Director of Special Programs
Clinical Training & Internship Programs
The Center for Child Development is proud to provide early-career education opportunities to our clinicians working in the field. Our Clinical Training Program, for early-career clinicians, and our Graduate Internship Program, for late-stage graduate students pursuing careers in mental health fields, are designed to provide experience and education in real world applications.
Led by our Director of Special Programs, Jennifer Meehan, LCSW, the two programs work hand-in-hand to further the career goals of new clinicians and support their professional development. Below you will find a short description of each program, including its purpose and stated goals.
Clinical Training Program
The Clinical Training Program components support CCD’s mission statement and guidelines, wherein the overarching goal is to provide high-quality mental health services and promote empowerment and optimal wellness of our clients and community. The Clinical Training Program is designed to provide instruction and support for the agency’s early-career clinicians who are in the beginning stages of providing direct clinical client care and family services.
The primary objectives of the program are to assist new clinicians with acquiring skills and experience in the areas of clinical documentation, diagnostic accuracy, application of psychotherapy and its evidence-based components, evaluation of client progress, ethical practice, professionalism, and biopsychosocial-spiritual experiences including trauma, needs, development, strengths, and potential areas of growth. The program also provides opportunities for new clinicians to build soft-skills in the areas of time-management, rapport-building, marketing of personal services, recognition of personal strengths, leadership, effective communication, adaptability, self-awareness, patience, and self-care.
Graduate Internship Program
The Center for Child Development provides mental health services for children, adults, couples, and families across Delaware. Headquartered in Newark, CCD clinicians provide school-based mental health services for Delaware students in addition to serving others in need. CCD prides itself on quality of service. Our clinicians undergo monthly training on various clinical competencies, training modalities, and best practices. Supervisors conduct weekly supervision with all clinicians and oversight and support are critical components of the practice.
Our internship program fits squarely within this foundation of teaching, guiding, and supporting mental health professionals. Our interns come from a variety of local programs, including Wilmington University, Delaware State University, and Widener University. The intern experience at CCD is geared around clinical exposure; interns are partnered with clinicians active in the field and their experience is centered on their professional aspirations and educational goals.
Our internship program operates on a rolling basis. The application is available here.
Intern Spotlight - Kristen Lippolis
Kristen began her nearly decade-long study and career in mental health by receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. In the time since then, Kristen has worked with adults, adolescents, and children in a variety of settings including: residential, hospital, and community-based mental health and crisis intervention programs. Following the joy she found in social work, Kristen moved from New York to Pennsylvania to pursue her Master of Social Work (MSW) Degree from Westchester University of Pennsylvania. Kristen is completing her internship with CCD, working with children, adolescents, and families providing school-based therapy services.
Kristen has experience working with a variety of clinical and behavioral concerns, including PTSD and trauma, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, and anger and aggression. Kristen’s therapeutic focuses include Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Strengths-Based CBT, Play Therapy, and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Kristen loves to build relationships and collaborate with children, teens, and families to set and achieve treatment goals.