This scholar-practitioner internship provides strong generalist training emphasizing clinical practice with adults. Our program trains interns who wish to become well-rounded psychologists who function well in a variety of clinical settings. Interns participate in the following clinical experiences: psychotherapy in the VA's outpatient mental health clinic, psychotherapy at the Dartmouth College Counseling Center (pending the VA Office of Academic Affiliations agreeing to support this longstanding part of our internship program), intakes and brief therapy in our Primary Care Mental Health Integration Clinic (PCMHI), co-facilitation of two DBT Skills groups and participation on a DBT Consultation Team, psychological assessment and neuropsychological screening, and specialty training in the assessment and treatment of PTSD. Interns also choose one of the following rotations: a clinical rotation in health psychology, a clinical rotation at our residential substance use disorders treatment program, or a research rotation at the Executive Division of the National Center for PTSD, which is on our campus.
As part of the specialty training for the treatment of PTSD, interns will learn Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and will be introduced to Prolonged Exposure Therapy and other treatments for PTSD. Interns have the opportunity to become VA-certified CPT therapists. Interns treat veterans in their early twenties to veterans in their eighties and students from the Dartmouth College Counseling Center. An emphasis is placed on working with patients from diverse backgrounds, including low-SES patients from rural communities. Interns are trained in different treatment modalities including individual, group, short-term and long-term psychotherapy.
Interns work and train alongside psychiatric residents, social work interns, and psychology practicum students, and interns work as part of multidisciplinary teams in the Mental Health Service. Interns also consult with primary care and specialty health care professionals. Strong clinical supervision is provided for all clinical experiences. Training emphasizes cognitive-behavioral therapy through group and individual supervision and case conferences. We have psychodynamic supervisors on our training committee as well. The internship is associated with the Executive Division of the National Center for PTSD. Interns participate in a weekly National Center for PTSD journal club facilitated by top researches in the field. In addition to clinical training, interns participate in a seminar on neuropsychological and personality assessment, and a seminar focused on Professional Issues, Clinical Practice, and Diversity.