Gregory McDevitt and Taylor Wilson
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Our Internship at Bancroft Neurohealth
We are going to focus on the therapeutic component of treating individuals from a neuropsychological perspective.
Bancroft was established in 1883 in Haddonfield, initially as a school for children with intellectual disabilities. It has since grown to numerous locations in the tri-state area serving about 1,500 children and adults annually who have autism, brain injuries, or another intellectual disability.
We spent most of our internship at the Brick location of Bancroft in the day program. This program focuses on providing a daily structure of group and individual therapy to accomplish individual goals. At Brick we saw on average 15 patients per day.
As interns, we shadowed neuropsychologists, who are usually clinical psychologists who choose to specialize in neuropsychology. However we also were able to shadow therapists from a variety of disciplines, including physical and occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. We were taught about the interdisciplinary perspective, which just means that the therapists and staff rely upon open communication and collaboration to provide the best treatment and support for patients.
Greg: My favorite group that I led was the music therapy group. Most people have a basic idea of what music therapy is, but few people understand its many clinical benefits and that it has empirical support. Music therapy can actually enhance recovery from brain injury by improving coordination, verbal and social skills, and help to integrate the unconscious into conscious awareness.
Each session had a theme, such as rhythm or harmony, that was used as a metaphor for aspects of daily life. Clients engaged in karaoke style singing while the others were encouraged to tap along to the beat and play percussive instruments. When selecting songs, they were asked to choose songs that represented personal experiences with the hope of the performance being cathartic.
Taylor: I started an art therapy group, in which I based my weekly plans on recent research that found art was beneficial to specific functioning. I planned these projects around fostering fine motor skills, emotional awareness, and stress relief.
This collage project was my favorite group, because everyone was very engaged and because it was a self-expressive project, it provoked a great discussion and group cohesiveness.
Finally for our little piece project we have decided to have a staff appreciation day to thank our supervisors and the staff at Bancroft who took us under their wings and helped us grow professionally more than we thought possible in the short time that we were there. We also decided to make instruments to leave at Bancroft because the patients absolutely love music group and we’d like that to continue once we leave.
Greg: This internship has really impacted my professional development. Clinical psychology was always been an interest of mine, but I really never had a concrete idea of what it was actually like. Now I have some first-hand experience. I learned that I have the interest as well as the patience for this career. On my first day, I was so intimidated. This intimidation is now gone, and I now feel confident in my own abilities.
Taylor: My experiences at Bancroft made me more confident in my own abilities: Just a few months ago I never thought that I could create a therapy group and actually run it, but I did! Working with the patients at Bancroft also made me appreciate the little things in life and to not take them for granted.
We are going to focus on the therapeutic component of treating individuals from a neuropsychological perspective.
Bancroft was established in 1883 in Haddonfield, initially as a school for children with intellectual disabilities. It has since grown to numerous locations in the tri-state area serving about 1,500 children and adults annually who have autism, brain injuries, or another intellectual disability.
We spent most of our internship at the Brick location of Bancroft in the day program. This program focuses on providing a daily structure of group and individual therapy to accomplish individual goals. At Brick we saw on average 15 patients per day.
As interns, we shadowed neuropsychologists, who are usually clinical psychologists who choose to specialize in neuropsychology. However we also were able to shadow therapists from a variety of disciplines, including physical and occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. We were taught about the interdisciplinary perspective, which just means that the therapists and staff rely upon open communication and collaboration to provide the best treatment and support for patients.
Greg: My favorite group that I led was the music therapy group. Most people have a basic idea of what music therapy is, but few people understand its many clinical benefits and that it has empirical support. Music therapy can actually enhance recovery from brain injury by improving coordination, verbal and social skills, and help to integrate the unconscious into conscious awareness.
Each session had a theme, such as rhythm or harmony, that was used as a metaphor for aspects of daily life. Clients engaged in karaoke style singing while the others were encouraged to tap along to the beat and play percussive instruments. When selecting songs, they were asked to choose songs that represented personal experiences with the hope of the performance being cathartic.
Taylor: I started an art therapy group, in which I based my weekly plans on recent research that found art was beneficial to specific functioning. I planned these projects around fostering fine motor skills, emotional awareness, and stress relief.
This collage project was my favorite group, because everyone was very engaged and because it was a self-expressive project, it provoked a great discussion and group cohesiveness.
Finally for our little piece project we have decided to have a staff appreciation day to thank our supervisors and the staff at Bancroft who took us under their wings and helped us grow professionally more than we thought possible in the short time that we were there. We also decided to make instruments to leave at Bancroft because the patients absolutely love music group and we’d like that to continue once we leave.
Greg: This internship has really impacted my professional development. Clinical psychology was always been an interest of mine, but I really never had a concrete idea of what it was actually like. Now I have some first-hand experience. I learned that I have the interest as well as the patience for this career. On my first day, I was so intimidated. This intimidation is now gone, and I now feel confident in my own abilities.
Taylor: My experiences at Bancroft made me more confident in my own abilities: Just a few months ago I never thought that I could create a therapy group and actually run it, but I did! Working with the patients at Bancroft also made me appreciate the little things in life and to not take them for granted.