-By Timothy Lyons
One of the first things that someone who is interested in psychology might want to explore is psychology internships. This is especially true when it comes to obtaining a post graduate degree in psychology. If you attend a major university you will probably be provided with or have the ability to locate internships with the help of the university. With the proliferation of online universities, this task might be more daunting.
Many of the universities that are online do not provide the unique feature of internships to their students. In this case, the student will need to do research and find their own internships. The internship is a necessary part of the work in any type of licensing in the field of mental health.
Internship Purpose
So what is the purpose of psychology internships? You might be asking yourself why do I have to do this, I already have a degree? The answer is that there are many goals and objectives as purpose for an internship. The basics are that the intern is a way to introduce a person into the profession. In any licensing case in mental health, whether one wants to become a clinical social worker, marriage and family therapist, licensed partitioning counselor or do work as a Psychologist, the licensing boards will require the student to gain more expertise with on the job training through an internship.
The programs are designed to give the entry level practitioner general knowledge of the field. In this way the new practitioner can be overseen by someone who has gained their license. It will allow the licensing boards to ensure that this person is working well within their scope and knowledge.
The internship trains the intern to provide direct services. This can often come in the area of outreach, providing psycho-education, and direct clinical consultation. The internship can also be used to provide further ethics training. This time can also be used to enhance the intern’s skills in intake and assessment or to better develop the skills of diagnosis of clients. Another area important in the internship is direct services in the area of one on one and group therapy. This often goes hand in hand with testing interventions, planning treatment outcomes and learning tools to effectively deal with culture, and gender diversity in counseling.
Another area that the internship includes is interaction with diverse clients and coworkers. This is an area that can be a source of anxiety to the new professional. By addressing this issue the internships guide the learner to move smoothly in relationships with both clients and fellow staff members.
The internship also covers the aspect of integrating ethics and legal issues into everyday decisions. In this way the intern can learn to use methods to bring ethics into focus when it comes to making decisions in treatment, with relationships and into the workplace.
Psychology Internships
So where does one start when they want to find an internship. Oftentimes, the intern is already working in the field. In many cases, the intern can use his/her current colleagues to provide the necessary supervision to gain licensure. There are so many other ways to find internships. I will provide some links below:
- Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers or APPIC.org. This is a great search engine to help out a person who needs to get an internship. There is a search engine within the site that can provide a large listing of professional organizations that area offering internships. You can reach them at 17225 El Camino Real, Onyx One – Suite #170 in Houston, TX 77058-2748. Their phone number is (832) 284-4080 by fax it’s (832) 284-4079 or you can email at appic@appic.org
- The University of California at Davis (UC Davis) provided a great resource for possible internships in the northern California area. I will put a link to the site here. The list is pretty large. This one would definitely take some calls to cover but is a great example of how to find possible internships. There are links and phone numbers on this page. http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/psychology-major/undergraduate-forms/possible-internships-psychology-majors.
- The website GoAbroad.com has psychology internships that are overseas. The site had listed nearly 400 possibilities for internships. If moving is not something that is a problem then maybe this place has what you are seeking.
The point of this page is to help you begin to look for and understand that internship process. It is something that is a necessary and often times rewarding learning experience for someone who wants to become a licensed professional in the mental health field.