The LLU Department of Psychiatry includes an outpatient clinic that provides treatment to a variety of ambulatory patient populations; the student counseling center for LLU students is also part of this clinic. Psychology interns work alongside faculty psychiatrists and psychologists providing individual psychotherapy and psychological assessment services to children, adolescents, and adults.
Psychiatric Inpatient & Partial Hospitalization Services
The Behavioral Medicine Center (BMC) is an acute, 89-bed inpatient psychiatric facility for child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric populations. It also provides chemical dependency treatment (including a specialized chronic pain and medication dependency track), Day Hospital and Intensive Outpatient Services to diverse age groups. The interns are primarily involved in leading and co-leading groups on the inpatient and partial hospitalization units as well as in the provision of psychological assessment services. As a training facility, the BMC also houses practicum level psychology students who complete a year-long rotation. Psychology interns are involved in various aspects of the practicum students’ rotation as well, such as providing peer supervision.
The inpatient programs offer group therapy and medication management for crisis stabilization (or detoxification for the Chemical Dependency Unit). Interns have the opportunity to run group therapy sessions on various units, provide psychological assessments, and conduct psychosocial assessments as needed.
- Adult Inpatient Program: ages 18 and older, often with serious, chronic mental illness, particularly characterized by mood and/or psychotic disorders
- Chemical Dependency Unit: ages 18 and older, inpatient detoxification program. Upon discharge from this program, patients transfer into the day treatment program, which generally lasts approximately 30 days
- Senior Inpatient Program: ages 55 and older, often with serious, chronic mental illness or dementia
- Adolescent Inpatient Program: ages 13-17, often with severe behavioral problems in addition to budding serious, chronic mental illness
- Child Inpatient Program: ages 5-12, often with severe behavioral problems in addition to budding serious, chronic mental illness
Day Treatment Programs
The day treatment programs run Monday through Friday as a replacement for work or school. Patients are offered group therapy and medication management on an outpatient basis. Interns have the opportunity to run group therapy sessions on some of the units (particularly Adolescent Partial and Chemical Dependency) and provide psychological assessments on each unit.
- Adult Partial Hospitalization: ages 18 and older, often used as a step-down from inpatient, but also used as more intense treatment for people who need more than traditional outpatient treatment but do not need to be admitted on an inpatient basis. There is a specialized DBT track for adults with Borderline Personality Disorder
- Child/Adolescent Partial Hospitalization: ages 8 to 18, often used as a step-down from inpatient, but also used as more intense treatment for people who need more than traditional outpatient treatment but do not need to be admitted on an inpatient basis. This population is often split between traditional “mental health” adolescents and “chemical dependency” adolescents.
- Eating Disorders: ages 12-adult, specializing in the treatment of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
- Chemical Dependency: ages 18 and older, often used as a step-down from inpatient detox. Many of the patients are living in a sober living environment during this time.
Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP)
The IOP programs run about three days a week, Monday through Friday, usually in the evening. Patients are offered group therapy and medication management on an outpatient basis in addition to a strong family therapy component. Interns have the opportunity to run group therapy sessions on some of the units and provide psychological assessments on each unit, although involvement in these programs is rare.
- Child: ages 8-13, often used as a step-down treatment from the partial program
- Adolescent: ages 13-18, often used as a step-down treatment from the partial program.
- There is a specialized Adolescent Self-Injury Program, focusing on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for patients with self-harm behaviors.
- The MEND program is designed to support the patient and his/her family in maintaining or regaining emotional health and balance during the process of a significant medical illness or treatment such as transplantation, diabetes management, or chemotherapy.
Health Psychology Services
At the Bariatric clinic, the intern's main responsibilities include conducting pre-transplantation assessments on transplantation candidates, for the purpose of identifying contraindications to successful transplantation, and conducting cognitive and personality assessments on patients in support of providing holistic treatment. The intern’s primary role in the transplantation process is to assess cognitive, psychiatric, and psychosomatic factors that might affect transplantation outcomes, and to develop recommendations that increase the odds of successful transplantation. The assessment is not used to disqualify a patient from receiving a transplantation (by the time the intern receives the referral, the transplantation team has already decided to put the patient on the wait list). Rather, the assessment may be used to identify possible red flags and minimize risk of a poor outcome. Assessment measures commonly used include the Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic (MBMD), the Repeatable Battery of for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).
At the Diabetes clinic, located at Riverside University Health (also known as RCRMC) in Moreno Valley, the intern's main responsibilities include conducting screening for co-morbid mood disorders (depression and anxiety) and to help the patient track and improve self-care behaviors. Assessment measures commonly used include the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 for depression, the Diabetes Distress Scale, and the Self-Care Inventory. Motivational Interviewing is a common intervention to encourage behavioral changes, individual psychotherapy intervention opportunities are also available as resources and time permits.
Following clinics also available at Riverside University Health Rotation
- Cardiology/Chronic Heart Failure
- Smoking Cessation
- Palliative Care
- Women's Health
- Continuity Care