The APA-accredited Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology is an organized behavioral health and community service training program that provides supervised experiences in all aspects of community based counseling activities and functions. Momentous Institute places a strong and continuing emphasis on training activities. Internship experiences are well integrated into the agency as a whole.
Training staff and previous trainees believe that Momentous Institute offers unique training opportunities in the following areas:
- Systemic work within a community based setting via multiple modalities (i.e. individual, family, play therapy, group therapies)
- Diverse client population (SES, ethnicity, sexual & gender orientation, religion)
- Broad range of clinical and training activities provided by the intern's involvement in different clinical settings
- An opportunity to learn more about postmodern approaches, practice them, and perhaps incorporate them into their therapeutic orientation
- Psychological testing program that offers opportunities to enhance assessment skills with children and adolescents
- A democratic style of organization which provides first-hand experience in the decision-making and planning involved in a behavioral health services agency functioning
- An opportunity to develop supervision skills through peer consultation of fellow trainees
- An exceptional training facility including a large digital library and rooms designed and equipped for teamwork/live observation or supervision with two-way mirrors and digital taping
- A work schedule and staff support to complete a dissertation
- A training environment which cultivates collaboration, mutual respect, and professional development.
The internship year is a major milestone in the journey to becoming a psychologist. In order to have a successful internship year, we believe it is important for interns to choose an internship program that aligns with their professional goals. In order to understand what our program has to offer, we strongly encourage you to read through our entire internship brochure, visit our website, and review our profile in the APPIC directory online.
Applicants must be current doctoral students in a professional psychology training program that is accredited by the American Psychological Association. These programs should have coursework and practicum experiences that emphasize a systemic framework and psychological assessment, especially with children and families. Unfortunately, applicants from programs with an accreditation status of “On Probation” by APA will not be considered.
In order to be considered for an interview, applicants must meet the following qualifications:
- successful completion of at least the equivalent of four semesters of supervised practicum courses in counseling/psychotherapy;
- completion of all graduate coursework by the start of internship;
- passing score on qualifying/comprehensive examinations by rank deadline
- working toward their dissertation defense and successfullyproposed by the start of internshiip; and
- minimal of 250 intervention hours at the time the application is submitted.
In addition to these qualifications, all applicants must have completed at least 5 integrated assessments by the time their application is submitted. As defined by APPIC, the definition of an integrated report is a report which includes a review of history, results of an interview and at least two psychological tests from one or more of the following categories: personality measures, intellectual tests, cognitive tests, and neuropsychological tests. Please carefully review this explanation because it answers the question of what should be included in a report in order to have it satisfy the requirement of an integrated report.
Given the nature of the testing referrals we receive, at least three of the integrated reports must include a full cognitive measure, and at least one report must include an academic achievement measure to be considered for an interview. Experience with a full acheivment measure such as the WIAT-III or WJ-ACH IV versus experience with only abbreviated measures such as the WRAT are preferred. Additionally, applicants who have experience administering and interpreting objective and projective social/emotional measures are preferred but not required (i.e. BASC-3, Robert's Story, Thematic Apperception Test, MMPI-A). Applicants who have not completed the minimal number of psychological assessments will typically not be considered for an interview.
In consideration of the current COVID-19 global pandemic, we encourage interested students who have been unable to obtain the minimum hours and integrated assessment expectations due to the COVID-19 pandemic to still apply to our program, particularly if it is expected that these desired expectations will be met by the time we host interviews in January 2024. Students are specifically asked to address this in their cover letter. Students who would like additional information or have questions should reach out to the Training Director.
Per APPIC policies, only clinical services provided to actual patients can be counted in the intervention and assessment categories (simulated patient scenarios should not be captured in these categories).
Desirable Applicant Characteristics
The training staff encourages applications from individuals whom:
- are interested in competency based approaches to therapy.
- are interested in collaboration and learning in a community mental health setting
- are willing to open themselves to differing perspectives and questions of how one’s constructions of reality affect therapy
- are interested in the relationship between power and knowledge, especially in the realm of gender, race and other facets of priveleged identities.
- are aware of how one’s ethics are demonstrated in practice
- are sensitive to issues of human diversity
- are interested in family therapy
- are interested in gaining experience in assessment from early childhood through adolescence
- are interested in program development within a community context
Our training program highlights and values diversity; therefore, we closely review applicant’s materials for various aspects of diversity and diversity-related values/experiences. Candidates from diverse backgrounds (i.e. ethnicity, spiritual/religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) are particularly encouraged to apply. Additionally, given that we serve a large Spanish speaking population, we also encourage students who are bilingual in this language to apply.
Momentous Institute and the Salesmanship Club of Dallas are equal opportunity employers. It is the policy of both corporations that all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, training, promoting, transferring and terminating will be made without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, military status, disability, genetic information, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
The heart of what we do... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tapvw6IWxsw&ab_channel=momentousinstitute
