David Godot Psy.D. Clinical Psychology Student in Chicago, IL

Most Recent Post: Completed My Doctoral Psychotherapy Practicum

In Training on 28 June 2009 with no comments

Photo by Joel Bedford

As of Wednesday evening my psychotherapy practicum is complete!

I spent the year externing on the Valeo Intensive Outpatient Unit at Chicago Lakeshore Hospital. Lakeshore is a freestanding psychiatric hospital, and the IOP unit is located a couple blocks away in a separate building. Many of the patients I saw there were transitioning from inpatient care, some were going back and forth between inpatient and outpatient, and some were admitted solely for intensive outpatient treatment.

Valeo is a specialty program that caters to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals, and patients come from a wide range of socio-economic, cultural, and personal backgrounds. Nearly all patients were dually diagnosed mentally ill substance abusers (MISA), with a few patients being treated solely for mental illness and others presenting with primary addictions. A large percentage of patients presented with clinically significant Axis II features, and the vast majority had survived some form of childhood abuse.
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