Division of Behavioral Health
The Division of Behavioral Health (DBH) reports administratively to the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics. All psychology faculty in the Division are employees of the hospital and are involved in supervising interns. There are currently ten full-time, doctoral-level licensed psychologists and six post-doctoral fellows on staff. We also have an externship program that provides a range of training experiences to graduate students from doctoral programs in the Delaware and Philadelphia areas.
The Division’s psychologists have provided training for many years and training is central to each psychologist’s professional identity. Training also represents an integral facet of the Department of Pediatrics and the mission of the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. Academic affiliation with The Thomas Jefferson Medical College fosters training and research activities hospital-wide through a well-established residency program. All training faculty hold academic appointments through Jefferson Medical College. Psychology intern graduates are currently working in children’s hospitals, medical schools and outpatient clinics nationwide.
Within the Department of Pediatrics, the Division of Behavioral Health serves infants, children and adolescents in need of psychological evaluation, consultation and treatment. Services are provided to hospital inpatients as well as outpatients referred from ambulatory services of the hospital and the community. As previously stated, interns are exposed to a wide range of patients, encompassing both child clinical and pediatric experiences. In general, diagnostic evaluations include assessment of intellectual and academic functioning, attentional abilities and personality and behavior issues that contribute to school, family, social, and developmental difficulties. Neuropsychological, personality, early childhood (birth to age five) development, and ADHD have their own specialty evaluation services. Interns work closely with parents and schools to ensure that children receive a comprehensive evaluation that not only focuses on accurate diagnosis, but that also provides relevant, timely recommendations on an individual basis.
Consultation and treatment opportunities include experiences with inpatient and outpatient consultation; individual, family, and group therapies; behavioral medicine (including medical adherence, pain management, adjustment to chronic illness or acquired injury, and transplant pre-evaluations and treatment); school consultation and daycare consultation. Faculty is primarily oriented to cognitive-behavioral and family-systems approaches but other theoretical approaches are also well represented. Keeping in step with the times, we strive to offer evidenced-based, empirically supported interventions. Again, the wide range of clinical experiences offered to the intern is a recognized strength of the program.