South Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center

Through a competitive solicitation process, the Florida Department of Children and Families chose Recovery Solutions to transition SFETC from public to private management in 2005. RS subsequently developed, designed, and built a state-of-the-art replacement facility that was completed in 2008.

SFETC has developed processes for ensuring respect for patient rights, prevention of abuse, neglect and exploitation, the virtual elimination of seclusion and restraint, and effective linkages to the community, legal system, state psychiatric facilities, and other agencies.

SFETC’s Doctoral Psychology Internship Program is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) and participates in the APPIC Internship Matching Program. Applications and the Applicant Agreement can be obtained from the APPIC website. Our program code is 1218. We have two funded Doctoral Psychology Internship positions. Our program is currently in the process of applying for American Psychological Association accreditation. The Department of Psychology consists of six full-time licensed psychologists, two full-time postdoctoral psychology residents, and two full-time doctoral psychology interns. The Director of Psychology, Clinical Training, and Forensic Services has oversight of the SFETC Doctoral Psychology Internship Program. The SFETC Doctoral Psychology Internship Program aims at developing doctoral psychology interns who can integrate practice with science, show multicultural sensitivity, and provide high-quality, evidence-based assessments and interventions to adults facing forensic issues and severe and persistent mental illness in a hospital-based setting. SFETC provides treatment using a multidisciplinary psychiatric rehabilitation model based on a philosophy of Illness Management & Recovery. The intern functions broadly as a clinical practitioner. The internship follows a sequential, cumulative, and increasingly complex training process so that interns can effectively acquire profession-wide competencies. Training is accomplished through clinical experiences, supervision, observation, and didactic trainings. Training activities include assessment, diagnosis, report writing, group interventions (DBT and competency-restoration), participation in multidisciplinary teams, individual therapy, individual competency restoration, didactic trainings, writing specialized behavior plans, and observations of court testimony.

For more information, click here to review the internship program brochure.

• Implemented active individualized patient treatment plans that led to a significant reduction in the average number of days to restore competency
• Implemented The Mandt System, a behavioral crisis interaction training, for all staff
• Established evidenced based practices and recovery culture
• Established an interdisciplinary response team for therapeutic responses to aggressive patients
• Initiated Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Moral Recognition Therapy, and the Minkoff co-occurring disorders approach
• Coordinated training with National Technical Assistance Collaborative to educate staff on how to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint
• Implemented trauma-informed care