Interns typically spend an average of 10 hours each week in CMTP didactic seminars. The yearlong seminars described below are from the current year's core didactics, but does not constitute the total didactic component of the training program. Other seminars and lectures are available to Interns both within the medical complex (e.g. Grand Rounds) and in their respective placement sites. Seminars are subject to change.

Cross-Cultural Psychology Seminar

The objectives of this weekly, two-hour seminar are to increase Interns' knowledge of cultural issues involved in psychological theories and in the psychotherapy process. This course is aimed at enhancing an Intern's appreciation of the role his/her own ethnicity and value system plays as he/she engages in that process. The seminar utilizes a combination of didactic lectures, assigned readings, case presentations, and experiential discussions to achieve its objectives. Ms. Dowd leads this seminar.

Rorschach Seminar, Arianne Miller, Ph.D.

The purpose of this seminar is for interns to improve their capacity to use the Rorschach Inkblot Test to aid in answering diagnostic questions and understanding personality functioning. This seminar will review the basics of administration, scoring and interpretation of the Rorschach using Exner’s Comprehensive System, as well as alternative interpretative methods (e.g. card pull, projection, sequence and content analysis). Throughout the course we will closely attend to how culture can impact scoring and interpretation. We will also address integrating Rorschach data into comprehensive psychological reports, as well as scoring and interpretation of data in specific populations (e.g. adults diagnosed with major mental illness). This seminar meets biweekly for 2 hours and is composed of lectures, discussion and review of test data. Lead by Dr. Arianne Miller.

Multicultural Family Therapy Seminar

This seminar meets twice monthly for two hours per session. The seminar focuses on cross-cultural family systems theory and practice. This seminar also combines discussions of assigned readings with case conference discussions. David Trimble, Ph.D. will coordinate and teach the seminar. Guest lecturers will include Jodie Kliman, Ph.D., Dawn Martinez, M.S.W., Gonzalo Bacigalupe, Ed.D., Jay King, Ph.D., and Hugo Kamya, Ph.D. These faculty members comprise a multicultural group of experienced, practicing family therapists who have long associations with CMTP. Dr. Trimble has supervised and taught in CMTP for more than thirty years.

Research/Dissertation Support Seminar

This one-and-a-half hour seminar will be conducted once per month. This course is intended to facilitate Interns' completion of their dissertations or initiation of independent research if dissertation is already completed. This seminar has two components. One component will consist of discussions about the process, barriers and success methods for completion of dissertations. The second component, dissertation support, consists of Interns presenting their planned or completed dissertation research to the faculty for critique and support. This seminar is participatory and peer support oriented. Dr. Crawford will lead this seminar.

Multicultural Issues in the Practice of Professional Psychology

This seminar will meet for one-and-a-half hours three times per month. The purpose of this seminar will be to develop the ability of multicultural psychologists to assume leadership positions in the field. It consists of a series of seminars focused on current issues, ethics, supervision, historical trends, administrative/managerial challenges and strategies, budgeting, program evaluation, conflict resolution, life-balancev current clinical trends and networking aimed at the advancement of junior colleagues as leaders in the field of multicultural psychology. This seminar will be alternately led by Dr. Bennasar, Dr. Chan, Dr. Moorehead-Slaughter, Dr. Lightfoot, Dr. Llerena-Quinn and Dr. Crawford. Psychologists and other mental health professionals outside CMTP faculty will also present on various relevant topical issues in psychology.

Intern-Faculty Meeting

This weekly meeting is chaired by an Intern and attended by the program director, associate director, primary supervisors, program staff and Interns. The agenda for these meetings is set at the beginning of each meeting and include such items as information exchange, general operational issues or notices, and program review. This meeting is an important forum for the discussion of administrative issues and for fostering open communications, role modeling and growth-producing interactions among the faculty, staff and Interns.