The availability of quality doctoral internships for students in professional psychology is one of the most significant issues being addressed by the education and training community at present. This Psychology Internship Development Toolkit represents one of a number of initiatives underway directly resulting from conversations by leaders in education and training about the imbalance between the number of students seeking doctoral internships and the number of positions available in the APPIC Internship Match. The purpose of the toolkit is to provide a comprehensive, easy to use, online resource for those seeking to create or expand accredited doctoral internship training programs.

The Psychology Internship Development Toolkit is a product developed by the Council of Chairs of Training Councils (CCTC). CCTC was created in the mid-1980’s as an umbrella organization that brought together leadership from education and training councils in professional psychology. While early in its inception CCTC focused on promoting communication between its members the last decade has seen a shift in focus to developing and disseminating resources to enhance education and training in professional psychology. Several members and liaisons to CCTC volunteered to develop the toolkit and were joined by other individuals from the training councils represented on CCTC.

The concept of the toolkit originated at a meeting that occurred in September 2008 prompted by discussion of CCTC members in late 2007 and early 2008 on the need for a focused, action oriented, conversation about the match imbalance. Specifically, this call was raised by those members of CCTC most impacted by the internship match imbalance. These included five doctoral training councils: the Council of Combined and Integrated Doctoral Programs in Psychology (CCIDPIP), the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs (CCPTP), the Council of Directors of School Psychology Programs (CDSPP), the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP), and the National Council of Schools and Programs in Professional Psychology (NCSPP) as well as the American Psychological Association Education Directorate (APA), the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS), and the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). The meeting was co-convened by APPIC and the APA Education Directorate who covered general meeting expenses, while each of the groups was responsible for the travel expenses for their representative. One representative from each group attended and was empowered by their organization or unit with decision making capacity regarding actions their group was willing to engage in to impact the match imbalance. The meeting occurred over a one and a half day period at the end of which an agreed upon action plan had been developed. This toolkit represents one of eleven action steps agreed upon at the meeting.

Further, at the meeting the following core principles were agreed upon by the groups:

1. We have a collective responsibility for actions to address the match imbalance. 

2. Collaborative efforts across the groups will benefit students and professional psychology. 

3. Continuing attention to the match imbalance is required and necessitates the development of strategies that can be implemented in the short-, mid-, and long-term. 

4. Any action designed to impact the quantity of positions must ensure that the quality of education and training experiences is maintained. While these core principles underlay the development of this Psychology Internship Development Toolkit, item number four is particularly salient. It is the intent of the crafters of this document that doctoral internship training provide high quality experiences to students and that the resources contained within help programs in doing so. It is also hoped that the toolkit will assist programs in moving toward formal recognition of quality through such methods as APPIC membership and accreditation by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Institutional
Training programs are typically sponsored by an institution or agency whose primary functions include providing services to clientele of sufficient number and variability to meet training goals and objectives. A program may consist of, or be located under, a single administrative entity (institution, agency, school, department, etc.) or may take the form of a consortium. A consortium is comprised of multiple independently administered entities, which have, in writing, formally agreed to pool resources to conduct a training or education program.

Role of Training Director
The program has a designated director or leader who is a psychologist, appropriately credentialed (i.e., licensed, registered, or certified) to practice psychology in the jurisdiction in which the program is located, who is primarily responsible for directing the training program and has administrative authority commensurate with those responsibilities. The program director’s credentials and expertise should be consistent with the program’s mission and goals. In addition TDs:

• typically serves as the liaison between the training program and the host institutions’ management and may need to advocate for the program and its needed resources. TDs may also serve to educate the host institution regarding the nature of the program and its benefit or value to the host institution.

• have administrative responsibility and authority for the training program and the interns but may also serve as a direct supervisor, role model and a source of support and encouragement for interns. Given these multiple roles, it is important for TDs to be highly cognizant of their various roles and boundaries.

• serve as the liaison between the internship program and interns' graduate programs and are responsible for maintaining communication regarding interns’ progress and any difficulties.

Role of Supervisor
The program has formally designated intern training supervisors who:

• Function as an integral part of the program and have primary responsibility for service delivery.

• Are sufficient in number to accomplish the program’s goals

• Are doctoral level psychologists whose background, training and credentials are appropriate to the program’s training goals

• Have appropriate training and expertise in clinical supervision

• Actively participate in program planning, implementation, and evaluation

• Serve as professional role models consistent with the program’s training goals and objectives

Basic Internship Components

• Hours of supervision

• Didactics (lecture or interactive instruction that is not supervision)

• Evaluation of trainees, the program ad overall program self assessment

• Selection

• Research

Many psychologists are not aware of the variety of types, structures and settings in internship training. Here we provide an overview of extant types, structures, and settings in order to familiarize the reader with the range of possibilities for internship training.

Internship programs are organized and administered within parameters established by professional psychology and accreditation requirements. These requirements ensure form and quality appropriate for the education and training of professional psychologists at the internship level.

The section on Structures includes the broad organizational parameters established for all internships. The Toolkit section on Administrative Issues link describes organizational details within the internship structure.

Internship training is meant to be “broad and professional in its orientation rather than narrow and technical” (APA Guidelines & Principles for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology – G & P, Domain B). The G & P do not discourage “experimentation, innovation and modernization” with regard to teaching methods or curricula. Therefore, there is wide latitude for the type of settings, populations served, and training opportunities within the limits of the structures outlined here: “CoA recognizes that there is no one “correct” philosophy, model, or method of doctoral training for professional psychology practice; rather there are multiple valid ones.” The section on Settings provides examples of the major internship setting categories to illustrate the range and diversity of sites, and examples of less traditional and emerging internship settings.

All parties relevant to internship training – trainers, trainees, and consumers including the general public – are concerned with the quality of psychology internships. Any proposed internship has two basic requirements: (1) that it provide quality services to the public, and (2) that it provide quality training to its interns. Embedded in these requirements are assumptions that all services and training are ethical, that training experiences lead trainees toward completion of their doctoral degree requirements and licensure as psychologists, and that internship sites strive to meet the highest professional standards, including American Psychological Association (APA) or Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) accreditation, if possible.