Doctoral Psychology Internship Program
Overview of Jefferson Center
Jefferson Center is a private 501(c) (3) not-for-profit community mental health center serving Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties for more than 60 years. Jefferson Center’s programs and services are designed to foster recovery and resilience for individuals of all ages who have mental health problems. As a private non-profit, Jefferson Center served more than 27,000 people in 2022. Our services are provided through numerous clinical locations in our three-county service area, in addition to schools, nursing homes, senior centers, and other partner locations throughout our community.
Training Philosophy
Accreditation Disclosure Statement
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 202-336-5979
Email: apaaccred@apa.org
accreditation.apa.org
Kathy Baur, PhD, LP
she/her/hers
Psychology Doctoral Internship Training Director
Jefferson Center
4851 Independence St.
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
Email: KathyB@jcmh.org

Kathy Baur, PhD

Beth Chandler, PsyD

Amanda M. Daniel, MA, LPC

Abigail Donate-Peralta, PsyD
Abigail Donate-Peralta, PsyD is a licensed psychologist who has been with Jefferson Center since 2022. Abi graduated in 2019 from the University of Colorado Denver with a degree in School Psychology and is a. She has worked in a public-school setting providing mental health, behavioral, crisis, consultation and assessment services to school aged-children and their families. Abi received a bilingual certificate through UC Denver and is biliterate/bilingual in English and Spanish. With JCMH, Abi provides a variety of clinical assessment services in English and Spanish.

Emily Grados, PsyD
Emily Grados, PsyD is a licensed clinical psychologist who works for Jefferson Center as manager of Crisis Services, overseeing operations of the 24/7 walk-in crisis center and mobile crisis response. Emily received her Doctorate from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles, and completed her internship at Glendale Adventist Hospital. She specializes in trauma-informed community crisis intervention.

Janae Gray, PhD

Kirsten Kloock, PsyD

Jodi Lovejoy, DBH

Adam Maher, PsyD

Priya McLennan, PhD

Lori Perkins, LPC
Lori Perkins, LPC is a Regis University graduate and a licensed professional counselor. She is a seasoned crisis clinician with over a decade of crisis experience and who has been with Jefferson Center for 26 years. Lori is the supervisor for the Crisis rotation.

Tiffany Shelton, PhD

Amelia Spiegel, BS

Sharon Stremel, PsyD

Brandon Ward, PsyD
Brandon Ward, PsyD is a licensed psychologist and the current Chief Innovation Office and VP of Information Systems at Jefferson Center. He has been with Jefferson Center since the beginning of 2020 and joined the doctoral internship training program shortly after. Dr. Ward interacts with interns on the Innovation/Research rotation and the Professional Development Seminar. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Ward has led a focused career in the areas of technology and practice innovation.

Esther Weiner, PsyD
Esther Weiner, PsyD is a pre-licensed clinical psychologist who has been at Jefferson Center for her internship and post-doctorate training. She received her doctorate from Loyola University Maryland, and has a myriad of clinical interests ranging from therapy, supervision, and program development. Esther also approaches her roles from a multicultural framework, and has a specific research interests in White racial identity and antiracism.

Joy Wishtun, LPC
- “The supervisors created a supportive and understanding environment. Throughout the year, I felt my training was continually emphasized and adjustments were made to meet the changing demands.”
- “One of the most beneficial experiences was having the opportunity to conduct psychological assessments for a wide array of populations while utilizing cultural context as a means of interpreting assessment results.”
- “Absolutely loved being able to supervise the externs & my supervisor was amazing at helping me through the experience. “
- “I think the opportunities to supervise and be involved with the Center have really allowed me to grow and discover new interests.”
- “The variety of experiences that my internship at Jefferson Center provided helped me to become a well-rounded early career psychologist. I especially enjoyed work with outpatient adults and work at Crisis doing evaluations.”
- “My internship provided me with a very in-depth experience and well-rounded training. I really liked working at Jefferson Center.”
- “The supervision was outstanding. I enjoyed getting to learn from multiple professional psychologists in the field who have different styles and different jobs. The assessment piece of the internship really helped me to develop and hone my assessment skills, particularly with writing cohesive and succinct reports.”
- “I found that doing presentations for staff and the community helped me to gain confidence in my education and training.”
Jefferson Center has adopted a hybrid mode ongoing and interns will do a combination of remote and in person work. The impact on the training program will follow the same modifications that were present for the 2021.2022 Training year.
- Individual and group therapy will be done using a combination of in person and remote video platform. In person sessions will be done virtually following CDC guidelines.
- All supervisions will be done in a combination of in person and virtual.
- Didactics and other trainings will be done both in person and remotely with webinars added to augment training
- Psychological assessments will continue in person for cognitive and neuropsychological referrals following CDC guidelines for in person testing. Social emotional testing, clinical interviews, and feedback sessions will be done remotely.
- Crisis Services are considered essential services and in person sessions are conducted following CDC guidelines.
Jefferson Center Psychology Doctoral Internship follows the guidelines adopted by APPIC as a part of CCTC.
Guiding principles:
Safety. The safety of HSP service recipients, trainees, trainers, and our communities is of utmost importance.
Equity. It is vital to make the HSP recruitment and selection process as accessible and fair as possible for diverse applicants and programs.
Ethics. Reliance on an ethical framework for decision making to guard against bias and lapses during a stressful time when systems and the people in them are taxed.
Science. Use of science, evidence-based findings, and the recommendations of public health experts to inform our process and recommended procedures.
Modifications in training program due to COVID-19 in the 2019.2020 Training Year
Service Delivery Changes:
By mid-March all therapy was being conducted via telephone or zoom and by April all clinicians were converted to Zoom for individual therapy. Group therapy was converted to virtual sessions by May with DBT program starting up again for virtual sessions mid-June.
All supervision was completed remotely. All didactics were completed remotely with some in person trainings converted to webinar trainings to address immediate skills for telehealth.
Rotation Changes:
Integrated Care rotation: Due to the UCH/Infectious Disease/HIV clinic going fully remote in mid-March, the Integrated care rotation was modified. The intern assigned to that rotation was reassigned to a newly developed rotation on the Innovation team and was an integral part of the conversion of services to a video platform. The intern also participated in a virtual group for newly diagnosed patients with HIV with the other intern who had done the integrated care rotation in the fall.
Adult Outpatient (AOP): The intern assigned to the AOP rotation was assigned individual clients, but was unable to do intakes. The DBT group experience was delayed until June 17 rather than beginning in March.
Psychological Assessment: All cognitive assessments were cancelled until mid-June. The required battery of 6 assessments was lowered to 4 and the interns were able to complete social emotional test batteries remotely.
Crisis rotation. This is considered an essential service at the Center. Intern participation on this rotation was delayed until full safety procedure at the Crisis Center was in place.
On-boarding / Orientation: A hybrid of both in-person and remote orientation processes was used. Opportunities to engage in team-building activities with the internship class, supervisors, and assigned team were present throughout the fall/winter in a combination of in-person and remote events.
Supervision – All supervision was done remotely until June 2021 with both in-person and remote supervision offered.
Didactics/Training: Didactics occurred remotely with webinars augmenting regular training.
Rotation Changes:
Integrated Care rotation: The return to in-person services at the Infectious Disease clinic at either full-time or part-time was delayed in the fall with restricted clinic days due to IDC protocol. The neuropsychological testing requirement was reduced and test administration was done onsite with the clinical interview and feedback sessions occurring remotely. Individual therapy cases remained remote. Interns participated in minor specialty rotations on the Innovative team to augment hours and carried cases from Jefferson Center’s Adult Outpatient team where services were delivered remotely.
Adult Outpatient (AOP): The intern assigned to the AOP rotation had the same training opportunities, however, services were delivered remotely. Mid-June services will be provided both remotely and in person.
Psychological Assessment: Following Center protocols and CDC guidelines, in-person testing for cognitive testing referrals continued. Social emotional testing, clinical interviews, and feedback sessions occurred remotely. Interns were required to complete 6 psychological assessments over the training year.
Crisis rotation: This is considered an essential service at the Center. Based on interns’ preference, another training opportunity was provided in the fall and full return to Crisis training was available by January 2021.
Jefferson Center has adopted a hybrid mode and interns will do a combination of remote and in-person work. The impact on the training program will be as below and follow the same modifications that were in place for the 2020.2021 Training year.
- Individual and group therapy will be done using a combination of in-person and remote video platforms. In-person sessions will be done following CDC guidelines.
- All supervision will be done in a combination of in-person and virtual.
- Didactics and other training will be done both in person and remotely with webinars added to augment training
- Psychological assessments will continue in person for cognitive and neuropsychological referrals following CDC guidelines for in-person testing. Social emotional testing, clinical interviews, and feedback sessions will be done remotely.
- Crisis Services are considered essential services and in-person sessions are conducted following CDC guidelines.
Jefferson Center has adopted a hybrid mode ongoing and interns will do a combination of remote and in-person work. Impact on the training program will follow the same modifications that were present for the 2021-2022 Training year.
1. Individual and group therapy will be done using a combination of in-person and remote video platforms. In-person sessions will be done virtually following CDC guidelines.
2. All supervision will be done in a combination of in-person and virtual.
3. Didactics and other training will be done both in-person and remotely with webinars added to augment training.
4. Psychological assessments will continue in person for cognitive and neuropsychological referrals following CDC guidelines for in-person testing. Social emotional testing, clinical interviews, and feedback sessions will be done remotely.
5. Crisis Services are considered essential services and in-person sessions are conducted following CDC guidelines.