Consistent with the reputation and mission of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, the pre-doctoral health service psychology internship program is dedicated to providing exceptional education and training to the next generations of psychologists. As one of the leading academic medical centers in the country and in a setting where a high value is placed on the contributions of a diverse range of professionals to patient care, teaching, and research, we look forward to having psychology interns as members of the Department. Because we are an integral part of a large, urban university medical center, the internship training program takes advantage of this resource with tracks focusing on health psychology, adult psychopatholog, and neuropsychology. We embrace a clinical science model of training with a strong emphasis on evidence based treatment.
The Psychology Section is a vibrant and innovative group of over 30 clinicians, researchers, and clinical scientists who are devoted to improving the lives of our patients through comprehensive assessment, consultation, evidence-based psychotherapy, research, administration, and teaching. Faculty members of the Division serve on numerous committees throughout the Department, medical center, and university and are members of state and national organizations, have federally funded research programs, publish, and serve on editorial boards of some of the top journals in their fields. Psychologists from the Department hold key administrative positions both within the Department and the College of Medicine. It is our hope that interns will benefit from having faculty role models of this caliber.
The internship is composed of three tracks: Clinical Health Psychology, Adult Psychopathology, and Neuropsychology/Neuroscience. In addition to these tracks, interns have the opportunity to select from elective experiences which allow them to engage in research and/or broaden and personalize their training experience.
Clinical Health Psychology Track: This track is composed of four rotations which include Behavioral Cardiology, Pain and Mental Health, Transplant Psychology, and Women's Behavioral Health. Interns spend two days per week in two rotations for 6 months and then switch to the alternate rotations. Services are provided in both outpatient and hospital based settings. One day per week is devoted to electives and didactic training. Two interns are selected for this track.
Adult Psychopathology Track: This track is composed of primary three rotations including early onset psychosis (EPICENTER), Mood, Anxiety, and Mindfulness (MAM), and Suicide and Trauma Reduction (STRIVE). Interns specialize in one of these rotations. Interns are able to separately rank one or more of these areas of concentration based on their experience and interests. Within this track, interns spend 2 days per week in their area of specialization and one day per week in research related to that area. One of the remaining days is allocated to a secondary clinical rotation and one day is allocated to didactics and electives. Two interns are selected for both Mood, Anxiety and Mindfulness and for the STRIVE rotations. Three applicants are selected for EPICENTER.
Neuropsychology/Neuroscience: Each year we offer one adult Neuropsychology/Neuroscience Track position. Within this track, clinical neuropsychology training is emphasized. In keeping with our clinical science model, there is one day per week of protected time for the intern on this track to engage in clinical neuroscience research. Thus, the intern selected for this track spends three days in clinical neuropsychology training, one day in general psychology internship didactics and electives, and one day in clinical neuroscience research.
Electives: Approximately one half day is available for electives. The elective time permits interns to add breadth to their training experiences. Depending on supervisor availability, electives include clinical research, ADHD assessment and diagnosis, consultation–liaison psychiatry, early psychosis clinic, healthy sleep service, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, neuropsychology, OSU Nisonger Center evaluation clinic, pain and mental health, sport psychology, and smoking cessation. Interns may also opt to provide co-supervision to third year psychiatry residents who are learning cognitive behavior therapy.
Supervision & Mentoring: In addition to spending a minimum of 10% of their time in face-to-face clinical supervision, interns select a faculty mentor. Mentors will focus on such issues as adjusting to a professional role, how to balance professional and personal life, negotiating the variety of challenges that can occur in the workplace, developing programmatic research, etc.
Selection Process: Our selection committee is comprised of the faculty psychologists who are involved in internship training. We seek applicants with excellent clinical and scientific knowledge gained from their academic programs, with strong skills in evidence-based assessment and treatment, and with the personal characteristics necessary to function well in our internship setting and in an academic medical center. Our selection criteria reflect a “goodness of fit” with our clinical science model and we look for interns whose career interests match the training in the tracks that we offer. Please note that applicants are encouraged to apply to only one track since it is unlikely that individuals will be equally competitive in more than one track. We are committed to ensuring a range of diversity among our interns and select candidates representing different training programs, geographic areas, ages, racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual and gender orientations, disabilities and life experiences. Selected applicants must be able to successfully complete a background check and drug screen. Interns who match will be kept informed if COVID-19 issues will affect their training experience.