Columbia Psychology in the Schools (CPSP)

A program of the Child Division, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research

This program is a one-year curriculum designed for psychologists working or planning to work in educational settings.  Basic components of the program include the following:

• Students are assigned an individual CPSP Mentor with whom they will meet monthly to discuss topics of interest, and brainstorm about issues related to school-based psychology.  The mentors are a select group of psychodynamically oriented psychologists with extensive experience working in school settings . Meetings will take place in the mentor’s office and will be arranged at a mutually agreed upon time.
• All students and CPSP mentors will come together one Tuesday evening per month for group discussions which will focus on areas of interest such as the role of the school consultant, interfacing with teachers and administrators, managing confidentiality, working with parents and handling behavioral, social and emotional challenges with different age groups within schools.
• Students will also attend didactic seminars, two Wednesday evenings per month, with students who are enrolled in the Columbia Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training Program (CAPP); these seminars are led by faculty of the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and will provide training in child and adolescent development and treatment.

In addition, those CPSP students who desire a clinical supervisory experience can apply to the CAPP bi-monthly Supervisory Group; this small group, which meets on alternate Wednesday evenings, is led by Columbia psychoanalysts and provides participants with the opportunity to present their own clinical vignettes and dilemmas.

Participants in CPSP can expect to develop a sophisticated understanding of development in school-aged children and adolescents, deepen their understanding of the role of the psychologist/consultant within the school setting, and achieve an integrated sense of the impact and interplay of psychodynamic, familial, social and cultural factors in students’ lives.

Qualifications include a Psy.D. or Ph.D. in Psychology and previous training in work with children/adolescents. Specific experience in schools is not a requirement. A certificate will be provided when the program is completed.  The yearly fee is $600.00 (a small additional charge will apply to those students who are accepted into the CAPP Supervisory Group).  Interested applicants should contact Dr. Susan Scheftel at sscheftel@aol.com or 212-769-9311.  You can download the application here.

Program Coordinator:
Susan Scheftel, Ph.D.

CPSP Mentors:
Jason Gold, Ph.D.
Sherri Kauderer, Ph.D.
Francesca Schwartz, Ph.D.
William Solodow, Ph.D.