Updated September 23, 2024
should be broadly based rather than narrowly focused so interns have one last chance to immerse themselves in new areas of clinical endeavor. Our main training competency areas are research, ethical and legal standards, individual and cultural diversity, professional values, attitudes, and behaviors, communication and interpersonal skills, assessment, intervention, supervision, as well as consultation and interprofessional/interdisciplinary skills.
Program Goals and Objectives
The overarching aim of our Psychology Internship Training Program is to provide psychology students with strong generalist training in order to function effectively as health service psychologists in a broad range of interprofessional settings. For the neuropsychology track interns, there is an additional aim to provide special emphasis training in neuropsychology that prepares them to meet the requisite competencies to go on to neuropsychology postdoctoral fellowships in a VA or other general healthcare facility. We provide our interns with the experiences necessary to function as ethical, scientifically grounded, psychologically flexible, and solidly trained graduates who are ready to move on to specialized postdoctoral training settings or academic and research positions. One primary objective is to expose our interns to an increasingly complex array of treatment approaches and therapeutic challenges as they progress through the internship year, consistent with our apprenticeship model. Specific goals within that primary objective are spelled out in our intern competencies discussed below in the section titled "Requirements for Completion.” These competencies are ordered into nine domains following the APA Commission on Accreditation standards that will be further discussed in that section.
Commitment to Diversity
The psychology service seeks to champion diversity by reflecting the hospital mission of emphasizing care and respect for the physical, psychological, and spiritual health and wellness of all. We seek to develop an inspiring environment that fosters authenticity, belonging, and creativity. As a federal employer and an equal opportunity training program, our facility and department of Psychology strongly adhere to policies on non-discrimination and accommodations to facilitate success in our training programs. We encourage applications to our internship program from diverse applicants. The VA Long Beach Psychology Department believes that diversity presents in multiple facets. We consider diversity as including various cultures, values, and experiences of trainees and faculty, as well as different theoretical models, research paradigms, and ways of professional practice. Our training program and service regularly work towards creating a culture of humility with respect to diversity knowledge, awareness, and skills. Our psychology training program, staff, and leadership value multicultural competence as a major objective of training. We benefit from the rich diversity of our staff, trainees, Veterans, and our local Long Beach community, and we infuse diversity discussions and training into every aspect of our program, including individual and group supervision, research and trainee projects, didactics, grand rounds, hiring, and seminars. We are committed as a staff to examining ways in which we fail to meet the needs of our diverse patients and trainees, and to
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