Our interns come from a number of graduate programs across the United States, often with an emphasis on child clinical, pediatric or health psychology.
In the last five years, 100 percent of our interns have been from PhD psychology graduate programs accredited by the American Psychological Association. Also, all of our students have had some experience working in a medical or child diagnostic setting prior to joining our program. Internship success is optimized when dissertations are completed prior to starting internship.
Our interns report that good clinical training in child and family interventions, experience conducting child and youth assessments, and training within a medical facility prepared them for quick acclimation to our program.
Admissions Criteria
| Minimum Number of Hours at the Time of Application |
| Total Direct Contact Intervention Hours |
No |
Yes |
Amount: 150 |
| Total Direct Contact Assessment Hours |
No |
Yes |
Amount: 125 |
We value comprehensive and diverse training experiences with children, adolescents and families in the context of general clinical and medical settings including assessment, delivery of empirically-based treatment, collaborative clinical work such as work in multi-disciplinary medical environments or schools, work with diverse patient populations, application of research methods to clinically-relevant topics, DEI-related training, community engagement, and leadership activities. We also value personal characteristics that demonstrate professionalism, self-awareness, adaptability, intellectual curiosity, resilience, collaboration, empathy, ethical decision making, and cultural humility.
Other Required Criteria
- APA-accredited graduate program
- Must have completed the equivalent of 3 years of practicum or work experience (minimum of 800 hours including hours required above)
- Assessment and intervention hours outlined above need to have been work with children, adolescents, and their families (0-18 years)
- Must have written at least 10 child/adolescent integrated psychological testing reports
- Must have completed all major coursework requirements and qualifying examinations for their degrees prior to beginning internship
- Must only have the dissertation requirement to meet during the internship year
- If NOT a U.S. Citizen, authorization to work or to engage in practical training (CPT or OPT) in the U.S. is required.
Additional Criteria
- Aspire to a scientist-practitioner model of care delivery
- Have a good working knowledge of child and adolescent development and the biopsychosocial model of care
- Have supervised experience providing individual, family and group therapy utilizing evidence-based treatment approaches (behavior therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, family systems/socio-ecological models)
- Have a good working knowledge of test administration, scoring and interpretation with cognitive instruments such as the WISC-IV and behavioral/emotional checklists (CBCL, BASC, CDI, MASC)
- Have experience with, or an interest in, working in a medical setting with children or adolescents