Doctoral Internship in Professional Psychology

The doctoral internship program in professional psychology is an American Psychological Association-approved internship program. The next sit visit is designated for 2019. Questions and concerns about the program's accreditation status may be directed to APA at the following address:

APA Commission on Accreditation
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
(202) 336-5979
apaaccred@apa.org
www.apa.org

The doctoral internship program in professional psychology is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) and adheres to the standards, policies, and procedures required of member programs. APPIC Program Code: 166312.

The University at Albany is a public institution within the 64-campus State University of New York system. The University, which is one of four SUNY University Centers, is classified as a Research I institution. It was established in 1884 and designated as a university center in 1962. The student body consists of approximately 13,250 undergraduate and 5,000 graduate students from diverse backgrounds and representing 100 different nations. The University at Albany is a coeducational institution and is very diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. More than 1,000 faculty members provide instruction that supports 58 undergraduate majors and 61 minors and also 120 graduate programs.

The purpose of the internship is to develop professional skills and attitudes that enable competent entry-level psychological practice at the generalist level. The broad goals of the training program are to prepare psychological practitioners who comport themselves in a professional manner adherent to prevailing ethical and legal standards, who competently develop, deliver, and evaluate psychological services and a broad range of interventions incorporating an understanding of cultural and individual differences and diversity, and psychologists who are prepared to practice in a complex, pluralistic system or organization. The Counseling Center's services, which are intended to support the healthy development and academic engagement of the University's diverse student body, broadly follows a public health/community mental health model that is focused upon prevention, education, and early intervention, in additional to psychological evaluation and treatment. Interns are closely supervised throughout the internship in all their professional activities. There is an emphasis within the Center on diverse theoretical perspectives and culturally competent practice. The internship is at the post-clerkship, post-practicum, and post-externship level, and precedes the granting of the doctoral degree.

The internship training adheres to a practitioner-scholar model grounded in the knowledge and methods of psychological science and fosters the development of professional skills, attitudes, and identity through mentor-apprentice relationships whose goal is to assist interns become progressively more independent in their ability to function competently and ethically as professional psychologists. The primary vehicle for learning in the internship program is learning by doing, coupled with a critical examination of one's experiences by way of individual and group supervision, feedback from staff in weekly clinical conferences, and participation in weekly seminars/workshops. Mentoring-supervisory relationships provide the supportive context that is needed for effective modeling, exploration through trial and error learning, and establishing close connections with colleagues while increasingly developing professional autonomy. Throughout the internship there is an emphasis upon maintaining a scholarly attitude (questioning, searching for answers, using sound investigative methods, and critical thinking), using research to inform the methods one employs to assess and intervene with clients, and the value of critically evaluating one's practices. In as much as the Center is a leader in implementing innovative evidence-based prevention and early intervention programs, conducts program evaluation research, and often seeks grants to further targeted initiatives, interns are immersed in a setting in which data inform practice.

The purpose of the internship is to develop professional skills and attitudes that enable competent entry-level psychological practice.

Counseling Center training experiences and activities are organized to accomplish the following goals and objectives and develop competencies in the specific areas identified below. 

Goal 1: To prepare psychological service providers to comport themselves in a professional manner. 

Objective 1: To prepare psychologists to function within the scope of ethical and legal guidelines and in accordance with professional standards. These attributes are fundamental and endemic to all professional services and activities.

Related Competencies: Competencies are developed in the areas of ethics, cultural and individual diversity, professional comportment, accurate self-assessment and judgment, effective self-management, and dedication to learning.

Goal 2: To prepare psychological practitioners who competently develop, deliver, and evaluate psychological services (broadly defined).

Objective 2: To place psychological practice within the context of psychological knowledge.

Related Competencies: Competencies are developed in the areas of diagnostic knowledge, case conceptualization, and evaluation practices.

Objective 3: To competently implement a range of assessment and intervention activities within a diverse population, incorporating an understanding of cultural and individual differences and diversity in assessment, diagnosis, and intervention activities.

Related Competencies: Competencies are developed in the areas of interview assessment, counseling and psychotherapy, psychological testing, consultation and supervision, and prevention, education, and instruction.

Goal 3: To prepare professional psychologists for practice within a complex system or organization.

Objective 4: To develop abilities to effectively practice within a complex system or organization.

Related Competencies: Competencies are developed in organizational awareness, collaborative practice, and effective communication within the organization.

The entire training and supervisory staff reflects a broad range of theoretical orientations, therapeutic styles, individual differences, and cultural backgrounds. Many are very active and play leadership roles in professional organizations and are engaged in research and scholarly writing. The primary supervisory staff include 9 full-time licensed psychologists and 3 part-time licensed psychologists.

This APPIC-member, University Counseling Center Internship Program is a yearlong, full-time program of supervised professional psychological activities and experiences. The internship experience entails 2,000 hours of supervised psychological activities that must be completed within 12 consecutive months. The internship provides carefully supervised training and experiences in the full-range of psychological services and programs offered by the Counseling Center. In as much as the Center adheres to a public health/community mental health model, interns spend a portion of their week in prevention, education, and early intervention activities, in addition to more traditional clinical psychological activities (assessment, diagnosis, treatment, clinical consultation). Interns devote at least twenty-five percent of their time providing clinical psychological services to individuals seeking evaluation and treatment. Interns also play an important role in supporting the Center's peer services by assisting in training and supervising undergraduate peer helpers and peer educators.

Overall the internship entails two hours per week of individual supervision and two hours per week of group supervision, all with licensed psychologists. Additional individual supervision is provided when interns experience a need for this extra support or when supervisors determine that additional supervision will enhance the intern’s learning and functioning. Participation in weekly case conferences, weekly training seminars, and other didactic meetings is also required. There is an ever present emphasis on the application of the knowledge and methods of psychological science in the clinical setting, legal and ethic issues, and the influence of cultural and individual differences and diversity.

It is our belief that professional experiences in roles or circumstances that are different from the clinical psychological functions of the University Counseling Center enables interns to develop a more complex understanding and appreciation of the fundamental professional skills that they are developing. Experiences in diverse circumstances challenge the intern to think more deeply about basic issues that pertain to psychological assessment and intervention, about human development and psychopathology, and about important social and professional issues facing psychologists. Immersion in the Center’s universal, targeted, and selective prevention activities is a major context for a broader experience of this type.

The Center supports two peer service programs, including the well-established and nationally recognized Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program. Intern experiences in training and supervising the undergraduate peer helpers and participation in program coordination compliment the clinical psychological activities within the internship. Under supervision, interns teach credit-bearing courses on peer helping and peer education and supervise the activities of the peer helpers and peer educators. This experience enables interns to acquire a broad range of skills that are relevant for working in a college setting beyond psychological counseling and include teaching, supervision, and program development/coordination skills.

Interns take part in weekly seminars and training workshops. There is a great deal of variety in the topics covered in order to respond to the needs and interests of the interns. However, we attempt to schedule one seminar each month that addresses each internship goal and objective.

The internship is a 2,000 hour, twelve-month experience entailing an average 40-hour week.

As a general guide, time is apportioned as follows with allowances dictated by the service demands placed upon the Center.

Assessment/Early Intervention/Treatment Activities (16 hrs); Prevention/Education/Health Promotion Activities (14 hrs); Supervision and Other Training Activities (7 hrs) as follows: Individual Supervision (2 hrs), Group Supervision (2 hrs), Formal Case Conference (1 hr), Internship Seminar (2 hrs); Observational Learning and Other Training (3 hrs) as follows: Assessment Conference (2 hrs), Prevention Conference (1 hr).

Interns are evaluated in their attainment of eighteen professional competencies using an evaluation form specific to the goals and objectives of the internship program. (Requests to complete rating forms provided by academic programs are handled on a case by case basis). Supervisors provide regular oral feedback and scheduled written feedback to trainees. Interns are formally provided with feedback and evaluation according to the schedule below.

Type of Evaluation                                                            Time-Table

The process of formally evaluating interns occurs in stages consisting of (1) a preliminary or oral evaluation, (2) a written evaluation that is signed by a senior supervisor and the intern, and (3) timely distribution of the signed or finalized written evaluation to relevant parties. There is an opportunity and set of written procedures for appealing written evaluations and, if successfully appealed, modifying the written evaluation.

Interns who successfully complete the internship are awarded a certificate of completion. To satisfy the requirements of the internship, interns must have met the minimum competency standards in the four areas of internship training (i.e., four training objectives) at the time of the Performance Evaluation and continue to meet performance standards to the completion of the internship year.

Oral and written evaluations by the intern of his/her training experience and the performance of supervisors, presenters, etc. are sought on a regular basis and used to modify the training program. One intern sits on the quality assurance training committee.

The yearlong internship experience begins on August 9, 2013 and ends on August 8, 2014. The current intern salary is $25,000. Pay periods are once every two weeks. All interns receive a fringe benefits package that includes health insurance, paid state holidays, accrue sick leave and annual leave, and use of University facilities. As a full-time intern, a forty hour average work week is expected that follows the service needs dictated by the academic calendar. Like all Center psychologists, interns are indemnified under NYS Public Officers Law.

Applications are sought from clinical and counseling psychology students from APA or CPA-accredited doctoral training programs. Applicants are required to have completed at least three years of graduate training, and have obtained minimally 450 supervised intervention hours. Supervised counseling practicum experiences with young adults, particularly college students, are preferred. Prior experiences in prevention work, early intervention, teaching/supervising, or psychological testing would be a plus, as would experiences with diverse populations. Comprehensive examinations must be passed by the internship Match ranking deadline.

Our internship site abides by the APPIC match policy, which is accessible by contacting NMS directly (416-977-3432). Our site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this site will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any applicant for the internship.

The Counseling Center conducts telephone interviews with qualified candidates. Interviewers include two Center psychologists and an undergraduate student representative. Visits to the Center by appointment are welcome but not required. The application deadline is November 16, 2012. While the final date by which all applicants will be notified of their interview status is December 19, 2012, every effort is made to contact applicants after their application undergoes an initial review.

For additional information please contact:

Joseph E. Bernier, Ph.D.
Assistant Director for Training and Evaluation
University Counseling Center
University at Albany
400 Patroon Creek Blvd.
Suite 104
Albany, New York 12206
(518) 442-5800

jbernier@albany.edu