Mental Health - Predoctoral Psychology Internship Program

Predoctoral Psychology Internship Program

The Ulster County Mental Health Department Predoctoral Internship Program began in 1980. The program provides an opportunity for supervised professional training and experience in the application of psychological theories and practice to a diverse client population spanning a wide spectrum of diagnostic categories. It includes a broad range of clinical and educational experiences designed to assist interns in their professional identity development as providers of psychological services. As such, the internship is structured with training as its primary goal (rather than being driven by a service provision agenda) where interns are provided the opportunity to digest knowledge through ongoing didactic components, as well as develop, integrate, and synthesize their professional skills through direct clinical work and meaningful supervisory relationships.

The internship at Ulster County provides training in community mental health. This training is made up of a core program, and track assignments. The core program includes broad and general expectations and opportunities shared by all of our interns. Track assignments refer to the yearlong treatment population and treatment unit that interns are placed with. Thus, an intern will have an office located in and work with the Family and Child Unit, one of the Adult Units, or half time in both Adult and a Family and Child Unit. Psychotherapy cases will be assigned through the intern’s track assignment. An intern’s core program will consist of psychological testing, forensics, didactic seminar, and group work/ sub rotation.
The internship program is designed to graduate interns that are:

Prepared to assume the professional/ethical responsibilities associated with becoming an entry level psychologist
Skilled at selecting and utilizing clinical interventions at an entry level.
Are proficient at psychological testing.
Prepared with an entry-level foundation of training and experience in forensic psychology.

Following our last accreditation visit by the APA in 2005 our site was granted a seven year full accreditation status. Seven years is the longest accreditation award granted by the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Accreditation. The APA’s Committee on Accreditation can be contacted directly at 202-336-5979

The internship year begins on the first working day following the fourth of July and ends on the last working day before the fourth of July. Thus, the internship at Ulster County Mental Health Department starts and ends earlier than most internships.

Interns typically work 40-45 hours per week to satisfy all clinical and agency requirements, thus affording interns a 2000-hour internship (the minimum required for licensure). Interns are expected to provide approximately 14 face-to-face client contact-hours per week. As the agency uses a 45-minute therapy hour as a standard (with 15 minutes following for case notes and related paperwork), this generally translates into a caseload of approximately 16 to 18 clients who are typically seen on a weekly basis. Therapy constitutes approximately thirty-five percent of intern time at UCMHD with additional opportunities for more therapy experience at the discretion of the intern and her/his supervisors.

Psychology interns are regular members of the team to which they are assigned and therefore attend both team and agency-wide staff meetings. Our doctoral interns work closely with other members of their units as well as with staff members from other units when appropriate or necessary. These staff members include psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, counselors, and helping professionals from other disciplines, depending upon the particular unit. Within this interdisciplinary model, UCMHD interns are an integral part of the professional mission of their team, as well as the agency, and are accorded the same dignity and privileges given to the agency's professional staff.

This internship experience is also designed to promote the development of intern competency in providing coordinated services between UCMHD and other professionals outside the agency, such as neurologists, pediatricians, family physicians, speech therapists, teachers, school psychologists, Department of Social Services caseworkers, and other professionals as deemed appropriate for a given therapy case.

All application materials for the 2010-2011 internship year must be submitted by November 20, 2009.

Click here to download the internship materials

Materials include the following:

Background, Evaluation, Training Program, Intern Selection, Financial Support, Location, Training & Research Facilities, Description of Internship, Supervision, Staff Areas of Interest, Application Materials

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