SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital is a not-for-profit, 195-bed inpatient and outpatient children’s hospital. We care for children of all ages, from the Saint Louis surrounding area, Illinois and across the country. With more than 200 specialists in more than 60 medical and surgical subspecialties, our providers are regarded as some of the leading pediatric experts in the country. Psychology services at the hospital include a range of pediatric psychology services in addition to outpatient psychotherapy and assessment services. Currently, psychology provides inpatient consultation and liaison services Mondays through Fridays. Pediatric psychologists also work closely with the following medical teams/clinics: adolescent medicine, bariatric medicine, cystic fibrosis, endocrine, feeding, GI, hematology/oncology, headache, IBD, nephrology, neurology, nursery, sleep, solid organ transplant, and weight management.
Interns work in inpatient hospital, medical clinics, and psychology clinic settings. Major training experiences include: working in multi-disciplinary teams; consultation and liaison work with a variety of medical teams; conducting health and behavior assessments; offering brief health and behavior interventions to youth with a variety of medical diagnoses; and learning to adapt evidence-based practices for inpatient and medical clinic settings.
Inpatient duties include working with pediatric psychologists to cover general psychology consult orders placed by attending physicians/residents for patients admitted to the hospital. Typical referral questions are related to: coping with hospitalization, suicidal ideation/depression, anxiety, medication compliance, nonpharmacological pain management, and somatic symptoms, among others. Interns are trained to interview family members and patients, provide brief health and behavior interventions as indicated, and make recommendations to the medical team. Interns also choose to work with a variety of medical teams, where they shadow pediatric psychologists, and conduct health and behavior assessments and treatments. Interns carry a small caseload of individual therapy patients, most of whom will have co-occurring medical diagnoses. Consultation and liaison opportunities are also available through the following multidisciplinary clinics/services: bariatric surgery, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, feeding team, Fostering Healthy Children (foster care), GI/IBD, headache, hematology/oncology, nephrology, nursery follow-up, sleep medicine, solid organ transplant, and Turner syndrome.
Specialty descriptions:
Bariatric surgery: Opportunity to observe and conduct psychological bariatric evaluations, which are required to qualify for bariatric surgery.
Cystic Fibrosis service: Consultation and Liaison service provided in a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic and inpatient setting. Opportunities for providing brief mental health screenings, health and behavior assessments, brief intervention and participation in weekly multidisciplinary staff meetings.
Diabetes clinic: Consultation and Liaison service provided in a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic and inpatient setting. Opportunities for providing brief mental health screenings, health and behavior assessments, and brief intervention.
Feeding team: Includes psychology, nutrition, and occupational therapy. Consults and follow-ups are conducted as a team. Recommendations are formed and reviewed with families with the team. Opportunities to observe feeding team consultations and follow ups, review medical chart, conduct clinical interviews, observe parent-child meal behaviors, make recommendations, and monitor progress during follow up appointments.
Fostering Healthy Children clinic: Assist with stepped care approach to treating children in foster care who are in need of Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), including facilitating child and caregiver groups. Treatment is done within context of foster care medical home and involves work with interdisciplinary team.
GI/IBD: Consultation and Liaison service provided in a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic and inpatient setting. Opportunities for providing brief mental health screenings, health and behavior assessments, and brief intervention.
Headache clinic: Consultation provided during monthly headache clinic. Work with neurologists to assess psychosocial factors that may contribute to chronic headaches. Provide brief interventions. Make referrals for outpatient psychotherapy follow up as indicated.
Hematology/Oncology: Consultation and Liaison service provided in a multidisciplinary team, including physicians, nurses, social work, Child Life, music therapy, art therapy, school teachers, palliative team, and chaplains. Opportunities to provide health and behavior assessments, brief intervention, supportive psychotherapy, and trauma-informed therapy during inpatient admissions and clinic appointments.
Nephrology: Consultation and liaison service provided in an inpatient setting. Opportunities to observe and conduct diagnostic interviews for patients who are on hemodialysis.
Sleep Medicine: Consultation provided as a part of an outpatient service. Opportunities for providing initial sleep evaluations, education of families in use of basic behavior modification principles, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, and developing/implementation of individualized behavior modification protocols.
Solid organ transplant: Opportunity to observe and conduct psychological transplant evaluations.
Nursery Follow-Up clinic: Opportunity to observe, conduct, and interpret developmental testing (i.e., Bayley and Vineland).
Turner syndrome clinic: Consultation provided during monthly Turner syndrome clinic. Work with endocrinologist to screen for educational difficulties, coping with diagnosis and treatment, and relevant psychosocial challenges. Provide assessment and brief interventions. Make referrals for outpatient psychotherapy follow up as indicated.
Faculty
MICHELLE L. J. BLACK, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with the Feeding Team at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. She is also a Program Trainer for Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. Dr. Black received a B.S. in Psychology from Indiana University - Bloomington. She received her M.S. in Education (Educational Psychology track) and her Ph.D. in School Psychology, with a Counseling minor, from Indiana University. She completed her internship at Livingston County Special Services Unit and her postdoctoral fellowship at St. Mary’s Medical Center and Center for Children. Clinical interests include feeding difficulties in children, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, and anxiety.
DEBRA W. EMERY, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who works on the hematology/oncology medical service. She also conducts solid organ transplant evaluations, and participates in the general consultation/liaison service. Dr. Emery received her B.A. in Communications at Wheaton College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She completed her internship here at the St. Louis Psychological Internship Consortium and her postdoctoral fellowship at St. Louis Behavioral Medicine’s anxiety disorder clinic. Clinical interests include medical and interpersonal trauma, chronic illness, pain management, anxiety, and depressive disorders.
JANET W. KWAN, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with the neurology and nephrology medical services. She also conducts assessments for the Nursery Follow-Up Clinic and the Knights of Columbus Developmental Center, and participates in the general consultation/liaison service. Dr. Kwan received her B.A. from California State University - Northridge. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Mississippi State University. She completed her internship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and her postdoctoral fellowship at Arkansas Children’s Hospital/University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Clinical interests include: disruptive behavior, developmental and psychological assessment, sleep issues, depression, anxiety, and coping skills. Research interests include: coping socialization between parents and children, and effective coping skills for chronic illness.
JAIMI L. RAMSEY, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with the Fostering Healthy Children service and offers staff consultation with the Trauma Team at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Dr. Ramsey obtained her B.A. at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She completed her internship at the Dartmouth Psychology Internship Program and her postdoctoral fellowship at Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis. Dr. Ramsey’s clinical interests include assessment and treatment of childhood traumatic stress and anxiety. She is also actively involved in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for the Department of Psychology and more broadly at Cardinal Glennon.
ERICKA RUTLEDGE, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who specializes in working with children, adolescents, and families, especially those with chronic medical conditions. In addition to outpatient therapy services, she also provides consultation/liaison services to medical teams and integrated behavioral health services within several multidisciplinary specialty clinics (e.g., Diabetes, IBD, Turner’s). Dr. Rutledge obtained a B.A. in Psychology from Indiana University - Bloomington, an M.A. in Psychology from New York University, and her Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University. She completed a combined child/pediatric focused internship at University of Florida and her postdoctoral fellowship in the Psychiatry Consultation Service at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. In addition to clinical work, Dr. Rutledge enjoys teaching and is an adjunct faculty for the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
MARY WEATHERFORD, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist with SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. She earned her B.S in Psychology from Missouri State University and her M.S. and Ph.D. from St. Louis University. She completed her Internship with Baylor College of Medicine. At Cardinal Glennon, Dr. Weatherford works with the Cystic Fibrosis Team, the Sleep Medicine Team, participates on the general consult service, and maintains ongoing outpatient services. She has particular interest in: psychology advocacy at local, state, and national levels; children with chronic illness; pain management; anxiety, behavioral and depressive disorders.
