Applicants must meet the following prerequisites to be considered for our program:
Doctoral student in an APA-accredited Clinical or Counseling Psychology program or in an APA approved respecialization training program in Clinical or Counseling Psychology
Approval for internship status by graduate program training director
A minimum of 400 direct intervention and assessment hours of supervised graduate level pre-internship practicum experience
U.S. citizenship
Selection Process
A selection committee composed of psychologists involved in training reviews applications. Applicants may seek consideration for one or both tracks. Those not meeting the eligibility requirements will be notified by the agreed upon APPIC notification day. We seek applicants who have a sound clinical and scientific knowledge base from their academic program, strong basic skills in assessment, intervention, and research techniques, 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-practitioner model, and we look for interns whose training goals match sufficiently the training that we can offer. We prefer interns from university-based programs but consider candidates from free-standing programs as well. We select candidates from many different kinds of programs and theoretical orientations, geographic areas, ages, ethnic backgrounds, with different life experiences. Our training program and the Minneapolis VA Medical Center in which it resides are committed to Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity in Employment. As an equal opportunity training program, the internship welcomes and strongly encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of racial, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, disability or other minority status. Applicants are welcome to email or call with any questions. Questions about our program and training opportunities will be directed to a member of our training staff.
Interviews
In-person or phone interviews are required of all applicants who make the final selection round. In-person interviews will take a full day (8:00 am to 3:30 pm) and involve an informational session with the training director, a tour of our facility, an informational session with current interns, and at least three interviews with training staff. They will be conducted the first five business days in January, 2009. Phone interviews will involve talking with at least two training psychologists and an informational session with a current intern. Whether in-person or on the phone, one of the interviews will involve discussing a clinical vignette presented by staff.
Training Term
The internship is full-time for one year beginning on about Labor Day and ending on about that same time the following year. One year at full-time equals 2080 hours. Interns are entitled to 10 federal holidays and earn sick leave and vacation (annual leave) days at a rate of 4 hours of each per two-week pay period (a total of 13 days of each). Interns are encouraged to use all of their annual leave before completion of internship. Unused sick leave may be applied to future federal employment. Additional leave may be approved for attendance at conferences and workshops or to complete activities required by your university.
Stipend and Benefits
VA Headquarters in Washington, DC notifies us in January of each year of the number of intern positions that we will receive for the following internship year. For this year (2009-2010) we received eight full-time positions including to designated for neuropsychology emphasis. We expect to receive the same budget for next year. The current stipend is $23,873 per year. State and federal income tax and FICA (Social Security) are withheld from interns' checks. Interns are not covered by Civil Service retirement or leave and are not eligible for federal life insurance benefits. The United States Government covers interns for malpractice under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Match Policies The Minneapolis VAMC Psychology Internship Program is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Intern ship Centers (APPIC
)(*External site-see disclaimer below). Over the years, APPIC has developed guidelines for procedures used in student-internship matching, and these guidelines continue to evolve over time, as APPIC remains responsive to the varied concerns around this issue. The guidelines in effect for this application year are available from APPIC. This internship site agrees to follow APPIC guidelines
and 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.
The Minneapolis VAMC will participate in the APPIC Internship Matching Program administered by National Matching Services Inc. (NMS
)(*External site-see disclaimer below). There are two match numbers for our internship program, corresponding to the two training tracks. Applicants may apply for any or all of the three tracks. Indicate on the Minneapolis VAMC Supplemental Questions for which of the two tracks you would like to be considered. Our match numbers are:
138312 - General Clinical and Counseling Psychology 138315 - Neuropsychology
Contact information for APPIC and NMS is available on the "links" page of this web site or by clicking on the hyperlinks above. Applicants must obtain an Applicant Agreement Package
from NMS and register for the Match in order to be eligible to match to our internship programs. You can request an Applicant Agreement Package from NMS through the Matching Program web site or by contacting NMS at the locations indicated on the "links" page of the this web site. In accord with the Federal Drug-Free Workplace Program, interns accepted here may be asked to submit a urine specimen at the beginning of the training year. Other branches of the federal government (Office of Personnel Management) may conduct routine background checks at their discretion.
Application Procedures
To apply for an internship, submit the following materials:
The form "Academic Program's Verification of Internship Eligibility and Readiness," certifying that you have met your program's prerequisites for internship. This can be found on the AAPI link above.
Three letters of recommendation signed across the envelope seal. One of these must be from your academic adviser.
Transcripts of your graduate and undergraduate work. Student or unofficial copies are acceptable for undergraduate transcripts. If you are concerned that the transcript course titles do not clearly convey course content, please clarify on a separate sheet.
Work Sample. Please send a comprehensive integrated psychological assessment report, preferably one that includes both cognitive and personality assessment. If raw data are available, please include them.
The Minneapolis VAMC Supplemental Application, accessible by clicking here: Supplemental Application
Complete this form, submit it by clicking the "Submit by Email" button at the bottom of the form, and print a hard copy and enclose it with the rest of you application materials. Pease note that this form cannot be save with your data so you will need to complete it in one sitting while connected to the internet. If you use Yahoo, GMail or other internet base accounts you may have difficulty emailing the form. If you encounter such difficulties just print the form and mail it with your application.
*** Interviews will be held on January, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of 2009. You will be asked to rank your preferred interview dates on the Supplemental Application.
*** The deadline for completed applications is November 8th, 2008 for admission for Fall of the coming year.
*** We strongly prefer that we receive all these materials (items 1-7) in one package.
*** When putting your application materials together, please staple items 1, 2, 3, and 6 separately. Do not use paper clips or rubber bands.
Please send applications to:
Wayne Siegel, Ph.D., ABPP
Director of Training
Mental And Behavioral Health PSL (116B)
VA Medical Center
One Veterans Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55417-2300
Contact Information:
Further information regarding the Minneapolis VAMC Psychology Internship Program may be obtained by e-mail or telephone from these individuals:
*External Link Disclaimer:
All the links marked with asterisk ( * ) are External links. By clicking on these links, you will leave the Department of Veterans Affairs Website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked website.
Our privacy policy is clear: we will collect no personal information about you when you visit our website.
