The Psychology Internship program at Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware focuses on delivering a broad training experience in Health Service Psychology. Our experiences prepare students for professional service delivery in the rapidly changing health care field. Within our three child-focused tracks: 1) Clinical Child and Community; 2) Integrated Behavioral Health; and 3) Pediatric Psychology, interns are exposed to diverse patient populations and gain extensive experience in case formulation, intervention, assessment, testing, and consultation. Given that Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware is the only children's hospital in Delaware and draws patients from three surrounding states, interns are exposed to a range of presentations. Opportunities are available to work with children and adolescents with diabetes, cancer, sickle cell disease, congenital heart defects, chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders, encopresis, headaches, seizure disorders, functional neurological symptoms, behavioral sleep disorders, hearing impairment, overweight/obesity, OCD, mood/bipolar disorder, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, developmental disabilities, disruptive behaviors, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, feeding difficulties, and other adjustment difficulties.
Consultation and treatment opportunities include individual, family, and group therapies; specialty care clinics; medical inpatient consultation/liaison; parent-focused behavioral management; and outpatient consultation, including consultation in pediatric primary care settings. Interns also participate in a six-month psychological testing rotation. Three child-focused tracks are offered: Clinical Child and Community (CC), Pediatric Psychology (PP), and the Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) tracks. The tracks share many common training experiences and primarily differ in the following ways:
- the intensity of the pediatric primary care training experience (2 days for the full year for IBH vs. 1 full day for the year for CC vs. ½ day for 6 months for PP)
- participation in the medical inpatient C/L service (PP track only)
- developmental/behavioral access clinic (CC only)
- short-term mood and anxiety program and community referral clinic (CC and PP only). A full description of the three tracks is detailed at https://www.nemours.org/education/gme/psychology-programs/psychinternship.html
Faculty theoretical orientations are primarily cognitive-behavioral and behavioral, but also represent and appreciate different theoretical approaches with empirical bases. Faculty are passionate about intern training and have an open-door policy for case discussions at any time, in addition to regularly-occurring live supervision and scheduled supervision meetings. Various post-doctoral opportunities are available.
Nemours has eligibility requirements that include background screening/checks for all hires. Matching with the internship program does not guarantee subsequent employment as a Nemours Associate. Applicants who successfully match with the internship program at Nemours must meet all hiring standards to be extended an offer of employment. Offers of employment are contingent upon satisfactory background screening(s)/checks(s), drug testing, demonstrating required vaccinations and/or immunizations, and proof of employment eligibility in the United States in accordance with the 1986 Immigration Act. Failure to meet these requirements as determined by the Internship Program, in consultation with Human Resources, will result in postponement of employment until resolution or may result in total withdrawal of the employment offer. Background screenings/checks may include but are not limited to the following (depending on applicable federal law and state law): Criminal background check, adult and child abuse registry, drug screening, qualifying health status/immunization, personal background checks, OUG and SGA sanction screening, sex offender registry checks, FBI criminal history summary, and education. Criminal convictions, including DUI and misdemeanor convictions, do not necessarily render the applicant ineligible to be hired. Upon being matched to our program, if applicants possess a valid medical marijuana card, they are asked to provide appropriate documentation from their medical provider, which is maintained in their confidential Employee Health file. The Delaware state site pertaining to medical marijuana may be accessed here: https://dhss.delaware.gov/dph/hsp/medmarpt.html. Applicants with valid medical marijuana cards must still adhere to the Nemours Drug Free Work Place policy and may not be impaired at work. For further details, please contact Dr. Hughes-Reid at cheyenne.hughes@nemours.org.
