The Psychology Internship Program at Cambridge Health Alliance
The Internship at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a full-time,
APA-approved clinical psychology internship. Interns are eligible
for appointment as Clinical Fellows at the Harvard Medical School,
which provides the appointee with access to university libraries,
athletic facilities, and other benefits. Most interns have reported
that the internship requires about 45-60 hours per week. All interns
receive four weeks of vacation time. The internship is full time
for twelve months, from July 1 to June 30. Stipends are expected
to be $23,500 per year. Health insurance and other benefits are
available to interns as employees of Cambridge Health Alliance.
The Cambridge
Health Alliance Psychology Internship is accredited by:
The American Psychological Association
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
750 First Street NE, Washington, DC, 20002-4242
Telephone: 202-336-5979
Goals and Objectives of Cambridge Health Alliance Psychology
Internship
The overarching goal of the CHA psychology internship is to prepare
doctoral candidates in psychology to understand and treat persons
suffering with a broad spectrum of emotional distress. We also aim
to prepare our interns to be future leaders in clinical service
and training. Using a scholar-practitioner approach, our curriculum
emphasizes a biopsychosocial and cultural approach to clinical understanding
and treatment. Our specific goals are fourfold. First, we aim to
develop competency in diagnostic assessment of patients with severe
and persistent forms of mental illness. Second, we aim to develop
competency in the consultation, treatment planning, and conduct
of individual psychotherapy. Third, we aim to develop competency
in collaboration skills across disciplines. Finally, we aim to develop
competency in working effectively within complex systems of care.
Our objectives toward each goal are as follows. First, interns will
develop competence in psychological and psychiatric evaluations
in outpatient settings, with particular attention to the assessment
of risk. Second, interns will demonstrate competence in their ability
to formulate clinical problems and develop appropriate treatment
plans. Third, interns will demonstrate competence in their collaborative
professional skills, working on interdisciplinary teams and with
collateral treaters. Finally, interns will demonstrate competence
in working with multidisciplinary staff and with the necessary communication
tools for collaboration within a complex and distributed health
care system.
How the Internship
is Structured
At Cambridge Health Alliance, the education of psychologists occurs
in multidisciplinary settings. A distinctive feature of our program
is that psychology interns work in two or more clinical sites during
their internship year enabling interns to pursue a wide variety
of individual interests. All interns share a dual responsibility
to the Psychology Division and to their placement sites, and report
to the Psychology Division Training Directors as well as to Service
and Team leaders.
All interns are placed one of the Adult Ambulatory Psychiatry Services,
either on one of the General Psychiatry Outpatient Teams, or on
one of the Cultural/Linguistic Specialty Clinics (Latino Clinic
or Asian Clinic). The intern's other placement is a subspecialty
experience with Adult Acute Services or with child and adolescent
outpatients. In your cover letter with the AAPI, please clearly
indicate the track to which you are applying: Option I, Option II,
or Option III-A or III-C.
Option I:
Adult Track (Adult General Psychiatry Outpatient Service and
Adult Acute Services)
Option II:
Combined Adult and Child Track (Adult General Psychiatry Outpatient
Service and Child/ Adolescent Outpatient Service at the Child and
Adolescent Ambulatory Services at the Cambridge campus)
Option III:
Placement in one of the following clinics:
Option
III-A: Latino Mental Health Clinic and, either Adult Acute
Services, or The Child and Adolescent Ambulatory Services at the
Cambridge campus
Option III-B: Asian Mental Health Clinic and, either Adult
Acute Services, or The Child and Adolescent Ambulatory Services
at the Cambridge campus
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