Expectations for Interns

Training Term

The internship program is one full year (12 months/2000 hours) in duration. The term of the internship program is from August 15-August 14 of the following year.

Structure of Internship

MMPIC interns are placed in one internship site and remain at that site across the whole year. Interns do not rotate through all three consortium internship sites.

The internship consortium has a non-affiliated, independent training structure. Michigan State University has been instrumental in developing the internship, has been and will be an ongoing resource, and will continue to provide administrative support to the internship consortium. Faculty from the University of Michigan also provide support. The internship is a culminating experience that serves to integrate fieldwork training and academic preparation.

The structure of the internship schedule ensures that intern training requirements take precedence over service delivery and revenue generation. To that end, all consortium sites have agreed to protect one day a week in intern schedules for didactic trainings, supervision, and time for interns to complete their dissertations or other research projects.

Internship Activities

Interns engage in various activities related to assessment, intervention, and consultation in academic, behavioral, psychological, and social-emotional domains. Interns spend at least 25% of their time engaging in direct service provision for children, youth, and families.

Interns also attend didactic trainings as a cohort. In-person didactic trainings rotate among sites and are led by licensed psychologists. Currently, most didactic training occurs via Zoom.

Required Experiences

All MMPIC interns are required to have the following training experiences across the internship year:

• Each intern must complete three assessments with written documentation
• Each intern must share assessment data with a parent or guardian at least 3 times
• Each intern must complete three interventions with written documentation
• Each intern must complete three consultation experiences with written documentation
• Each intern must liaise with at least one school staff member
• Each intern must present publicly present on a topic
• Each intern must work on a team with at least one other mental health professional
• Each intern must have at least one experience supervising another mental health professional at a lower level of training
• Each intern must work with at least three individuals whose identities include an element of diversity

Resources for Interns

Interns have access to all resources available at their respective intern site. Resources include available facilities, office space, printing, scanning, and copying tools, shared clerical support, and the academic, psychological, social, and emotional assessments necessary for completing internship responsibilities.

Supervision of Interns

Interns participate in at least two hours of individual supervision each week, and an additional two hours of group supervision (e.g., case processing in a group setting, didactics, peer presentations) from a licensed psychologist each week. Altogether, each intern receives at least 100 hours of regularly scheduled, individual supervision with a licensed psychologist plus an additional 100 hours of supervision.

Supervision of interns is aligned with the APPIC and APA expectations for internship supervision. The program training director and internship supervisors are licensed and certified psychologists. Intern supervision is provided by staff members of the internship agency or by qualified affiliates of that agency who carry clinical responsibility for the cases being supervised. Supervision is provided with the specific intent of dealing with psychological services rendered directly by the intern. Depending on clinical needs, increased hours of supervision are expected. The required supervision hours are provided through face-to-face individual supervision. Interns meet monthly with a training co-director for group telesupervision.

Evaluation of Interns

Interns are provided formative feedback at least four times during the internship year. Each intern receives informal verbal feedback, discussion, and a short written paragraph twice a year. Each intern also receives formal written evaluation twice a year. Specifically, supervisors complete a formal evaluation form aligned with MMPIC aims and competencies. These data are aggregated by the training director and shared with supervisors.

Continuous Program Improvement

To ensure continuous program improvement, training directors review intern outcomes and products to ensure intern performance meets the aims and expectations of the program. Interns also provide feedback about the internship activities they complete and the supervision they receive, and this information is used to promote growth over time. Specifically, the training director gathers intern satisfaction data on training sites twice a year using the Intern Evaluation of Training form. Should intern satisfaction data reflect low scores at a site, the training director will seek additional intern feedback, and will then work with the site to address the mismatch in expectations.

Eligibility for Internship

Applicants must meet the following prerequisites to be considered for our program:

1. Doctoral student in a school or clinical psychology program; applicants from an APA-accredited programs are preferred.
2. Approval for internship status granted by graduate program training director
3. Candidates must have a minimum of 150 assessment hours and 150 intervention/consultation hours of supervised practicum experience.
4. All applicants must obtain their Doctoral Educational Limited License in Psychology (TLLP) before internship. The cost for this certificate is roughly $100. Criteria and procedures for application are found on the Michigan Board of Psychology website. Interns must send the Training Co-Director proof of the TLLP before August 15.
5. All applicants must purchase Professional Liability (Malpractice) Insurance for Students before internship. The cost for this insurance is roughly $35. Most interns select policies from American Professional Agency, Inc. or Trust Insurance. Interns must send the Training Co-Director a copy of their liability insurance policy before August 15.

Intern Selection Process

A selection committee, composed of at least two psychologists involved in training, reviews applications.

We seek applicants who have a sound clinical and scientific knowledge base from their academic program, strong basic skills in assessment, intervention, and consultation skills, and the personal characteristics necessary to function well in our internship setting. Our selection criteria are based on a “goodness–of–fit” with our scientist-scholar-practitioner model, and we look for interns whose training goals match the training that we offer.

Note: The selection process may include information gained from internet searches of applicants’ names.

Interview Process

In-person interviews are required of all applicants who make the final selection round. In-person interviews are arranged with individual sites and typically involve at least two training staff.

Contact the Training Director

For more information, please contact the MMPIC Training Co-Director, Dr. Jana Aupperlee at:

Jana Aupperlee, PhD, NCSP, HSP
437 Erickson Hall
620 Farm Lane
East Lansing, MI 48824
aupperl3@msu.edu
(517) 432-4647