Nebraska Mental Health Centers

Psychology Residency Program (NMHC-PRP)

Thank you for your interest in the Nebraska Mental Health Centers Psychology Residency Program (NMHC-PRP). The NMHC-PRP provides residents the opportunity to assume a comfortable, yet challenging degree of responsibility for carrying out major professional psychological functions while maintaining a high level of supervisory support, professional role modeling, mentorship, guidelines for ethical practice and awareness of administrative structures.

Nebraska Mental Health Centers is a member of APPIC. Applicants can expect that the NMHC-PRP meets APPIC membership standards. APPIC Membership insures the postdoctoral applicant that the APPIC member site has met a certain level of quality and training standards, such as having due process procedures in place, and providing adequate and qualified supervision. Member sites are required to provide an organized sequence of training experiences that meet or exceeds membership criteria for APPIC.

The residency program is designed to be completed over a twenty-four (24) month period. Throughout the program each resident will benefit from a planned, programmed sequence of supervised training experiences.

The first year serves as the post-doctoral year required by most states for licensure. Each resident is evaluated as to their experience, training and level of competency in clinical services, with training activities then tailored to meet each resident’s needs. As each resident becomes more competent and knowledgeable, more opportunity and independence is sequentially given and residents initiate, under supervision, more complex cases. Additionally, residents are given the opportunity to assume increased responsibility at one of the satellite offices, serving as an on-site mentor to clinical staff, exploring outreach opportunities within the community, or assisting in the development of new services/programs within the community.

The second year of the program will prepare the resident in greater depth in the areas of psychological assessment, diagnosis, psychotherapy, psychotherapy supervision, consultation/liaison, clinical team management, and mental health administration. The second year serves to meet the licensure requirements in some states and is of benefit regarding board certification. The second year offers increased opportunity for residents to do the following:

Provide supervision and training to interns and other behavioral health professionals

Deliver consultation to outside groups/meetings/professional trainings

Participate in mental health administration

Provide a variety of forensic services and neuropsychological/rehabilitation services

Training activities are designed to encourage excellence by ensuring that residents are guided and supported with supervision (both scheduled and just-in-time availability), mentoring, and a developmentally informed sequence of relevant training experiences. Residents are exposed to a wide range of experiences on a weekly basis rather than participating in specialized rotations. Training is tailored to the skills and competencies demonstrated by the resident at the beginning of the residency and his/her increased knowledge and skills throughout the year.

Mission Statement

The mission of Nebraska Mental Health Centers (NMHC), the sponsoring agency, is to strive for excellence in meeting the dynamic behavioral health needs, in terms of assessment, diagnosis and treatment, of a diverse society while keeping abreast of the latest scientific discoveries in health service psychology.

The overall aims of the residency experience are to help early career psychologists achieve the following:

1. Develop advanced knowledge and skills in the assessment and treatment of a diagnostically and culturally diverse client population.
2. Meet all of the supervisory and clinical requirements for licensure eligibility in Nebraska.
3. Solidify professional identity as an early-career psychologist and be prepared to practice independently--and in leadership positions--as a clinical psychologist within community settings.

Director of Residency Program

Dr. Leland Zlomke, serves as the Director of the NMHC-PRP and is responsible for coordinating and directing all activities of the residency program and resources, including resident supervision, evaluation of program goals and activities, and documentation and maintenance of resident records.

In addition to Dr. Zlomke, four (4) additional licensed psychologists serve as adjunct faculty and/or participate in the training committee processes, such as monitoring the progression of each resident toward training goals, determining appropriate policies and procedures, and in the recruitment and selection of future residents.

Accreditation Status

The NMHC-PRP is not accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation

American Psychological Association

750 1st St. NE
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202-336-5970
Email: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: accreditation.apa.org

Basic Requirements

NMHC-PRP requires applicants to have completed all professional doctoral degree requirements from an APA-accredited doctoral program, or from a regionally-accredited institute and an APA or APPIC member psychology internship. Prior to beginning residency, residents are required to obtain licensure (at minimum a provisionally-licensed psychologist) required by the State of Nebraska to meet the requirements of their professional activities and professional needs of the agency.

All residents are expected to attend the program full-time. Additional requirement for residents completing the two-year program is to be independently licensed (i.e., licensed psychologist) within the first 16 months of residency.

Residents are required to attend all supervisions, trainings, and professional development seminars that are provided by NMHC-PRP, complete in a timely fashion psychological testing and assessment, comply with NMHC-PRP and NMHC policies and procedures, provide all clinical services, including accurate and comprehensive clinical record for their patients, and maintain professional behaviors within APA ethical guidelines.

Residents successfully completing the program are required to obtain a minimum of 2,000 hours each year, including 1,000 or more of these hours direct patient contact hours each year and have completed all clinical patient reports and documentation. Additionally, NMHC-PRP requires residents to receive a rating of 3 or above on all competencies on the final evaluation to successfully complete the program.

Nebraska Mental Health Centers, the sponsoring agency for the NMHC-PRP, resides is an Equal Opportunity Employer and thus, is committed to ensuring a range of diversity among the psychology training classes and strives to select candidates representing different kinds of programs and theoretical orientations, geographic areas, ages, racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, disabilities, and life experiences.

Application

Upon acceptance for NMHC-PRP, applicants need to complete the process for becoming a provisional licensed psychologist in Nebraska. Selection is based upon quality of the application and level of fit between applicant’s interests and level of fit between applicant’s interest and NMHC-PRP goals and objectives. NMHC-PRP abides by all rules and regulations set forth by APPIC in regard to application for residency as well as the entire conduct of the program.

Interested applicants should email Jill Zlomke McPherson at jzmcpherson@nmhc-clinics.com,.

Application due date is January 10, 2024. Virtual interviews will be conducted the following week. If there iss a need to obtain additional applications after January 2023, applicants may email their applications to Dr. Zlomke. One-hour virtual interviews will then be conducted on a rolling bais as applications are received.