Trainees review a videotaped session together.
Brian shares a drawing with fellow trainees.
Psychology Internships
INTERNSHIP Overview
We offer training to graduate students in accredited PhD, EdD or PsyD clinical, school or counseling psychology doctoral programs. The Department of Psychiatry has offered comprehensive internship training to doctoral-level psychology trainees for over 25 years. In the past few years our programs have expanded to include training in a number of our more specialized outpatient programs, as well.
We are happy to announce that we are now offering a unified Psychology Internship program. This will allow trainees to experience a broader range of didactic and experiential learning from our very talented team of child, family and pediatric psychologists throughout our institution, while having the choice of affiliation with one of our primary placement settings as a “home base.”
Goals of psychology training
- To develop competent, effective child and family therapists with expertise in the pediatric and urban community setting.
- To expose trainees to a wide range of psychological, developmental, behavioral pediatrics, and family systems issues in the context of a children’s healthcare system.
- To develop clinicians knowledgeable about multicultural issues and sensitive to working with families from a variety of cultural, socioeconomic and gender backgrounds.
- To develop familiarity with the medical treatment of children and with the uses of psychotropic medication, where appropriate.
- To develop the ability to work comfortably and effectively within a treatment team which includes physicians, school and community personnel.
- To enhance skills in working collaboratively with the many systems that interface with the mental health system in the care of children including foster care, schools, the courts, county mental health and social services.
Program structure
All of our trainees spend 40 hours per week for 12 months, from September through August, in our internship program. Trainees have a total of four weeks of time off, which includes planned vacation time, holidays and sick leave.
Trainees carry a full clinical caseload allowing them to provide approximately 12 to 15 hours per week of direct service to patients and their families. All trainees will be selected for primary placement in one of the departments listed below, which will serve as their “home base.”
The primary placement sites for our psychology interns are the following:
- Center for the Vulnerable Child
- Department of Psychiatry
- Behavioral Pediatrics Clinic
- Early Childhood Mental Health
In this primary setting, interns will see the majority of their patients and participate in case conferences and trainings of that department or service. Trainees will also participate in core training seminars that will include all psychology trainees at their level throughout the institution. This will allow exposure to activities, patient populations and staff throughout our hospital. Psychology interns will have the opportunity for experiential learning through secondary rotations in the programs outside of their primary placement.
Clinical supervision and teaching
Psychology interns and fellows receive at least two hours per week of individual supervision, as well as a number of additional hours of group supervision and other learning experiences. Supervision styles and theoretical orientations vary, but there is a common emphasis on developmental and family systems perspectives informing our conceptualizations and treatment approaches.
Clinical supervision will also be available in assessment and treatment seminars and group supervisions which utilize videotape and case conference methodology. Psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and pediatricians throughout the hospital are also available for consultation and teaching in their areas of expertise.
A Core Seminar is required for all interns which will provide didactic training in the core cluster areas of: Child Development, Trauma, Assessment and Diagnosis, Pharmacology, Community Systems and Services, and Professional Development. As our hospital serves a very diverse linguistic, ethnic and socioeconomic population, our programs also offer ongoing training in multicultural issues as they inform the work of the psychologist.
Children’s Hospital also offers an extensive range of educational events including weekly Grand Rounds, daily noon conferences for residents, seminars at our research institute and regular in-service trainings for mental health professionals, all of which welcome our trainees. The hospital has an excellent medical library as well as a Family Resource & Information Center available for our trainees’ use.
How to apply
Our program is a member of the Association of Psychology Post-Doctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). We are participating in APPIC’s National Internship Matching Program for pre-doctoral internship applicants.
To be included as an applicant you must submit your agreement form the National Matching Services, Inc. by the deadline date. You may call National Matching Services at (416) 977-3431, or obtain information through www.appic.org.
Application to any or all of the primary placement sites at Children’s Hospital Oakland will be accomplished through a single application to our program. However, please note that each of our Primary Placement sites has a separate code number, and you may apply for one or all of our programs. Applicants will be asked to indicate their preferences in their cover letter, and will separately rank each placement site of interest in the matching process.
We require personal interviews with all finalist applicants. Please note that, like most internship agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area, we are not an APA-approved internship site, although we are working towards that eventual goal. Our program is well respected in the Bay Area and our program graduates have an excellent record of obtaining licensure and employment.
Please send the following materials by Dec. 1, 2007:
- A cover letter describing your background and interests. Please specify your choice(s) of primary placement(s). You can be considered for more than one primary placement.
- Your Curriculum Vita
- APPIC Application (the AAPI), including your Match number.
- Transcripts
- Three letters of recommendation.
Note: This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant.
Send all materials or questions to:
Dr. Judith Libow
Director of Psychology Training
Coordinator of Psychological Services
Dept. of Psychiatry
Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland
747 52nd Street
Oakland, CA. 94609
email: jlibow@mail.cho.org
Phone: (510) 428-3358
Email pageLearn More
