PhD/PsyD Child internships and VA employment

[CheetahGirl]

Hello All -

I'm posting for a friend: Would an internship in a child track jeopardize you (i.e., make you less desirable) as a candidate for post-doc or future employment in the VA system? What about if your overall training was balanced (several years in both child-focused and adult-only externship settings, not exclusively child sites), which warrants interest in continuing with adult-only populations after finishing a child internship? Her research interest is trauma-based which is another reason for seeking out the VA for future post-doc/employment.

Thanks! This will help my friend rank her internship sites for the upcoming match!

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[erg923]

"Less desirable" is a little strong, but there is no doubt that given the stiff competition for VA positions, its always going to be better to have VA experience and strong experience working with adults.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

The trauma interest will help, although it's an unfortunate reality that a child track internship combined with prior child experience in grad school would likely cause postdoc review committees at the VA to question the person's fit (particularly if there hadn't been any VA experience in grad school).

If it'd be possible to concurrently get VA experience on internship while on the child track (e.g., as a minor rotation or two), that could certainly help. I do actually know of at least one person who was a child track intern and ended up going into a primary care-oriented VA postdoc, although I believe this person had a pre-existing relationship with some of the folks at that VA site and had possibly worked with them while in grad school.

 

[CheetahGirl]

Thank you, erg923 & AA! I will pass this along.

 

[Ollie123]

VAs are making a push for more family-based/holistic services right now, so if done appropriately I think substantive child or couples training could be an asset.

That said, I think someone with a VA internship and a "little" family therapy experience would probably be far better off than the reverse.

 

[CheetahGirl]

Thank you, Ollie!

VAs are making a push for more family-based/holistic services right now, so if done appropriately I think substantive child or couples training could be an asset.

That said, I think someone with a VA internship and a "little" family therapy experience would probably be far better off than the reverse.

 

[ajb1812]

In my experience, the answer to your question is "Yes. " At the VA where I work, we do get applicants with child/adolescent backgrounds, and I don't think we've hired any or chosen any for postdocs. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there with good adult experience, and the department is not specifically looking for people with child/family experience, at least not at the PhD level. One VA = One VA, obviously, so other sites might vary. Regardless, I wouldn't be too optimistic because the competition for positions is so strong as it is.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

In my experience, the answer to your question is "Yes. " At the VA where I work, we do get applicants with child/adolescent backgrounds, and I don't think we've hired any or chosen any for postdocs. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there with good adult experience, and the department is not specifically looking for people with child/family experience, at least not at the PhD level. One VA = One VA, obviously, so other sites might vary. Regardless, I wouldn't be too optimistic because the competition for positions is so strong as it is.

This has been my experience at the VA where I work as well, although like you've said (and as others have mentioned): if you've seen one VA, then you've seen one VA.

The competition can be stiff, but it depends in part on the specialty and on luck (e.g., some years have stiffer competition than others).

 

[WisNeuro]

Chiming in from another VA. All things being equal between two candidates, we will take the one with adult experience. When people apply for the VA and they are primarily child based in terms of research and clinical work, we are a little puzzled at why they applied. It would really depend on how that balance was and if it were more balanced towards adults later on in their training.