Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology
At WVU Medicine: Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry—Martinsburg, housed in the Behavioral Medicine & Psychiatry (BMP) clinics, we're dedicated to the Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology Program.
The overarching goal of BMP’s internship program is to improve access to highly-trained mental health professionals for West Virginia residents by ensuring that future generations of psychologists receive quality education and training experiences. Specifically, we seek to train entry-level clinicians in how to integrate the discipline and practice of professional psychology within both community and integrated care settings. We do this by employing an empirically informed, competency-based, practitioner-scholar model.
About the Training Program
Our Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology Program is, first and foremost, a training program that includes planned, programmed sequences of training experiences. Training has been deliberately designed to offer an experience-near, closely supervised, and developmentally appropriate sequence over 12 consecutive months (July 1- June 30) for three interns each academic year. We work closely with each intern to tailor an individualized plan for the internship year.
These plans are designed to build upon each trainee’s unique strengths and blend scientific knowledge with increasingly challenging professional experiences. Psychology interns are supported as they further integrate their identities as practitioners and scholars, and consolidate their unique therapeutic voice and professional identity. We aim to support the intern through this transitional year by creating a warm and stimulating environment that provides opportunities for personal and professional growth.
By the end of the internship year, psychology interns at BMP will have received a strong generalist training experience and the ability to function independently as entry-level psychologists. They will possess the skills to intervene with a wide scope of presenting problems across the lifespan, the ability to collaborate effectively on interdisciplinary teams, and the confidence to make an impact in a wide range of professional settings. Interns will exhibit respect and appreciation for visible and invisible diversity factors, including the resilience often found in individuals living in underserved areas. To meet the growing need for behavioral health in integrated healthcare settings, interns will also demonstrate the ability to work effectively in primary care settings.
Interns graduating from our program will be prepared to be successful in a wide range of professional settings. Previous graduates have worked in various settings including but not limited to:
- Academic medical centers
- Integrated primary care clinics
- Private practice
- Community mental health
- Academic teaching
- Psychiatric hospitals
Applicant Qualifications
Interns are required to be advanced graduate students currently enrolled in a terminal Ph.D. or PsyD. program. Intern applicants should have completed a minimum of three years of graduate training. Applicants are also expected to have completed basic required academic coursework, successfully passed their doctoral comprehensive or qualifying examinations by the application deadline, have earned their master’s degree in clinical or counseling psychology by the application deadline, have their dissertation approved by the ranking deadline and have the endorsement of their graduate program Director of Clinical Training.