Intuition Wellness Center consists of a small mutidisciplinary team of pediatric experts on the Northwest side of Tucson. The Intuition Wellness Center Clinical Team currently includes psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, a naturopathic family physician, an occupational therapist and a training team of PhD students who work together in an integrated model to best serve our clients. Our mission is simple: Inspire children, young adults, and families to live in health and joy.

We believe every person deserves access to high quality services. For this reason, we take many steps to help establish the accessibility of services and to ensure that our broader professional community is well-educated, supported and trained on providing evidence-based and feedback- informed compassionate care to children, young adults and families. Beyond offering clinical services and wellness programming to our clients, we regularly collaborate with other professionals on behalf of our clients, host a multidisciplinary professional listserv, offer educational trainings and consultation, maintain a highly structured training program for graduate students, sponsor and participate in select community-based activities, and seek out and engage in ongoing learning opportunities.

PROGRAM PURPOSE

Intuition Wellness Center offers a limited number of practicum placements to qualified graduate students completing requirements for a degree in the fields of clinical or school psychology. Intuition offers a comprehensive and structured practicum placement focused on providing students with high quality supervision and didactic training, a diverse and challenging client population, as well as experience working within a multidisciplinary team. The primary goal of the externship program is to prepare externs for future clinical practice as entry-level professionals who can work competently, ethically and thoughtfully with children, adolescents, and families. Intuition Wellness Center emphasizes providing a well-rounded training experience as a means of challenging students, assisting them in finding their passions, and preparing them for professional life after completion of their training program.

POPULATIONS SERVED

Our client population is diverse both in clinical and in cultural presentation. While the training experience is focused on child, adolescent and family treatment, students may also have the opportunity to work with select adult clients or make contributions to wellness programs. Intuition Wellness Center’s clients present with an array of difficulties, including adjustment issues, divorce reaction, developmental delays, co-parenting difficulties, depression, grief and loss, anxiety, social skills challenges, chronic medical conditions, and academic underachievement. Our clients come from a variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual and gender orientations, religious affiliations and family compositions.

SERVICE MODALITIES & THEORETICAL ORIENTATION

Students who train at Intuition Wellness Center will benefit from immersion in the integrative treatment model offered by our team. Our team members have diverse personal and professional backgrounds and represent range of theoretical orientations, such as systemic, dynamic, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral and existential. Training is provided in multiple modalities and each student is encouraged to take full advantage of the range of theories represented at Intuition Wellness Center so as to develop skills in multiple modes of conceptualization and intervention.

While each team member’s approach varies from one another and is individualized per client, there are common threads that influence the team at Intuition Wellness. Intuition’s infrastructure and methodologies are influenced by the concepts of trauma-informed care, as well as the concept of deliberate practice. In addition, systems engagement is a key component of the work at Intuition Wellness Center and each clinical team member has varied methods of incorporating this concept into their work. Our team members take a non-traditional perspective on the definition of “family” believing that a client’s family of origin is just one small component of a much broader concept. Students who train with Intuition Wellness will learn to engage the school system, extended family members, service providers, and other caregivers within their clients’ lives so as to foster change that goes beyond the therapy office.

Intuition Wellness also provides a highly unique service to clients, which includes an integrated team approach to cases. It is not unusual for a family to be served by more than one member of our team. This looks different for each family. At times, this may mean that one team member is invited to observe the child at school and make behavioral intervention recommendations to school staff while another team member offers individual therapy sessions to the child and yet another team member offers a wellness program to one or more family members. In other cases, it may mean that, after a period of skill-building, a client is discharged by one team member and transferred to another to build upon the skills learned utilizing a different approach. Finally, it may also mean that while a client is receiving direct service from one team member, this provider is receiving consultation and guidance regularly from their team members in order to provide truly tailored support to the client.

MEET OUR CLINICAL TEAM

Each of Intuition Wellness Center’s team members is equally committed to the training process. While official extern supervision assignments are steady throughout the year, externs will interact regularly with each of Intuition Wellness Center’s team members and receive at least a portion of their training from clinical team members with varied interests, approaches and specialties. The Intuition Wellness Clinical team includes:

Monica Arriaga, LCSW

Ms. Arriaga is a Child and Family Therapist at Intuition Wellness Center. She received her masters in Social Work from Arizona State University. Ms. Arriaga has worked for not-for-profit community behavioral agencies for over 11 years working with children, teens, families, general mental health and severally mentally ill adults. Ms. Arriaga has developed, led and evaluated programs for children and previously incarcerated adults. Ms. Arriaga facilitated therapy groups for children and adults in a psychiatric facility and provided individual therapy for children, teens, young adults and adults. Ms. Arriaga incorporates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, play-based therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy into her work with children and teens. Her areas of clinical interest include: depression, anxiety, complex trauma, attachment, grief/loss, ADHD and ASD.

Brandy Baker, PsyD

Dr. Baker is the Executive & Clinical Director as well as a Co-Founder and Clinical Psychologist at Intuition Wellness. She received her masters and her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She completed her predoctoral internship at Connections-South Campus Therapeutic Day School in Palatine, Illinois and her postdoctoral work through Erie Neighborhood House and the Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute for Mental Health Education in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Baker has worked in teen residential, social service agencies, schools, not-for-profit institutions, and in other community agencies. Her areas of clinical interest include anxiety, depression, self-esteem, shyness, social skills and highly intelligent and gifted children. Dr. Baker primarily conceptualizes from a person-centered orientation. Dr. Baker is also influenced by the positive psychology movement, including growth mindset and grit; a strength-based approach, systems theory and ecological models;  and integrates play-based and creative therapy modalities, CBT, narrative therapy and feedback-informed interventions. Dr. Baker also oversees day-to-day operations and supervises clinical team members at Intuition Wellness Center. Dr. Baker provides the individual supervision to psychology externs/practicum students. 

Anne Berkery, OTR/L

Ms. Berkery is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist at Intuition Wellness Center. She received a bachelor of science degree in Occupational Therapy from Western Michigan University. She also studied dance. Ms. Berkery has been practicing pediatric therapy for over 30 years with children from birth to 12 years of age. She has worked in a variety of settings including: hospitals, schools, residential centers, and private practice. Ms. Berkery has a background in the administration of formal testing, including being certified in the administration of the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests. Ms. Berkery is also trained to offer the Safe & Sound Protocol for children experiencing emotional dysregulation. Occupational therapy goals may include: building self esteem and self confidence, improving physical limitations, developing coordination, improving visual-motor skills, and cognitive training. Occupational therapy may also include sensory organization/regulation, decreasing hyper-sensitivities to environmental stimuli and improving attention.

Amy Cormode, LAC

Ms. Cormode is a Child and Family Therapist at Intuition Wellness. More coming soon. 

Allison Fairchild, PhD

Dr. Fairchild is a post-doctoral fellow and Child and Family Therapist at Intuition Wellness Center. She received her doctorate in school psychology from the University of Arizona in 2023. Dr. Fairchild completed a clinical psychology pre-doctoral internship in the Kauai School District through the Hawaii Psychology Internship Consortium. At Intuition Wellness Center, she provides therapy, conducts psychological evaluations, and helps support externs/practicum students. Her clinical interests include anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, perfectionism, self-esteem, and shyness in children, teenagers, and young adults. Dr. Fairchild practices through a humanistic lens and incorporates acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), internal family systems (IFS), play therapy, expressive arts therapy, and self-compassion practices.

Heather Finn, LCSW

Ms. Finn is a Child and Family Therapist at Intuition Wellness Center. More coming soon.

Sherrill Koogler, LCSW, RPT-S

Ms. Koogler is a licensed Child and Family Therapist at Intuition Wellness Center. She received her masters in Social Work from the University of Alaska, Anchorage and went on to become a Registered Play Therapist. She has been working with children and families since 2002 and has spent much of her career working for not-for-profits specializing in treating diverse populations, including an Alaskan Native population. Ms. Koogler incorporates evidenced-based play therapy, EMDR, Sensorimotor psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, expressive arts approaches as well as various other therapeutic interventions in her work with children and teens. Ms. Koogler has extensive training and experience in working with children with complex trauma and dissociation. Ms. Koogler also provides parenting support informed by brain-based approaches.

Emery Mahoney, PhD

Dr. Mahoney is a licensed psychologist and oversees psychological testing at Intuition Wellness Center. More coming soon.

Kate Sage, NMD

Dr. Sage, mostly known by her patients as “Dr. Kate”, is a Naturopathic Family Physician at Intuition Wellness Center. She received her naturopathic medical degree from the Natural College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. Dr. Sage owned and operated a general family practice in Prescott, AZ for 9 years until she realized that her true joy was in working with children. In 2018, Dr. Sage and her family relocated to Tucson, AZ so she could better focus her practice in pediatrics. At Intuition Wellness Center, Dr. Sage primarily sees infants, children and teens as well as their families. She treats most health conditions including digestive disorders, endocrine/hormone issues, and mental/behavioral concerns but her main goal is to help children grow as healthy and happy as possible. She seeks to find the root cause of any health challenge and though she can prescribe medications, she prefers to utilize lifestyle changes, diet and other natural therapeutics to help her patients achieve their health goals.

Debby Urken, LCSW

Ms. Urken is a Child and Family Therapist at Intuition Wellness Center. She received her masters in Social Work from Arizona State University. Ms. Urken has led expressive art, movement, and writing groups and workshops for over 10 years. Before becoming a therapist, Ms. Urken served as a program evaluator and researcher, and worked with children, families, and older adults as a long-term care case manager. Ms. Urken incorporates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, expressive arts therapy, brain-based therapy, and body-oriented psychotherapy into her work with children and teens. Her areas of clinical interest include: depression, anxiety, developmental and complex trauma, and ASD.

Nadia Zanger, LMFT

Ms. Zanger is a Child and Family Therapist at Intuition Wellness. She received her bachelors degree in Psychology from Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in Managua, Nicaragua and her masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU)). Ms. Zanger has worked in outpatient and non-profit organizations. Ms. Zanger primarily treats teens, young adults, families and couples. Her areas of clinical interest include: parent-child relational issues, family life cycle, fears and anxiety, and self- esteem. Ms. Zanger has completed two levels of Internal Family Systems Training Certification. Ms. Zanger primarily conceptualizes from family systems theory, existential and cognitive- behavioral approaches.

SUPERVISION & TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Each student who trains at Intuition Wellness Center is provided with a minimum of one hour of individual supervision and one hour of didactic and/or group supervision each week. Each student is also engaged in the weekly clinical meetings where staff and students learn from case presentations, case consultations, experiential exercises and didactic instruction. The Intuition Wellness Center team takes pride in our commitment to provide the highest quality services. Each student who trains at Intuition Wellness Center will have the opportunity to learn about and engage in a variety of evidence-based and feedback-informed work. This includes both traditional and non-traditional approaches to treatment such as art as therapy, ERP, CBT, SMART, play therapy, expressive arts therapy, and other forms of therapeutic intervention. Periodically, guest presenters are also invited to offer trainings on specialized topics that vary in nature and depend, in part, on the needs and interests of Intuition Wellness Center’s training team.

STUDENT COMMITMENT

The externship/practicum at Intuition Wellness Center is a part-time (12-20 hours per week) 11-month program. The training year begins in early August and ends in late June. On occasion, externs are invited to remain for a full year and, in some instances, are offered the opportunity to continue for a second year. If an extern is unable to complete the required program hours due to illness or some other unexpected circumstance, he or she may petition for an extension of the training experience beyond the scheduled completion date. The training committee will make decisions regarding extensions of the training year on a case-by-case basis.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES OF OUR EXTERNS

  • Attend weekly Whole Team and Clinical Team Meetings. This is required. Externs must be available for team meetings.
  • Complete appropriate documentation and collateral casework.
  • Attend weekly supervision at a mutually agreed upon time with their assigned supervisor(s).
  • Maintain a minimum average of 8 direct service hours per week (direct service hours include in-office sessions as well as off-site school consultations, professional consultations, etc.). You will need to consult with your graduate program to ensure that this complies with your direct hour requirement.
  • Externs may also be asked to assist in additional projects such as community-engagement that supports Intuition Wellness’ goal of making services widely accessible and/or professional learning events hosted at and/or sponsored by Intuition Wellness that support a goal of offering exceptional services.

QUALITIES OF INTUITION’S MOST SUCCESSFUL EXTERNS/PRACTICUM STUDENTS

  • Interest in working with children, teens and families
  • Interest in learning to navigate client systems
  • Appreciates team-based work
  • A commitment to learning and clinical excellence
  • Demonstrates leadership potential
  • Values integrity and ethical practice
  • Self-motivated and takes initiative
  • Willingness to explore a range of approaches
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Good oral and written communication skills
  • Good organizational skills

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO APPLY

Please submit cover letter, curriculum vitae and three letters of recommendation via email:

  •  Brandy Baker, Psy.D., Training Director at contact @ intuitionwellness.com