Psychology Internships in Washington D.C.: A Comprehensive Guide

Washington D.C., a hub for education, research, and government, offers a variety of psychology internship opportunities. These internships provide invaluable practical experience for students and graduates looking to advance their careers in the field. This article explores the diverse range of psychology internships available in Washington D.C., focusing on the requirements, training, and specialization areas.

Research Opportunities

For students interested in research, several avenues are available.

Research Apprenticeships

The Research Apprenticeship, designated as PSY 493, is a 1-credit course designed for students seeking hands-on research experience. Students assist faculty members with ongoing research projects for approximately 4 to 5 hours per week, gaining practical knowledge under the supervision of a professor. Interested students may contact individual faculty about available research opportunities.

Independent Study

Independent Study, identified as PSY 594, is an option for students who have completed Psychology 322 and 350 and have obtained permission from a faculty research mentor.

Senior Thesis

The Senior Thesis (PSY 496), a year-long intensive research project, is available for senior students with a GPA of at least 3.70 and prior research experience. This project involves close collaboration with a faculty mentor and culminates in a final written thesis. Departmental consent is required, and interested students should contact a potential faculty supervisor before the end of their junior year.

Research Labs

The Department of Psychology is home to several research labs, providing additional opportunities for students to engage in psychological research.

Howard University Counseling Service (HUCS) Doctoral Internship

The Howard University Counseling Service (HUCS) offers a comprehensive doctoral internship program in Health Service Psychology. This program aims to prepare students for professional psychology practice, emphasizing competence in working with diverse populations.

Training Philosophy

The HUCS Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology believes that all individuals, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, or socioeconomic status, should have access to quality mental health care. To provide quality mental health care in a diverse society, practitioners must have in-depth knowledge of diversity issues. This philosophy guides the program curriculum, ensuring interns are well-prepared to serve diverse client populations.

Program Structure

The HUCS internship follows a practitioner-scholar model, integrating clinical practice with scholarly pursuits. Interns complete a full-time year of specialized training in clinical/counseling psychology. Trainees are expected to engage in some degree of self-disclosure as an integral part of the training program.

Their workload includes:

Clinical and training activities
Administrative activities
Professional development
Teaching and supervision

Interns develop skills and competencies through direct service delivery and specialized supervision in individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, assessment, outreach, and consultation.

Training Components

Training at HUCS is provided in incremental levels of complexity.

Orientation: Interns participate in three to four weeks of orientation activities, including new employee orientation, sexual harassment training, ethics presentation, and an introduction to the D.C. Charter School assessment rotation. The orientation also covers the history of HUCS, the training program’s philosophy, objectives, training plan, evaluation process, due process, and grievance procedures.
Intake and Clinical Intervention: Interns receive training in conducting intakes and formulating clinical interventions within an integrated theoretical model, under the guidance of the Training Director. They begin by conducting intake interviews and writing reports for presentation at weekly intake conferences.
Therapy Cases: After mastering intake skills, interns are assigned therapy cases, starting with straightforward clinical presentations and gradually progressing to more challenging cases.

Supervision Model

The supervisory relationship at HUCS is structured to move interns along a continuum of development:

Stage 1: Exploration of anxieties, expectations, and experiences, focusing on interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics combined with skill development activities. Attention is given to the intern’s adjustment to the intern role, their perceived strengths, and areas for growth.
Stage 2: In-depth exploration of dynamic patterns and therapeutic feedback from the supervisor. Parallel process issues, transference, and countertransference issues are examined.
Stage 3: The supervisor functions more as a consultant as trainee skills are enhanced and they gain more confidence. Professional identity development and the transition from trainee to professional are focused upon.

This supervisory model informs individual clinical supervision and other training activities, ensuring a sequential, cumulative, and graded learning experience.

Commitment to Diversity

HUCS is committed to diversity, reflecting Howard University’s mission to educate African Americans and other underserved groups. The student population represents more than 88 countries, with many international students from Africa and the Caribbean. This setting allows interns to develop special competency in working with a diverse population. Interns evaluate their experiences and consider their relevance to understanding dynamics among people of diverse cultural, racial, and individual backgrounds. The internship experience is informed by an understanding of group process and the psychodynamic framework, encouraging interns to explore their own individual differences, identities, and cultural backgrounds.

Read also: Guide to Psychology Degrees

Program Aims and Expectations

The primary aim of the HUCS training program is to prepare interns to be competent, well-rounded, entry-level psychologists with specialized skills in working with diverse populations. The competencies expected of trainees are described in the objectives set for the program and are measurable indicators of behavioral change and skills.

Program Requirements

The Howard University Counseling Service Internship training program uses a practitioner-scholar model to prepare interns to be well-rounded, entry-level psychologists with competencies in working with diverse populations. A minimum of 400 intervention hours is required of applicants. Also, a background in psychological assessment is preferred, given the required rotation in assessment via D.C. charter schools. Interns complete one full year of specialized training in the substantive area of clinical/counseling psychology. A degree of self-disclosure is expected. The workload is as follows: Direct Service Activities, Training Activities, Administrative Activities, Professional Development, Teaching, and Supervision. Our program utilizes a psychodynamic theoretical orientation, brief and long-term therapy models, and includes special training in group therapy. The core training program consists of learning experiences in the following areas at HUCS: individual and group counseling and therapy, intake interviewing, University outreach, teaching, and supervision.

Rotational Placements

In addition to direct service in clinical activities, HUCS interns also co-teach a graduate-level counseling skills laboratory during the first semester.

There are also 3 rotational placements. One rotation is at Howard University Hospital's Inpatient Psychiatry Unit -1 half day per week for 4 months. On this rotation interns learn about inpatient treatment and diagnoses. Another rotation is an assessment rotation which takes place in D.C. public charter schools- every Monday for 4 months interns will conduct psychological assessments within various charter schools. Interns will be expected to produce 3 to 4 integrated reports during the 4-month rotation. The third rotation is a two-month rotation based on individual choice. In the past, interns have chosen rotations in assessment, outreach, trauma, group, administration, etc. The program also includes a monthly or biweekly research seminar second semester or during the summer months, a psychopharmacology seminar, and annual Diversity and professional development opportunities.

Each component of the internship program (individual therapy, group counseling, outreach, teaching, assessment, inpatient psychiatry) includes separate supervision focused on that respective component. Professional development is supported throughout the internship year. We strive to fund two conference attendance during the training year, if the budget allows. The conferences are typically focused on group training.

Washington D.C. VA Medical Center (VAMC) Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

The Washington D.C. VAMC Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program offers advanced training in various areas of clinical psychology.

Program Overview

The Clinical Psychology Fellowship Program offers training in three areas of emphasis:

Trauma (PTSD)
Health Psychology (Liver Disease and HIV)
Serious Mental Illness (SMI)

The program aims to train psychologists who can accurately diagnose patient problems, implement evidence-based interventions, incorporate new findings from clinical research into practice, and conduct ongoing program evaluations.

Training Model

Based on a practitioner-scholar model, the program helps trainees become expert clinicians and provides them with exposure to clinical/programmatic research. Postdoctoral Fellows learn assessment and treatment skills and learn to provide clinical supervision to Predoctoral Psychology Interns and Practicum Students. Each Fellow is granted 20% of their time for dedicated clinical improvement/programmatic research projects, completed in collaboration with staff psychologist mentors and supervisors.

General Requirements

Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must have completed a doctoral degree in Clinical or Counseling Psychology, including a doctoral internship, from APA-accredited programs. The VA is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applicants from underserved and underrepresented communities.

Each Fellow receives a minimum of four (4) hours of structured learning and supervision per week, including two (2) hours per week of clinical supervision, two (2) hours per week of didactic training as part of the Postdoctoral Fellowship Training Series and one (1) hour in interdisciplinary treatment team meetings. In addition to these minimum standards, a Fellow has a variety of Medical Center-wide seminars and other structured learning opportunities.

All fellows are paired with a staff psychologist mentor. Fellows may also volunteer to provide mentorship to psychology practicum students as part of our mentorship program.

Trauma (PTSD) Emphasis

This fellowship trains fellows to accurately diagnose PTSD and related conditions, create comprehensive treatment plans, provide effective individual and group treatment, and implement current PTSD research. The Trauma Services Program (TSP) at the DC VAMC offers a variety of treatments, including Prolonged Exposure, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Skills Training in Affect and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills, Dual Diagnosis groups, and Peer Support Services. The DC VAMC Trauma Services Program is a thriving and highly active clinic, consistently in the top 10 (of 120 VA trauma-specific programs) for the number of outpatient PTSD visits. The clinic is staffed by a multidisciplinary team of providers (i.e., psychologists, social workers, nurses, and peer support counselors).

Health Psychology (Liver Disease and HIV) Emphasis

This residency provides the opportunity to receive quality training in Health Psychology, emphasizing work with complex patient populations with Liver Diseases (including HCV), and HIV. The aim is to train psychologists who can accurately diagnose patient problems; implement evidence-based treatments; consume with sophistication the clinical research literature and incorporate new findings into clinical practice. Residents receive focused training in HIV, hepatitis C, advanced liver disease, as well as dedicated training in substance use assessment while working on integrated care teams to assess and address the mental health needs of patients living with HIV, HCV/HIV co-infection, HCV mono-infection and advanced liver disease. Residents also participate in the Liver Transplant Evaluation process.

Clinical Training Settings include the Infectious Diseases Clinic, the Liver Clinic, and the Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program (SARP).

The Liver Disease/HIV resident at the DC VAMC is one of several nationwide residents participating in this focused training. As part of participation in the National Liver Disease/HIV Residency program, the resident attends weekly didactic webinars on topics relevant to HIV, Liver Disease and integrated mental health care, in order to provide structured training in these topic areas. The resident also attends monthly conference calls with the national program coordinator and other fellows to discuss training progress, clinical topics and to develop a sense of community and cross-site collaboration.

The Liver Disease/HIV resident devotes 20% of the training year to research/program evaluation activities.

Serious Mental Illness (SMI) Emphasis

Postdoctoral fellows applying for this specialized training experience should express a specific interest in psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery-oriented therapeutic care. Fellows have the opportunity to work both in the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center (PRRC) and on the acute inpatient psychiatry unit. Staff in the PRRC and on the inpatient psychiatric unit provide services to Veterans who are diagnosed with a serious mental illness (e.g., Schizophrenia, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Anxiety Disorders, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and experience significant functional impairment. Programming is curriculum-based and specifically designed to teach the requisite skills that are necessary for defining and realizing Veterans’ self-chosen roles and goals in all domains of health and life. Recovery-focused approaches are respectful of the Veteran as an individual rather than focusing solely on a problem, diagnosis, or set of symptoms.

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