From Patient to Provider: How Personal Medical Trauma Can Inform Supervision and Clinical Practice

ABSTRACT

Two predoctoral psychology interns share their personal reflections of neurological injuries they experienced during their adolescence and how it has informed and shaped their clinical work. Through their reflections, they provide insights and lessons learned as they have the unique first-hand experience of being a patient and now a rehabilitation psychology trainee and provider. Additionally, they describe how they have applied such knowledge during their clinical work with clients experiencing neurological and chronic health conditions. Issues involving communication with clients, families, and the treatment teams, the benefits and risks of self-disclosure, and the role of hope, meaning in life, and spirituality are discussed. The clinical practice implications of these insights are invaluable for trainees and healthcare specialists at all levels of experience, including the crucial role of supervision during the predoctoral internship year. Recommendations are made for clinical practice including providing developmentally appropriate communication and promoting an environment for growth and recovery. The authors are hopeful that the reflections provided in this article can inspire other trainees to feel comfortable in sharing their personal medical and psychological challenges as appropriate and relevant to help integrate their professional development.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Robert M. Gordon, PsyD and Jed N. McGiffin, PhD are supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): 90ARHF001 (J.F. Rath, Project Director). Publication contents do not represent the official news of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and readers should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Notes on contributors

Robert M. Gordon

Robert M. Gordon is a Clinical Associate Professor at New York University Grossman School of Medicine and consultant to the Postdoctoral Fellow Training He was the Director of Intern Training at Rusk Rehabilitation for 34 years. He has published in the areas of existential-relational approaches with patients with medical conditions during COVID-19, ethics, supervision, pain management, and the use of projective testing in neuropsychology. He is a member of the Hospital, Health and Addiction Workers, Patient and Families Working Group at the APA Interdivisional Task Force on the Pandemic. His ORCID number is 0000-0002-6273-8073.

Aria B. Grillo

Aria B. Grillo is completing her doctorate degree in Clinical Child Psychology doctorate program at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University and her pediatric neuropsychology internship at NYU Langone Medical Center working within the Fink Integrated Behavioral Health team of Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital. Aria has co-authored articles, presented at conferences, and successfully defended her dissertation focusing on the development of a text-based support program for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) parents. Aria’s interests include working with children and their families living with medical and mental health comorbid diagnoses, anxiety and mood disorders, depression and psychological trauma utilizing an integrated informed approach combining CBT, DBT-A, and humanistic psychology lenses. Aria’s work is informed by her commitment to the importance of protective factors including resiliency, hope, parent-child relationships, social and community supports. Aria will begin her postdoctoral fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital in the Fall working in child and adolescent inpatient and outpatient services.

Natalia S. Bernal-Fernandez

Natalia S. Bernal-Fernandez was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Natalia is completing her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Albizu University, San Juan Campus in Puerto Rico and her psychology internship year at NYU Langone Rusk Rehabilitation. Her areas of interest include cognitive rehabilitation, neuropsychological evaluations, and health disparities particularly in the Latinx population. Natalia’s dissertation was on Multidisciplinary Service Program: Cognitive Rehabilitation as an Intervention for Puerto Rican Patients between the Ages of 25 to 49 Years with Cognitive Impairment Related to Chemotherapy Treatment. She will begin her postdoctoral fellowship training at Mount Sinai’s Clinical Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Research Fellowship Program in the Fall.

Taylor D. Groth

Taylor D. Groth earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Derner School of Psychology at Adelphi University. She completed her internship in pediatric rehabilitation and neuropsychology at NYU Rusk, and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at NYU Rusk. Her clinical and research interests include psychotherapy process and outcome in children and adolescents, and pediatric neuropsychology. Taylor has a number of publications in journals including the journal of Psychotherapy; Psychotherapy Integration; Professional Psychology: Research and Practice; and Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma. Additionally, Taylor published an award-winning paper in the journal of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. This paper, “Psychologists’ willingness to provide services to individuals at risk of suicide,” earned the APA Division 29 Mathilda B. Canter Education and Training Award (2018) for papers addressing education, supervision, or training of psychotherapists. Her ORCID number is 0000-0002-8553-7346.

Jed N. McGiffin

Jed N. McGiffin completed his doctoral training in clinical psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University under the research mentorship of Dr. George A. Bonanno in the Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab. Dr. McGiffin’s research interests lie at the intersection of psychology and medicine, including risk and resilience factors associated with psychological adjustment following acute medical events, as well as the broader process of adaptation to acquired disability. He completed his psychology predoctoral internship at Rusk Rehabilitation, NYU Langone Health and is currently a second-year psychology. His postdoctoral fellow in Advanced Rehabilitation Research and Training (NIDILRR) at Rusk Rehabilitation under the mentorship of Dr. Joseph F. Rath. His ORCID number is 0000-0002-0657-7316.

Kenneth D. Hartline

Kenneth D. Hartline received his Doctor of Psychology degree in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology in Malibu, CA. He is Board Certified in Clinical Neuropsychology. He completed his APA-accredited internship at Rusk Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. Dr. Hartline completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric clinical neuropsychology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where he trained in pediatric traumatic brain injury and epilepsy. Following his training, he was an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. He is currently a pediatric neuropsychologist and supervisor of psychology at Rusk Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital. His areas of research interests and publications include pediatric rehabilitation following head injury and cognitive functioning in individuals with neurological disorders including epilepsy.