The St. Louis Psychology Internship Consortium offers a one-year, full-time doctoral internship in Health Service Psychology to advanced students in APA-accredited doctoral psychology programs. The internship is sponsored by four Joint Commission-accredited inpatient mental health facilities operated under the auspices of the Missouri Department of Mental Health and two outpatient mental health clinics operated under the auspices of the University of Missouri – St. Louis. The four inpatient facilities serve child, adolescent, adult and geriatric populations; these facilities are Hawthorn Children’s Psychiatric Hospital (HCPH), St. Louis Forensic Treatment Center – North (FTC-N) and South (FTC-S), SSM-Cardinal Glennon, and Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services (SORTS). The outpatient clinics at the University of Missouri – St. Louis consist of the Center for Behavioral Health (CBH), serving children, adults, couples and families, and Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis (CASGSL) serving children with trauma histories and their non-offending parents. The St. Louis Psychology Internship Consortium has a long tradition (since 1956) of providing high-quality clinical training in psychology in inpatient and outpatient treatment settings. We are proud of our internship program and of our intern graduates. Our past interns have distinguished themselves in a wide variety of employment settings including medical schools, academia, and inpatient and outpatient practice settings, and many alumni hold leadership positions in the field.

The Psychology staff maintains a strong commitment to the training of interns and makes every effort to provide an enriching experience within an atmosphere of mutual respect and professionalism. We strive to achieve a good balance between serving the clinical needs of the populations served by the Consortium sites and appreciating the training process. This perspective is reflected in the quality and quantity of supervision that has characterized the program over the years. We place emphasis on exposing interns to the breadth and diversity of professional roles assumed by psychologists. Interns receive advanced training in performing in-depth clinical interviews; constructing test batteries to respond to specific diagnostic and referral questions; evaluating and integrating clinical findings to provide appropriate treatment; and developing formulations and recommendations and communicating these in articulate written and/or oral reports.

Interns work with a minimum of four clinical supervisors over the course of the year, representing a range of theoretical orientations and areas of specialty. Interns shadow their supervisors and/or provide clinical services (groups, assessments, consultations to treatment teams, presenting in rounds, etc.) alongside their supervisor at all sites, allowing for a first-hand view of various models of professional engagement. Further, interns are exposed to psychologists who do not supervise them through our didactic seminar series, allowing for exposure to additional professional role models. In our view, working with a range of supervisors and hearing the perspectives of many professional psychologists through the seminar series enhances the breadth and depth of learning, and helps interns further discern the styles that best complement their emerging professional identity.

We are committed to creating and maintaining a positive, welcoming and inclusive training atmosphere that embraces diversity. We strive to promote a climate of respect and appreciation for the uniqueness that every individual brings and an affirming environment where all psychology interns feel supported to reach their training goals. We believe that diversity of perspectives and backgrounds enriches us all. Further, our program is committed to training interns to provide culturally sensitive intervention and assessment services.

Our internship is accredited by the American Psychological Association; our most recent site visit was conducted in July of 2018. As a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC), we abide by their procedures and guidelines, as well.

We invite you to visit our website (https://dmh.mo.gov/ftc/opportunities/internship) to learn more about us and how we can meet your individual training needs.