Center for Pain Management

Psychology

The role of the clinical psychologist at the Center for Pain Management is to function as part of a multidisciplinary team facilitating the outcome of patients by insuring that their mental health and emotional needs are met.The psychologist’s principal goal is to help people adapt to living with chronic medical illnesses and improve adaptive patterns of behavior.

Meet our Staff: Alina M. Clavijo-Passik

Alina M. Clavijo-Passik is a clinical psychologist who has worked with individuals with psychiatric and medical illnesses for nearly 20 years. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Fordham University in New York City before moving on to earn her doctorate in clinical psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ. Her work has included psychotherapy with adults across the age span from adolescents to geriatric, including families.

Additionally, her work as a clinician has included developing an understanding of cultural and psychosocial factors which impact the functioning of the individual; to the training of health care professionals in the relevant and competent strategies for the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of Hispanic and Latino patients.

Pre-Doctoral Education
Fordham University, College at Lincoln Center, New York, New York.
Graduation: 1983
Degree:  B.A.  in Psychology

Doctoral Education
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, Teaneck, NJ
Graduation:  1991
Degree:  Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
APA Accredited Program

Internship
New York University – Bellevue Hospital Medical Center, New York
Psychology Internship
1987 – 1988
APA Accredited Internship

Fellowships
New York University – Bellevue Hospital medical Center, New York
Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Psychology 
1988 – 1989
APA Accredited Fellowship

New York University – Bellevue Hospital Medical Center, New York
Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Psychology 
1989 – 1990
APA Accredited Fellowship

Post-Doctoral Fellowships
National Institute of Mental Health Post-Doctoral Fellow
New York University – Bellevue Hospital Medical Center, New York
Post-doctoral Fellowship in Psychology
1991 – 1992
APA Accredited Fellowship

Licensure
State of Indiana - 1998 to present
State of New York - 1991 to present

Board Certifications
Indiana State Psychology Board: 1998 to present; Health Service Provider in Psychology

Professional Memberships  
American Psychological Association
Indiana Psychological Association

Publications & Presentations
1996 (April 18) Workshop: the Unspeakable condition: Depression and its Effects on Latina Women presented at the conference By Ourselves: Trauma, Mental illness and the Latina Woman.  100 Hispanic Women, Inc., First Mental Health Conferences, New York University, New York.

Carmen Inoa Vazquez and Alina M. Clavijo (1995), the special Needs of Elderly Minorities: a Profile of Hispanics.  In B.G. Knight, L. Teri, P. Wohlford, and J. Santos (Eds.), Mental Health Services for Older Adults Implications for Training and Practice in Geropsychology (pp.93 – 99), American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C. 1994.

1993 The League School, Staff Training Workshop: Cross-Cultural issues in working with Hispanic children with special needs and their families, Brooklyn, New York.

1992  Cross-Cultural Factors in the Treatment of Hispanic Patients, Training Seminar, The Institute for the Study of Culture and ethnicity, New York, New York.

1991 Cross-Cultural Factors and Medical Illness Staff Training Seminar, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.

Languages
English, Spanish

Professional Activities
1999 – Present - Clinical Psychologist, Center for Pain Management,  Indianapolis, Indiana.

1992 – 1997 - Senior Psychologist, Bilingual Treatment Program-Clinic, Bellevue Hospital Center, New York, New York.

1992 – 1997 - Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry, New York University, School of Medicine, New York, New York.