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Pre-doctoral Internship in Psychology

University Counseling Services provides a one-year intensive psychology internship. The purpose is to train future psychologist the core areas of: intake/assessment, individual psychotherapy and case management, group psychotherapy, crisis intervention, awareness of socio-cultural differences, supervision, consultation/ outreach, scholarly inquiry, and overall professional functioning.

The pre-doctoral internship in University Counseling services is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association. This program participates in the APPIC Match (program matching number 161211) and abides by all APPIC Match policies.

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 prior to Uniform Notification Day. For additional information concerning APPIC policies you may view the website at http://www.appic.org.

UCS psychology internship expects interns to work 40-45 hours per week. There are times when demand for services increase and interns provide additional hours consistent with overall expectations of UCS staff. Psychology interns are asked to keep a log of their clinical hours. The following is a delineation of weekly activities during internship at UCS. This is to be used as a guideline because individual interest and agency needs vary.

Application and Selection

University Counseling Services predoctoral internship begins August 10, 2010 and ends August 9, 2011. Applicants must have completed all required course work in a doctoral program in clinical or counseling psychology. This work must include four semesters of supervised practicum experience.

University Counseling Services will be utilizing the on-line APPI application system through APPIC. All materials described below must be completed and submitted through the applicant portal on the APPIC website. Completed applications must be submitted by November 15. No application materials will be accepted through regular mail. A completed application includes the following:

  • APPIC Application for Psychology Internships
  • current vita
  • official graduate transcript
  • letters of recommendation from three professionals at least two of which are directly familiar with applicant's clinical/counseling experience
  • Cover letter indicating why applicant is interested in this site

University Counseling Services offers both on-site and phone interviews. Applicants who are selected to interview with UCS will be notified prior to December 15.

Applicants who are not selected will be notified by e-mail the week of December 15. On-site interviews with UCS are scheduled for January 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, 2010. The on-site interviews are from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Phone interviews are scheduled for January 11 and 12, 2010 (usually 50 minutes to one hour).

University Counseling Services' internship final offers are contingent up successfully passing a criminal background check as required by Virginia Commonwealth University.

All correspondence regarding the internship program should be addressed to:

Claudia Carroll, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Training
Virginia Commonwealth University
University Counseling Services
PO Box 842525
Richmond, VA 23284-2525
Phone: (804) 828-6200
Email: cecarroll@vcu.edu

VCU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Please contact the Committee on Accreditation if you have any questions about our accreditation status.

Committee on Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 First St., NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Telephone: (202) 336-5979

Stipend and Benefits

*Stipend and benefits are subject to change prior to the start of internship.

The stipend for 2010-2011 is $20,200 for 12 months. The primary fringe benefits are vacation, sick leave, professional leave, and University holidays.

  • Ten days of vacation leave and one flex day
  • Five days of professional leave time that may be used for conferences, travel back to the home university for dissertation work, or job interviewing. Time away from UCS must be scheduled and approved by the Associate Director for Training
  • Twelve days of sick leave are accumulated by trainees
  • Use of University Student Health Services
  • Group health insurance
  • Interns may contract for professional development time that is used for such activities as reading and dissertation research
  • Access to computer time for dissertation and other research projects is available

Average Activity Per Week

Training Activities

Direct Services

Individual and couples therapy 12–14 hours
Group therapy 2 hours
Intakes 2 hours
Crisis coverage 1 hour

Administrative Time

Friday Clinical Consult 1.5 hours
Staff meeting 30 mins

Consultation and Outreach

Consultation and outreach programming 1–2 hours

Practicum Supervision and Teaching

Practicum supervision 1 hour

Training

Training meeting 30 minutes
Outreach Seminar/Case Conference 30 minutes
Supervision of supervision 2 hours
Individual supervision 2 hours
Supervision of group therapy 1.5 hours

The hours indicated do not include paperwork, crisis work (both on-call and walk-ins), dissertation time or additional training activities.