How important are internships for your career path

[LucidMind]

One thing I have learned throughout my PhD and PsyD program applications is how damn important it is to get an APA accredited internship.

I am just beginning graduate school in Fall, so I have little idea where I will end up by the time my fifth year rolls around. My question is: exactly how impacting is the type of internship you get to your future career? When you take an internship, do you HAVE to know exactly what type of psychologist you are going to be for the rest of your life (including what populations and diagnoses you want to work with)?

For example, say you get an internship at an inpatient hospital because that's what you love, but half way through you realize you don't want to work at an inpatient unit as your career. Would you be able to find a different type of career in clinical psychology (for example counseling center or PP) even though you spent your internship somewhere else?

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[Therapist4Chnge]

...exactly how impacting is the type of internship you get to your future career?
Acred. status is most important...so just navigate that hurdle and most of the rest is doable. 99.5% jobs don't care where you went for internship, as long as the acred. status meets their requirement. That 0.5% will probably decrease the farther along in training you go. This may come up when talking about training experience or even as an icebreaker, but most people really don't care.

When you take an internship, do you HAVE to know exactly what type of psychologist you are going to be for the rest of your life (including what populations and diagnoses you want to work with)?
No. It is helpful to work with populations you want to work with because you can line up better with post-doc/fellowship spots...but that isn't a requirement. You'll need to have prior experience in the area you want to work (as you need to be properly trained/supervised/etc), but internship isn't the end all and be all if you don't match to a place that doesn't offer a rotation in your area of interest.

Would you be able to find a different type of career in clinical psychology (for example counseling center or PP) even though you spent your internship somewhere else?
Yes....as long as you seek out mentorship and training in that area. You can't just decide you want to work in [fill in speciality] now. Your license will allow you to practice as a psychologist, which has a pretty wide span of competencies. There are some tweaks to this (e.g. in Canada you need to specify your area of competency), but it comes down to being able to practically ethically in whatever you do. If you want to work with children, then make sure to get training in that area. If you want to change to adults, get experience in it. On internship you try and match somewhere that will provide you the best training in your area(s) of interest and/or address clinical weakness, though at the end of the day it is another requirement to check off towards licensure.

 

[LucidMind]

Wow...thanks for taking the time to write that extremely lucid and helpful answer...not sure anybody else will be able to add on to that unless they disagree with you.

It's very relieving to know that internships don't lock you into a set career pathway. I'm getting really excited to start school...getting hard to concentrate at work!

 

[busybusybusy]

I agree with everything that was previously said! Also, I would like to mention that you likely will figure out through your doctoral practicum experiences what setting you want to work in, and these experiences can help you figure out what you want for internship. I know when I started I had a very general idea of the setting that I wanted to work in and by having different pracs have been able to more easily narrow down what I do or do not want in an internship.

 

[George Anderson]

My two year Post Graduate Fellowship was at Harvard University School of Medicine. It was actually in child psychiatry. In my opinion, it is best to select a solid psychiatric setting with inpatient and out-patient opportunities. All psychiatric residents have to have inpatient experience regardless of what their ultimate goals may be. It is best to have an opportunity to understand first hand the most serious disorders.
I saw inpatients at the Mansville School and Residence as well as Childrens Hospital in Boston. My out patient experience was at the Judge Baker Guidance Center. My second year intership was at Jacobi Hospital which is a training hospital for Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York.
Medical Schools are the best training sites for non-physicians. The opportunities for collaboration with other disciplines is really a great experience.

 

[cara susanna]

Internships are supposed to be a generalist training year. In fact, I'm pretty sure that APA accreditation for internships is contingent on the internship not being overly specialized. So, it shouldn't "lock" you into a career path. The only exception might be neuropsychology, since you have to get enough neuropsych training to meet their criteria on internship.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

There generally starts to be some specialization on internship, although it's often dictated by how much (or how little) specialization you've had up to that point. I would second the thought that everyone coming out of grad school and internship should have some degree of experience with both inpatient and outpatient populations, though. My advisor was always a big proponent of that (along with getting exposure to forensic and MR/DD settings), and I'm thankful for it.

 

[psychtalk1274]

I'm glad this thread was bumped. I've been wondering about the answer to this question. There is an internship site in phase 2 that is particularly
Interested in me and have pretty much indicated that they would rank me highly (did not directly state it). However, my main concern is that this internship is almost all consultation and assessment. Though these are important skills to have, I worry about a limited amount of therapy on internship. The internship site is APA accredited. As far as post doc I’m looking in a particular Midwest town that is not a huge city but a decent size. There are no require post doc’s just as long as you have 2000 supervised hours after you attain your degree. In my town this means community mental health centers or going into private practice and hiring someone to supervise me. My concern is my ability to get a job at a CMHC with an internship that has very limited therapy (5 cases at a time). Thoughts?

 

[WisNeuro]

I'm glad this thread was bumped. I've been wondering about the answer to this question. There is an internship site in phase 2 that is particularly
Interested in me and have pretty much indicated that they would rank me highly (did not directly state it). However, my main concern is that this internship is almost all consultation and assessment. Though these are important skills to have, I worry about a limited amount of therapy on internship. The internship site is APA accredited. As far as post doc I’m looking in a particular Midwest town that is not a huge city but a decent size. There are no require post doc’s just as long as you have 2000 supervised hours after you attain your degree. In my town this means community mental health centers or going into private practice and hiring someone to supervise me. My concern is my ability to get a job at a CMHC with an internship that has very limited therapy (5 cases at a time). Thoughts?

Unless you planned on doing C&L as a career, I'd look elsewhere. It sounds like it's going to hamper you. You'll likely be applying against people with significant experience gained through their internships.

 

[researchgirl]

I'm glad this thread was bumped. I've been wondering about the answer to this question. There is an internship site in phase 2 that is particularly
Interested in me and have pretty much indicated that they would rank me highly (did not directly state it). However, my main concern is that this internship is almost all consultation and assessment. Though these are important skills to have, I worry about a limited amount of therapy on internship. The internship site is APA accredited. As far as post doc I’m looking in a particular Midwest town that is not a huge city but a decent size. There are no require post doc’s just as long as you have 2000 supervised hours after you attain your degree. In my town this means community mental health centers or going into private practice and hiring someone to supervise me. My concern is my ability to get a job at a CMHC with an internship that has very limited therapy (5 cases at a time). Thoughts?

I'm no expert (since I'm also about to go on internship) but I would think that if you have significant experience in graduate school doing therapy, then you will be okay, although if you can rank another APA accredited site higher that has more therapy opportunities, that might be better.

 

[docma]

I'm glad this thread was bumped. I've been wondering about the answer to this question. There is an internship site in phase 2 that is particularly
Interested in me and have pretty much indicated that they would rank me highly (did not directly state it). However, my main concern is that this internship is almost all consultation and assessment. Though these are important skills to have, I worry about a limited amount of therapy on internship. The internship site is APA accredited. As far as post doc I’m looking in a particular Midwest town that is not a huge city but a decent size. There are no require post doc’s just as long as you have 2000 supervised hours after you attain your degree. In my town this means community mental health centers or going into private practice and hiring someone to supervise me. My concern is my ability to get a job at a CMHC with an internship that has very limited therapy (5 cases at a time). Thoughts?

In many CMHC settings now psychologists are hired into management/administrative level positions where consultation, training/teaching, etc., are core requirements, so you probably need to look at what your local CMHC tends to do. If they are hiring psychologists for direct service therapy, you need to look credibly competent at that and have references who will support that. If they hire MA/MSW clinicians and have psychologists in management level jobs, your consultation/assessment experience may be a plus."

 

[Balmoral]

There are always pros and cons to both general vs. specialty. I went to a rehabilitation psychology internship since my interests slowly directed me towards the neuro-rehab world. For my postdoc, I went to the VA for a clinical psych fellowship (logistical reasons prohibited an APPCN postdoc). There is always room to move from specific to more general.

In regards to internship training, if you can get both therapy and assessment skills, that's good; IP and OP experience, even better; additional training (EBT, research, teaching, leadership), great! Internship can be busy but if you can find time to do other things (e.g., finish you dissertation if you have not already, research, study for the EPPP, participate in organizations) then it will make you marketable for the next few stages. Internship is only the end of formalized training...it is not as permanent as a tattoo. My internship site is discussed primarily due to reputation but my clinical work reflect more with my colleagues.

APA accred. is still ideal but if by chance you do not match (or want) such sites, you still have decades to build your reputation. Unless you plan to work in a VA (they are really strict about APA accred), I doubt many facilities/universities will turn you down if you have a large grant to back you up.

If you want to change fields later on, you can take training courses, seek supervision, and build competence. Good luck!

 

[psychtalk1274]

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. Luckily I have other phase II APA accred. sites to rank but I didn't know if I should rank them at all. The CMHC here mainly hire psychologist as clinicians so it is probably in my benefit to forgo this internship experience. However, I still have a week until ranking so I may change my mind. Again, thanks for your responses.