Caron Treatment Centers
Site Director: Paula Boulware-Brown, Psy.D.
Website:
3 Positions
Program Code: 218117
243 N. Galen Hall Road
Wernersville, PA 19565
Caron Pennsylvania blends substance use disorder rehabilitation and behavioral health treatment with the latest evidence-based practices and historically proven treatment modalities. We believe our success is grounded in our ability to apply a multi-disciplinary, integrated approach to true healing for every individual and family we treat.
Caron Pennsylvania provides diverse levels of care ranging from residential treatment to outpatient services to better meet the individual needs of our patients and their families and provide consistent care throughout a continuum of services. Decisions regarding admission and placement are based upon the guidelines of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the individual needs of the patient based upon a comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment process.
Caron delivers evidence-based, specialized treatment through two distinct groups of programming – signature and core programming. Providing patients and families with the respect and compassion they deserve, while meeting their unique treatment needs. Core Programs are treatment units separated by developmental stage, phase of recovery, and gender. Their treatment docus is primary substance use disorder with supplemental offerings including psychological care, chronic pain treatment, and professionals programming.
Caron’s signature programs focus heavily on addressing the unique clinical, medical, and psychological needs of certain populations who require and desire a specialized, concierge level of care. Signature Programs include Older Adult and Grand View (i.e. business owners, executives, etc.). True to Caron’s long-standing clinical philosophy, our core programs provide evidence-based treatment modalities to manage a patient’s clinical, medical, and psychological conditions. As an in-network partner with several national and regional insurance providers, our core programs allow those who need treatment, regardless of where they live in the United States, to access the care they need. Included across programming is the Healthcare Professionals Track. The Healthcare Professionals Program at Caron provides treatment to those in safety-sensitive positions within the healthcare field.
Caron Pennsylvania employs a multidisciplinary team to conduct individualized assessments to help patients create treatment plans and meet measurable objectives. Clinicians with backgrounds in specific areas provide assessment and/or treatment services, as needed, as well as offer their expertise in a supervisory capacity. Clinicians work together to plan for and provide the most appropriate care.
Additionally, Caron Pennsylvania has established family therapists in response to the need for families to receive support and guidance; advocates work directly with patients and families to involve all significant persons in the treatment process by exploring the dynamics that either enhance or hinder the recovery process.
Psychology Services at Caron
Psychology at Caron Treatment Center, PA includes a team of licensed psychologists, psychology trainees at various levels, and one administrative support staff. Many of our current team members were trained through the former pre-doctoral internship or the current post doctorate training program. Clinical specialties entail an array of dual diagnosis conditions such as addiction with trauma, personality disorders, mood/affective disorders, thought disorders as well as anxiety, depressive and executive functioning disorders. We practice with a variety of evidence-based modalities such as CBT, DBT, psychodynamic, CPT, IFS, EMDR and more. The psychology team in conjunction with our interdisciplinary team of medical, health and wellness, spiritual, dietary, counseling professionals work 365/366 days of the year to help individuals and families primarily impacted by addiction. Caron works with a population of individuals ranging in age from 15 to older adult and from various vocational backgrounds. Units are gender, age, and stage of recovery specific. Other areas of treatment and specialized services at Caron include the family program, a partial hospitalization program, sober living, neurofeedback services, research, LGBTQIA+ programming, and chronic pain programming.
Current programming within the psychology department includes psychological testing and assessment, specialty group programming and trauma services. Additionally, services will be primarily provided for our core programs as well as our Healthcare Professionals Program. Occasionally interns will also provide psychological services for our Signature Programs. Psychological services are typically dispensed in group or individual format.
The psychology team at Caron takes pride in maintaining a group with high morale and great character. For the psychology team, we provide individual and group supervision to support staff and ensure each staff member employs a healthy work/life balance. We also provide training and other didactic needs to meet licensure requirements and enhance the provision of service. Striving to be ethical, healthy, well-balanced providers and remaining current with the latest research and best practices in the field ensures we provide excellent psychological services to patients.
Pre-doctoral interns will be fully engaged in all phases of the psychology department’s current structure including psychological testing, trauma, and specialty programming. For requirements such as research and outreach program, students will have the opportunity to engage with other departments within the Caron family to enhance their training experience. We have a fully functioning research program and various outlets of community outreach and engagement to make Caron an exciting place to train.
Trauma and Specialty Services
Our treatment team focuses on how traumatic events or situations, such as PTSD, are affecting recovery from substance abuse. In the context of a substance use disorder (or addiction), identifying trauma is the first step in treating it. We use measures such as PCL-5, a symptom checklist for PTSD, and the Trauma Symptoms Inventory (TSI), to identify a trauma response or PTSD.
If trauma symptoms or PTSD is identified, our trauma team, which includes on-site, full-time psychologists, works closely with the patient and the primary treatment team to incorporate trauma therapies into the treatment plan. The therapies used will depend on symptoms and treatment unit. Those therapies may include:
- Evidence-based treatments to address PTSD and trauma symptoms, which include eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and cognitive processing therapy (CPT), gold standards in treating PTSD based on a significant amount of research that proves its efficacy and effectiveness.
- Specialty cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) groups to address coping skills for anxiety and depression.
- Trauma-sensitive yoga, with certified instructors, provides a safe and gentle way to relearn how to be “in” your body and explore how that feels.
- Neurofeedback, a noninvasive therapeutic intervention that can reinforce recovery and help to manage moods and emotions.
Interns will participate in trauma programming and specialty group therapy. The trauma program offers psychoeducational and coping skills groups, trauma expressive art therapy, and trauma sensitive yoga to patients experiencing post-traumatic stress symptoms across the lifespan. The specialty groups are additional therapeutic groups designed for patients with co-occurring mental health needs, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy groups for Depression and Anxiety. Interns will:
- Be actively involved in the assessment and referral process.
- Participate in the weekly multidisciplinary case consultations.
- Facilitate and/or co-facilitate the weekly psychoeducational and coping skills groups.
- Observe and/or facilitate trauma expressive art therapy.
- Have educational opportunities in various trauma treatment modalities, such as Cognitive Processing Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, and/or Internal Family Systems.
- Facilitate and/or co-facilitate weekly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy groups for Depression and Anxiety.
- Participate in crisis response/management across campus which includes risk assessments, crisis interventions, treatment and safety planning, and communication with the multidisciplinary treatment team.
- Have the opportunity to observe other specialty groups such as chronic pain, grief and loss, LGBTQIA+, etc.
Psychological Testing
Patients who come to Caron for the treatment of substance use disorders often have an array of mental health symptoms. These concerns can stem directly from their substance use or may be related to other co-occurring disorders like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. Additionally, other pre-existing factors may be unrelated to the substance use disorder yet mimic the symptoms, contribute to substance use, and complicate the diagnostic picture – often the case for those struggling with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or older adults with cognitive decline, for example.
To successfully treat patients and make informed aftercare recommendations, staff at Caron strive to understand the root causes of each patient’s symptoms to create a comprehensive treatment plan. In some cases, that may require psychological testing to clarify the diagnosis and better understand the relationship between substance use disorder and a patient’s mental and cognitive health.
The psychology department at Caron offers testing and assessment as part of our comprehensive treatment programming for adults and older adults. Psychological testing is available, by referral, to address specific diagnostic questions. These may include, but are not limited to:
- Comprehensive ADHD testing
- Neuropsychological testing to assess cognitive functioning and identify deficits
- Assessing personality characteristics and functioning
- Evaluating emotional health and well-being
- Accurately identifying psychiatric illnesses
- Identifying and suggesting evidence-based methods and treatments to address areas of concern
Participation in psychological assessment provides the patient an opportunity to develop a greater understanding of his/her cognitive and psychological functioning. Most importantly, testing helps to identify areas of concern and target evidence-based interventions that will guide the treatment plan.
Interns will have the opportunity to learn, administer, score, and interpret self-report, projective, neuropsychological, and cognitive measures. Interns are required to complete at least two integrated testing batteries/reports and attend weekly testing consultation and supervision meetings. Interns will utilize testing results to provide feedback and recommendations to patients, their families, and the interdisciplinary treatment team, which includes physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, nurses, and other disciplines.
Healthcare Professionals Track
The Healthcare Professionals Program at Caron provides treatment to those in safety-sensitive positions within the healthcare field. The program’s continuum of care includes a four-day residential assessment program, residential treatment, and Caron’s partial hospital program with sober living. Each stage of treatment and its length of stay is determined by Caron’s Healthcare Professional Interdisciplinary team. In making recommendations for each treatment stage, the team complies with the requirements of state monitoring programs and licensing boards. The program includes group and individual therapy modalities, as well as psychological evaluation and cognitive assessment when indicated. Group and individual counseling focus on relapse prevention, coping skills, appropriate disclosure, establishing a healthy work-life balance in recovery, and stress reduction. In addition to individual and group counseling, the Healthcare Professionals Program includes specialty groups that address licensure and work issues, integration back into professional practice, and challenges specific to healthcare professionals.
Specific Intern duties may entail the following:
- Complete psychological evaluations
- Observe discussion of monitoring options with patient and HCP Team
- Observe anonymous calls between patients and monitoring programs
- Observe/participate in progress updates delivered to monitoring programs
- Complete routine MoCA screenings at approximate midpoint of treatment (if not completed at time of initial evaluation)
- Offer individual follow-up to HCP patients when indicated
- Complete safety plans with HCP patients when indicated
- Administer RBANS and CTMT and deliver feedback (could be in the context of an HCPA out brief at times)
- Observe and participate in HCPA out briefs
- Observe/participate in HOW HCP Process Group
Internship Training Philosophy
Our pre-doctoral internship program’s philosophy of training endorses a scientific attitude as psychologists to observe, assess, and intervene in all professional capacities such as testing, consultation, therapy, and research within a multidisciplinary treatment approach. In essence, an essential goal is to train interns to think like psychologists and to expand their level of observation, assessment, and intervention beyond the level of the “individual identified patient” to all relevant bio-psycho-social systems (especially the family system) that impacts the patient’s recovery. The highest standards of professional conduct and ethics as well as a maturing sense of professional identity as a psychologist are required of our pre-doctoral interns as they are the foundations of our beliefs.
The internship training program at Caron trains pre-doctoral level clinical psychologists, in accordance with a practitioner-scholar model. The primary goal of the program is to provide high quality training that will prepare pre-doctoral psychology students for the independent practice of professional psychology. Upon completion of the program, pre-doctoral interns are expected to be able to function as competent, ethical, responsible, autonomous, entry-level psychologists able to provide professional psychological services in a variety of clinical settings and especially within a substance abuse treatment center.
Checklist for Intern
As outlined in the Site Affiliation Agreement with Agency, the College/Consortium of each Intern is required to attest to current and primary verification of the following documents. All documents are to be housed at the College/Consortium; however, Agency requests the right to access copies at our request. These are required by Agency prior to any Intern beginning his/her observation. The psychology department admin staff will also maintain a copy of these documents.
- Evidence of current certified CPR/First Aid
- Evidence of Mantoux Test administered within the past 12 months
- Positive test evidence of standardized practice follow through
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania child abuse/sex offender history clearance (Act 33) completed and no existing record
- Acceptable drug screening result upon hire
- Recent County criminal background check completed
- FBI clearances completed within the past 12 months and cleared to work with adolescents
- Graduate training license to practice medicine within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, if applicable
- Provide full coverage of health, professional and privacy liability insurance
- Copy of DEA certification, if applicable
- Proof of physical exam and influenza inoculation
Administrative, Clerical, and Technical Support
The psychology team is supported by the department administrative assistant. Department administrator will assist with the scheduling of groups and some psych testing services. The intern will be responsible for electing and maintaining all patient appointments with the use of the electronic record and outlook. Pre-doctoral interns will be provided a viable workspace and trained on the use of Caron technology to include the medical record, phone, and dictation system as well as other tools and systems required for the position. Psychology interns are responsible for maintaining appropriate documentation in the electronic record of all patients. Caron has a full functioning IT department that can be utilized to provide as needed support for technology during regular business hours and after hours in an emergency. The facilities department manages office space and equipment outside the electronic resources in all office space. The intern will be provided with access and information governing facilities and office equipment. Caron utilizes a switchboard system for outside and internal communication systems. The operators assist with on-campus emergencies and general communications across campus. The intern will be oriented to all Caron’s systems utilized to provide support to the required duties and the provision of services.
Work Schedule
Interns will maintain a standard 40-hour work week Monday-Thursday 8:30am-5:00pm to include 32 hours on site, with a 30 min lunch period. Interns will then be engaged in didactics all day on Fridays off site. Flexibility in work hours will be pre-approved by the Training Director or assigned supervisors. Scheduled PTO should be cleared by the intern’s assigned supervisor and procedures for back up coverage should be strictly adhered to.
Site Interviews
Potential candidates will be invited in for in-person interviews. Interviews will include a variety of assessment and observational modes to include writing samples and group interaction as well as a traditional interview format.
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