The Psychology Internship at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a full time internship accredited by the Committee of Accreditation of the American Psychological Association. Interns are eligible for appointment as Clinical Fellows at Harvard Medical School, which provides access to university libraries, athletic facilities and other benefits.
The internship is full time from June 30th to June 29th. Most interns have reported that the internship requires about 45-50 hours per week. Stipends are $35,000 per year. All interns receive four weeks of vacation time. 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:
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street. NE, Washington, DC, 20002
Telephone: 202-336-5979
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
Goals and Objectives of the CHA 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. 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. Please see our Training Manual for an extended description of our goals and objectives.
How the Internship is Structured
The CHA internship has 6 tracks, each of which are described below. In your cover letter with the AAPI, please indicate the track to which you are applying. In general, we recommend that you limit your applications to just 1 or 2 tracks. 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.
Track I: Adult Track (Adult General Psychiatry Outpatient Service and Adult Acute Services). This track involves approximately 2 days a week of general outpatient services, 1 day a week in psychiatric emergency and intensive outpatient services, and 1 day a week in a specialty clinic (primary care, early psychosis, chronic SMI, possibly addiction). A psychological testing rotation takes place in intensive outpatient services.
Track II: Adult/Child Track (Adult General Psychiatry Outpatient Services and Child and Adolescent Outpatient Services). This track involves approximately 2 days a week of general outpatient services and 2 days a week of child/adolescent outpatient services. One case will be a family therapy case. A psychological testing rotation takes place in Child Outpatient Services.
Track III: Latinx Adult Outpatient Team/Adult Acute Services. This track involves approximately 2 days a week of general outpatient services for Spanish-speaking adults, 1 day a week in psychiatric emergency and intensive outpatient services, and 1 day a week in a specialty clinic (primary care, early psychosis, chronic SMI, possibly addiction). A psychological testing rotation takes place in intensive outpatient services. Fluency in Spanish required.
Track IV: CHA/Weil Foundation Track. This track involves approximately 3 days a week in child/adolescent outpatient services, and the provision of groups and psychological testing on child/adolescent inpatient services. Like Tracks I and II, the intern on this track carries 1-2 cases from the Psychodynamic Research Clinic.
Track V: Population Health/Adult Outpatient/Substance Abuse-OBAT. This track involves approximately 2 days a week in adult outpatient services in CHA’s Revere, MA outpatient clinic, 1 day a week in office based addiction services in the Revere Primary Care/Behavioral Health Clinic, and 1 day a week of research. In addition, the interns in this track spend the first six weeks of internship full time in the Program for Clinical Effectiveness at the Harvard-Chan School of Public Health, to enhance clinical research skills.
Track VI: Integrated Primary Care/Behavioral Health. The intern in the HRSA funded position will work at the CHA Revere Care Center for adults in the context of a primary care/behavioral health team, in the Office Based Addiction Program. Responsibilities include intakes, evaluations, brief treatment, warm handoffs, and group treatment for work with adults with substance abuse difficulties.
Both Tracks V and VI are funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under grant number D40HP33336.