Doctoral Internship in PSYCHOLOGY
2007-2008
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Doctoral Internship in PSYCHOLOGY 2007-2008 |
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Agency collects data from students receiving counseling/therapy, psychological assessment, and clinical case management in three separate databases. The client data stored within these databases may be used by staff for a variety of purposes. These include analyzing direct service delivery as it pertains to referrals, case distribution, and client outcome. In addition, the assessment database is research oriented and has generated a variety of research projects of both a psychological and interdisciplinary nature. Interns are exposed to some of the current research projects and the findings (e.g., relationships between personality functioning and sustained attention). These databases are available for interns' use as time and interest permit.
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The Agency supports psychological research. The staff is available to help interns with their dissertation projects and/or other research proposals. The staff is also prepared to assist interns in gaining access to campus faculty, research participants, and to the University's comprehensive research support services.
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Evaluation of interns takes place in four major ways. First, ongoing supervision is provided by supervisors in individual and group settings. Intern progress is discussed between intern and supervisor on a weekly basis.
Second, each supervisor prepares a brief written evaluation about six weeks into the internship. The purpose of evaluation at this early stage is to attempt to catch any problems early on that may be developing with the intern and to take appropriate action.
Third, supervisors discuss the progress of each intern at the weekly supervisors' meeting. This includes reports from individual and group supervision, staff observations at weekly clinical meetings, and daily interactions.
Fourth, a formal written evaluation of each intern and each supervisor is produced at mid-year and at the conclusion of the internship. These written evaluations are signed by the respective supervisory dyads and shared with the Training Director, Executive Director, and the intern's training director at his/her home institution. The goal of evaluation is to provide concrete feedback about progress and to encourage growth.
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Evaluation of the Training Program
Evaluation of the program is accomplished through a variety of mechanisms, both formal and informal, both periodic and ongoing. On the formal level, the program is evaluated by the interns at mid-year and at the end of the year.
In terms of ongoing evaluation, the various supervisory sessions offer constant opportunities for interns to provide feedback to the program, suggest improvements, and indicate areas of need or concern.
Finally, evaluation of the program is encouraged organically as part of the process of working and learning together. Interns are encouraged to speak freely with supervisors and staff. The atmosphere of respect and collegiality which characterizes the Agency actively promotes this kind of openness and reflectiveness.
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Compatibility between the applicant's academic education, professional experience, and training needs and our program's philosophy and needs is the major criterion by which intern selection is made. Our evaluation of the nature and quality of applicant/program "fit" has three foci: academic preparation, professionalism, and personal maturity.
Academic Preparation. We give preference to candidates who are enrolled in APA-accredited counseling psychology or clinical psychology programs. To be considered for selection, applicants must have completed at least 800 hours of supervised practica at the doctoral level. The total of 800 hours must include supervised experience in both counseling/therapy and psychological assessment. Ideally, prospective interns should have experience with a range of client issues and therapeutic approaches as well as sufficient grounding in a particular theoretical orientation to be able to articulate it clearly and substantively.
Candidates should have completed doctoral level courses that include, but are not limited to, the following: theories of personality, abnormal psychology, tests and measurements, psychodynamics, cognitive and personality assessment, counseling theories, human development, statistics, and research methods. While we screen for excellent grades, we give greater weight to the applicants' academic breadth and practical experience. Candidates must have clinical experience in administering, scoring, and interpreting the WAIS-III and the MMPI-2. We prefer applicants to have considerable familiarity with aspects of career counseling and a specific interest in working with the college population. Applicants should have completed their comprehensive examinations or be scheduled to complete them before the internship year begins.
Professionalism. Candidates must provide letters of recommendation from faculty and supervisors that attest to their application of theory, clinical judgment, interpersonal skills, multicultural sensibilities, ethical standards, empathy, and collegiality.
Personal Qualities. We look for applicants who give evidence of responsibility, initiative, thoughtfulness, self-awareness, and a bent for personal and professional development. We give particular attention to indices of the applicant's ability to seek and accept supervisory counsel and criticism and to maintain the highest level of client respect and confidentiality. We are attracted to candidates who exhibit flexibility and generosity of spirit. We are seeking individuals who have an appreciation for and commitment to the reciprocal relationship that exists between interns and training sites. The individuals that we select must demonstrate a commitment to assisting this agency meet its service responsibilities to students to the degree that this agency is committed to meeting its training responsibility to the interns.
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A requirement of our intern selection process is an on-site interview by the prospective intern candidates. The interviews are conducted in the early weeks of January and are at the candidates' expense. If an applicant is going to be invited for an interview she/he will be so informed by December 15, 2006. Likewise, those individuals who from the application screening process are no longer being considered as a possible candidate for this site will be notified by email by the end of the second week in December.
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Previous interns are employed in a variety of workplace settings. These settings include universities and colleges (teaching, research, counseling centers), private clinics (psychologist, neuropsychologist), city government (court psychologist), in private industry, hospitals, and private practice.
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Stipend and Application Process
The internship stipend is $18,500. Benefits include health insurance, vacation time, and time for dissertation research and writing during the Summer session. The APPIC application for Psychology Internship is accepted with additional agency specific questions. See Appendix for agency questions. Application due date is November 20, 2006.
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Last updated July 24, 2006