This APA accredited internship is located at The Guidance Center, a community mental health center that serves three rural counties in Kansas. All interns are based at our Leavenworth location. TGC is composed of a multidisciplinary, integrated treatment team of an entire range of mental health professionals and paraprofessionals. The mission of TGC is to provide quality care to the residents of our three county area, especially including those who have limited or no means to pay for their care and those affected by severe mental illness. TGC is part of a larger network in Kansas that works to minimize placement of those with severe illness outside of their home communities, even in the event of crises and exacerbated symptoms. The internship is designed to provide a generalist background in the practice of psychology in a community setting. A varied population with a broad range of psychological treatment needs results in psychologists who can implement various interventions from a stable theoretical base.
In keeping with the general mission and philosophy of the training program, the internship is designed to assist interns in developing scientific and practice skills appropriate to those of a generalist working with children, adults, families, and couples at the competency of an entry-level psychologist. The community mental health center setting allows exposure to a plethora of experiences and modalities. More specifically, the internship has three overarching aims that guide the training provided:
1. To train generalist practitioners in the profession of psychology.
To achieve this aim, interns are trained to provide direct service in a variety of clinical domains including individual and group therapy, assessment/evaluation, and crisis intervention.
2. To train psychologists to broaden the scope of their services beyond those provided to clients.
To achieve this aim, interns are trained to provide supervision, outreach, psychoeducation, and consultation.
3. To train psychologists to develop, and to be guided by, their professional identity.
To achieve this goal ethics and professionalism are topics that are introduced during orientation and discussed in many venues throughout the year. Also, staff serve as models and mentors to interns.
TGC is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information. Applicants from diverse backgrounds are highly encouraged to apply to our internship program.