Preparing for InternshipJustin Parent, Ph.D.

Goals for Today

How to plan ahead

Types of internships

An overview of the application process

Norms for hours/reports when applying

Everything Will Be Ok!Proper planning is all that is needed

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Timeline•Year 1 – Do NOTHING (just track hours)•Year 2 – Do NOTHING (just track hours)•Year 3 – Start to think about what kind of clinical work you want to do•Year 4 – Choose a practicum that fits a need•Year 5 – Apply

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Year 1

Don’t think about this!

If you have zero hours you are still perfectly on track.

Year 2

Also don’t think about this!

If you come away with 50+ hours you’re golden

However, the hours from

foundations are enough

Year 3•You will start to get an idea of what kinds of therapy/assessment you:1. Enjoy2. Want to learn more about3. Really don’t enjoy

•Use this experience (good and bad) to guide what you see yourself doing going forward•Aim to have ~500 (+/- ~150) assessment/intervention hours at the end of yr.

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End of Year 3

Peek at some ideal internship sites

Check your hours and identify gaps

Pick Yr. 4 clinical training

opportunities that fill gaps

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Year 4

This is the final year to get your hours and reports

1At the end of your year aim to have 800 total contact hours (8+ reports)

2If not, do STP! You get tons of hours + could do intake reports

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Internship Types

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Research

•Typically have 4-8 hours of dedicated research time•Matched with a mentor•Usually in a medical school•Usually have post-doc opportunities•Value research much more than most internships

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Example Sites for Research• UCLA Semel Institute• University of California, San

Francisco • Brown Clinical Psychology

Training Consortium • University of Illinois at

Chicago• University of Washington

School of Medicine

• Massachusetts General Hospital – Harvard Medical School• Western Psychiatric Institute /

University of Pittsburgh • Medical University of South

Carolina, Charleston Consortium • University of Mississippi

Medical Center12

Child Clinical•Focused on individual and family treatment for child mental health problems•Usually a broad range of problem areas•Multiple levels of intensity• Inpatient•Partial / day-treatment•Outpatient•School

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Pediatric / Behavioral Health•Pediatric psychology within a general medical setting•Children with co-occurring medical and psychological problems constitute the primary treatment population•Brief behavioral interventions constitute the primary therapeutic modalities

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Forensic / Juvenile Justice•Training emphasis is often on the integration of substance use and mental health treatment for youth who are justice-involved or at-risk for justice involvement•Family court and other similar settings•Juvenile detention center treatment

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Neuropsychology•Assessment and assessment and more assessment! •Necessary for becoming a neuropsychologist•Multidisciplinary assessments that integrate during laboratory, neuroimaging, neurologic, and genetic findings

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How do I Pick?

Post-doc opportunities (e.g., T32)

Specialty training opportunities

Research opportunities

Prestige

Match with my training

Location

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The Application ProcessSteps to keep in mind

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The Application Process•Report Hours•Four 1-page (500 word) Essays•Autobiographical Statement•Theoretical Orientation•Diversity Statement•Research Experience and Interests

•Cover letter for each site•Letters of recommendation

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Tracking Your HoursNeed the following•Client demographics• Intervention hours and type of intervention•Assessment hours by type of assessment•Psychodiagnostic or neuropsych

•Supervision hours by type•Group or individual

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Tracking Your Hours

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Patient Demographics

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Patient Demographics

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Intervention Categories

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Assessment

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Assessment Categories

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Integrated Reports•The definition of an integrated psychological testing report is a report that includes a review of history, results of an interview, and at least two psychological tests from one or more of the following categories: • personality measures• intellectual tests• cognitive tests• neuropsychological tests

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Applying - Yr. 5

June

Identify internships (20+)

July–Aug.

Write essays

September

Finalize sites (10-15)

October

Write cover letters

October / November

Apply

Interviews

December

Early Interviews

January

Most Interviews

Early February

Final Interviews and ranking

Late February

Match

The Cost!•Application = $500•Travel for interviews = 1k-5k•Total cost: ~2-3k

• Internship salary ranges from 20k – 30k• Insurance usually comes out of this…

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Match Statistics Caution!

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APPIC Match

•97.4% match rate from accredited clinical programs•Average of 15 site applications (+/- 5) •Average of 7 interviews•86% of applicants match at one of their top 3 choices (51% at 1st choice)

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Doctoral Hours

APPIC 2017

•Doctoral Intervention:•Median = 598 (SD 294)

•Doctoral Assessment:•Median = 178

Integrated Reports

Adult reports: Median = 8

Child reports: Median = 6

Research Publications

Median = 1

Mode = 0

General Guidelines•Aim for ~800 contact hours •500+ Intervention & 100+ Assessment

•Reports required varies by type of internship•A good goal is 8-10 (*not for neuropsych)

• In general, a variety of patient populations, treatments, and treatment settings is helpful

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Summary•Everything will be ok!•Make sure you are tracking hours •Take steps to plan ahead•Pick practicum opportunities that fit your goals for training and eventual internship •Don’t limit yourself to internships that are outside your areas of training

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