United States Department of Veterans Affairs
United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Central Arkansas Veterans HealthCare System (CAVHS)

PSYCHOLOGY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Application Deadline: November 15th

Training Guidelines

  1. Direct supervision of interns is provided by doctoral-level, Clinical and Counseling Psychologists who are credentialed to practice within the VA system and who are members of the Medical Staff. Supervisors of external rotations are licensed as psychologists in the state of Arkansas.

  2. All of the intern’s work is supervised. A supervisor cosigns all intern reports and notes, and one must be always available to the intern during the intern's duty hours. When an intern's primary supervisor is not on station, another psychologist is designated to be available to the intern for supervision.

  3. One staff psychologist on each rotation is designated as the primary supervisor and is responsible for orienting the intern to the primary objectives of the rotation, and for coordinating the intern's schedule with secondary supervisors, as well as providing the primary applied supervision. Secondary supervisors are available on most rotations.

  4. The amount of supervision given to interns typically exceeds that recommended by APA. Supervisors are typically available for impromptu supervision, as needed, in addition to the scheduled supervision times. Supervision by the primary supervisor is frequently supplemented by supervision from the secondary supervisors.

  5. Behavioral objectives are clearly defined by primary supervisors at the beginning of each rotation, with input from the intern. At the end of each rotation, the intern is evaluated on whether or not the identified objectives were met. Additionally, a narrative evaluation is written by the primary supervisor, incorporating feedback from any secondary supervisors. These evaluations are discussed with the intern, and copies are sent to the intern's school. It is expected that the intern will receive verbal feedback from all supervisors across the course of a rotation.

  6. Each intern is assigned an office, equipped with appropriate furniture, telephone, and a computer. Computers may be used for obtaining medical information and patient data, administration and scoring of tests, email communication, including internet access to home universities for business purposes. Additionally, they can be utilized for word processing, entering progress notes and generating consult reports in the electronic medical chart. Standard testing equipment and office supplies are provided, as needed.

  7. At the end of each rotation, the intern is given a standard rotation evaluation form to complete and submit to the Director of Training. The responses from each interns are kept confidential and then quantified during the next internship year, when the general results are shared with the supervisors and training committee. Identified strengths and deficiencies of specific rotations are closely examined in order to implement necessary program changes.