The CAVHS Psychology Internship Program provides a generalist, clinical psychology training experience. All interns, regardless of specialty interests, are expected to learn and demonstrate the basic skills required of a beginning psychologist, primarily in the areas of assessment, intervention, consultation, and professional development. Our program focuses on supervised clinical training and features tracks with emphasis areas in general psychology, neuropsychology, and clinical health psychology. All three tracks provide rigorous training in evidence-based practices and promote recovery-oriented, veteran-centered care.
Our program is built on a practitioner-scholar model of training. The program emphasizes, in all aspects of its training, that the best practice must be solidly based in science. The important hands-on experiential aspects of internship training are grounded in the scientific literature, and our interns are challenged to systematically measure their assessment and intervention practices against an established knowledge base. All rotation supervisors emphasize the importance of consulting the scientific literature when working with a new patient population, intervention, or assessment tool.
The overall aim of our program is to ensure that interns acquire a broad range of the professional skills necessary to function effectively as psychologists in a variety of multidisciplinary healthcare settings, specifically the Veterans Healthcare Administration as well as other complex medical centers. Furthermore, those interns who choose careers in other areas of practice such as academia, research, and administration can be confident that this internship will have significantly contributed to their professional goals. In addition to its overall aim, the Psychology Internship Program has two specific aims:
- To train psychologists in the delivery of quality, recovery-oriented healthcare
- To train psychologists to appreciate the unique needs of the veteran population and in the provision of veteran-centered care
All interns will be expected to demonstrate minimum competency in multiple modalities of treatment, including therapy with individuals and groups; evidence-based protocols (EBPs); and psychometrics. However, while these basic skills are expected of all interns, the program also supports early development of specialty interest in addition to the generalist philosophy. For this reason, our program offers Major Areas of Study in Health Psychology and Neuropsychology whereby interns will dedicate 50% of their time on clinical rotations within their specialty track. Specific learning opportunities will vary depending on the track for which the intern is chosen (i.e., Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology, or Neuropsychology) as well as the individual’s interests, training needs, and program requirements. During the first week of orientation, the Director of Training will work collaboratively with each intern to develop a course of internship training, which will meet the intern's training needs and interests.
The CAVHS Psychology Internship Program is committed to promoting awareness of and respect for cultural and individual diversity with the goal of preparing interns to practice cultural humility within mental health care and throughout their lives. To achieve this goal, we integrate training on diversity and related factors throughout the internship year and work to create an inclusive environment where individuals of diverse backgrounds are welcomed and valued. Intern applicants from diverse groups who are underrepresented in psychology are highly encouraged to apply.
Since the global pandemic, the Psychology Internship Program at CAVHS has taken steps to protect the health and welfare of our interns, staff, and the veterans for which we care. However, while interns and staff in recent years have been more engaged in providing telehealth services, we are now primarily providing face-to-face clinical care. Where personal protective equipment (PPE) continues to be required in certain areas and clinics within our facility, our interns and staff are provided with the necessary PPE. Furthermore, while some required seminars and meetings may be conducted virtually, we have resumed in-person gatherings when safe and appropriate.
