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Kaua’i School District

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map of HI with location marker at Lihue, HI

Positions: 2 Full-time Funded Positions

General Information

The Hawai’i Department of Education (DOE) administers the statewide system of public schools, composed of seven districts (Honolulu, Central, Leeward, Windward, Hawai’i, Maui, and Kaua’i). HI-PIC has training sites in 4 of these districts- Windward, Hawai’i – East Hawai’i, Hawai’i West Hawai’i, and Kaua’i. These districts serve approximately 170,000 students attending more than 300 schools. DOE provides and delivers School Based Behavioral Health (SBBH) in order to remove barriers to learning through the provisions of behavioral health services to students. SBBH emphasizes the development of skills necessary to meet the social/emotional and behavioral demands of the learning and school community environment. The internship sites within DOE support the efforts of the SBBH program by supporting the emotional health and academic growth of students through provision of behavioral and mental health services within the school systems. The training placements within the Department of Education will require travel between school sites, thus interns must have consistent access to reliable transportation.

The Internship Experience

Interns (3) at the Kaua’i School District site will provide services within the School-Based Behavioral Health (SBBH) program. The interns will be placed on the campus of one or more public schools on Kaua’i in an SBBH clinic and under the direct supervision of the licensed clinical psychologist assigned to that school. Interns will conduct clinical psychological evaluations, individual, group, and/or family psychotherapy to school-aged children with a variety of mental health diagnoses. Interns will participate on multidisciplinary treatment and educational planning teams, conduct classroom observations, and consult with teachers, administration, and other school personnel in developing and implementing positive behavioral supports. Interns will also consult with providers and programs from other state agencies including Family Court, Child Protective Services, and the Department of Health. These external programs may include providing community-based residential care, transitional family homes, multi-systemic therapy, and functional family therapy. SBBH personnel include the Mokihana Program Director, Clinical Director (clinical psychologist), Training Director (clinical psychologist), 2 additional psychologists, 4 school psychologists, 17 behavioral health specialists, and 4 clerks. Whereas interns’ training experience is supervised primarily by the HI-PIC faculty (Dr. Bivens, Dr. Taylor, and Dr. Suzuki), interns may choose to work and train under the other psychologists within SBBH across the island based on their interest in specific age groups, populations, and assessment or treatment opportunities.

Contact Information

Site Director: Alex Bivens, Ph.D.
Email: cntr.abivens@k12.hi.us
Website: http://kauaischools.org/