training both in terms of a comprehensive didactic seminar series organized by Dr. Sookman supplemented by special presentations at our weekly Rounds add to the interns’ knowledge concerning the large array of interventions and goals encompassed under the rubric of cognitive behaviour therapy.

Depending upon the challenges and opportunities presented during the year, the intern might be assigned a modest research project in which measurement of behaviour can be directed at some clinically or administratively relevant problem. In past years, interns have often participated in various Quality Assurance projects to fulfill this requirement.

A key feature of CBTS training is fun, a quality that all the staff believes encourages the best learning. It is also why many of our CBTS interns graduate to Club Soda after a years’ attendance at our Friday Rounds.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY SERVICE

Predoctoral InternshipTime Commitment: Early September to mid-August, 5 days per week. Part-time internship that can accommodate certain key times such as Thursday afternoons for teaching and Friday mornings for Rounds are also accepted.

Positions: Three

Eligibility: Graduate students in Clinical Psychology, who have completed advanced clinical course work, including a course in psychopathology, in addition to an assessment internship are eligible to apply.Special Provisions: Interns have two weeks vacation in the summer months with additional vacation or conference time negotiated in advance with the Training Director.Upon receipt of the above materials, suitable candidates will be called for an interview.

The deadline for receipt of the application is the second Monday in January; our decisions regarding acceptance are made on Notification Day

How to apply:

1. Send the following:
2. completed internship application form
3. statement of the applicant's interests and goals
4. a curriculum vitae including description of all pertinent clinical experience
5. the names of two referees, whom the student will contact to arrange for letters of reference to be sent
6. a transcript of undergraduate and graduate grades.

Send information to:

Dr. Debbie Sookman
Training Director
Department of Psychology
McGill University Health Centre
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Service Internship

Allan Memorial Institute
1025 Pine Avenue West

Montreal, Quebec, H3A1A1
1-514-934-1934, Extension 34290
debbie.sookman@mcgill.ca

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GIANNOPOULOS, Dina
Dina Giannopoulos obtained her doctorate in Psychology from Concordia University in the Summer of 1995. Dina's main research interests include the study of impaired decision making in depression, psychological effects of chronic dieting as well as thought suppression. Academically, she is a part-time faculty member at Concordia University where she has taught courses in clinical as well as I/O Psychology. Dina has received major grant support to study organizational issues in the delivery of services from CLSC’s in the Montreal area. At the Allan, Dina works with inpatients as well as outpatients conducting psychological assessments and cognitive-behavior therapy. She is also involved in clinical supervision of practicum students and psychological consultations to psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers. Administratively, Dina is a member of the Violence Monitoring Committee at the Allan.

GOULET, Sylvie
Sylvie Goulet obtained her doctorate in Psychology from the University of Montreal in 1984 having completed her undergraduate studies at McGill. Dr. Goulet's main research interests include life habit modification including the treatment of eating disorders, hypertension and stress, especially post-traumatic stress disorder. Among her many clinical duties at the Allan, she directs the department's weight control and gambling programs. Sylvie has also been active as an administrator in the Order of Professional Psychologists of Quebec.

SINYOR, David
David Sinyor received his Ph.D. from Concordia University in 1984. His dissertation research examined the impact of aerobic fitness on physiological and subjective responses to psychosocial stress. His clinical interests focus upon attentional deficits in adults and mood disorders. His current research interests include examining the usefulness of psychoeducation for individuals at-risk for depression, and validating an assessment protocol for adult ADD. Dr. Sinyor has recently become our Department’s point-man in organizing psychological support for patients in our hospital’s Heart Failure and Transplant Clinic.

SOOKMAN, Debbie (Training and Research Director)

Part-time Consultants:

• Dr. Baldomero Presser, Staff Psychiatrist, Royal Victoria Hospital. We are very pleased to have such a supportive and experienced clinician to complement our psychological interventions in CBTS. Dr. Presser provides psychiatric back-up not only for psychopharmacology consultations but for all the challenging problems encountered by the service.

SEX AND COUPLE THERAPY SERVICE

General Description

The Sex and Couple Therapy Service offers a wide-range of assessment, treatment and consultation services to individuals, couples and groups. In the area of human sexuality, the service regularly works with a wide variety of problems including sexual dysfunctions (e.g. premature ejaculation, anorgasmia), sexual phobias and aversions, sexual orientation and identity issues, sexual abuse, sexual enhancement and gender identity. We also see a large number of individuals and couples seeking to improve their relationship by exploring issues involving communication, power sharing and negotiation, jealousy, commitment, and intimacy, Helping couples re-evaluate their relationship or even easing the difficulties of separation and divorce are other therapeutic goals addressed by the unit.

Of special concern in the area of sexual dysfunctions, our service works closely with the RVH Department of Urology in a multi-disciplinary program for the assessment and treatment of erection problems and with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the assessment and treatment of vaginismus and dyspareunia.

The Sex and Couple Therapy Service also offers educational group programs for the general public in the areas of enhancing the relationship in a couple or sexual satisfaction. The Training Program

Training begins with an intensive period of didactic seminars that introduces the beginning intern to the basic principles of sex and couple therapy. Interspersed among the seminars are observation sessions in which interns sit-in with supervisory staff during ongoing assessment and therapy sessions. Afterwards, the interns are assigned increasing more challenging cases as the training year progresses.

All interns are required to attend the weekly clinical rounds and to participate as co-therapists in the sex education and couple enhancement groups. Since we believe that learning is facilitated by peer interaction, much of the weekly supervision is conducted in groups where fun and intellectual stimulation are defining characteristics. Attendance of the world famous Sex and Couple Therapy Christmas party is major requirement of the training program – although preliminary stress management training to withstand Dr. Binik’s introduction of the interns is available.

SEX & COUPLE THERAPY SERVICE

Predoctoral InternshipTime Commitment: September to August 2.5 days per week including Tuesdays.

Positions: Three half-time positions

Eligibility: Graduate students in Clinical Psychology, who have completed advanced clinical course work, including a course in psychopathology, plus an assessment internship are eligible to apply.

Special Provisions: Interns have two weeks vacation in the summer months with additional vacation time negotiated in advance with the Training Director.

Upon receipt of the above materials, suitable candidates will be called for an interview.

The deadline for receipt of the application is the second Monday in January; our decisions regarding acceptance are made on Notification Day

How to apply

Send the following:

1. completed application form
2. statement of the applicant's interests and goals
3. a curriculum vitae including description of all pertinent clinical experience
4. the names of two referees, whom the student will contact to arrange for letters to be sent
5. a transcript of undergraduate and graduate grades

Send information to:

Dr. Dennis Kalogeropoulos
Training Director
Royal Victoria Hospital
Allan Memorial Institute
Sex and Couple Therapy Service
Department of Psychology
1025 Pine Avenue, West
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 1A1

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BERGERON, Sophie
Sophie Bergeron received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from McGill University in 1998 after completing a predoctoral internship in the Allan and a post-doctoral fellowship at the UQAM where she is currently on-staff in the Department of Sexology. Her clinical and research interests centers on the assessment and treatment of sexual pain disorders. Her recent arrival at the service adds further depth to the quality of research, clinical and training activities of the unit.

BINIK, Irv ( Service Director)
Irv Binik received his Ph.D in clinical psychology and experimental psychopathology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975. He completed an internship in the Department of Psychiatry of the Warneford Hospital in Oxford, England. Currently, he is a Professor of Psychology at McGill University and Director of the Sex and Couple Therapy Service of Allan Memorial Institute. Dr. Binik's research career has gained international fame in many areas including dysfunctions especially dyspareunia as well as investigations into the quality of life of patients with chronic illnesses. Besides breaking new ground in these areas, Dr. Binik has done pioneering work in the use of expert computer systems for the simulation of clinical judgment and treatment. However, at this point he is not prepared to be exchanged for a micro-chip.

KALOGEROPOULOS, Dennis (Training Coordinator)
Dennis Kalogeropoulos received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Concordia University in 1991. His clinical interests include multimodal approaches to the assessment and treatment of a wide range of sexual problems and issues related to sexuality as well treatment of relationship difficulties. His current research interests include investigating the effectiveness of psychoeducational group programs in the areas of marital enhancement and coping with prostate cancer. He is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Concordia University and a Consultant to the Urology Department of McGill University. Dennis is both a well-known and acclaimed speaker in all areas of couple behaviour.

GUTMAN, Corinne
Corinne Gutman received a B.A. in Psychology at McGill University and completed her M.A. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Hartford in l977. Her research involved role-playing and the development of empathy in children. She has lectured in the areas of learning disabilities and adolescent development for 12 years at Concordia University. At the Child and Adolescent Service, her clinical pursuits involve the integration of psychodynamically-oriented individual therapy with a systemic approach in family therapy. Her work includes diagnostic assessment, clinical supervision and teaching. She is co-leader of the Family Therapy Training Seminar, a training program offered to students of various disciplines at the AMI.

Part-time Consultant

• Dr. Gerald Wiviott, Department of Psychiatry, Allan Memorial Institute. We are pleased to have Dr. Wiviott associated with our unit, his expertise in all things psychiatric added to his keen clinical acumen add to a further dimension to the richness of our training program.

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