The following are the minimum requirements an applicant must fulfill to be considered for an internship in the Consortium:
- The applicant must be actively enrolled in an academic program leading to a doctoral degree in professional psychology or have completed a doctoral degree in a non-professional field of psychology and be certified by an appropriate official as being enrolled in an organized re-specialization program requiring the completion of the equivalent of pre-internship training in professional psychology.
- If in the United States, the academic program must be housed in a regionally accredited, degree-granting institution. If in Canada, the institution must be publicly recognized as a member in good standing by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.
- Applicants must be enrolled in an APA or CPA accredited graduate program. The applicant must have completed at least three years of graduate academic work in a program meeting the requirements described above.
- The applicant must have a minimum of 550 Total Intervention and Assessment Hours as defined by the AAPI. This training must be of such a nature and amount as to provide the applicant with the experience needed to have a reasonable opportunity to succeed in the Consortium placement for which the applicant is being considered. Given the breadth of training opportunities available, the breakdown between assessment and intervention hours varies across the agencies and training tracks within the Consortium. Applicants should read the description of each agency carefully to determine the minimum number of assessment and intervention hours required for each site and training track. As a general rule, applicants with at least 400 Intervention hours and at least 150 Assessment hours will meet the requirements for every agency within the Consortium.
- The applicant must be certified by the program’s Director of Clinical Training as being ready for internship.
- The applicant must pass a criminal background check.
- U.S. citizenship is required for a primary placement in the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System. In addition any male applicant born after 12/31/1959 must have registered for the draft by age 26 to be eligible for any US government employment, including selection as a paid VA trainee. These are nationwide VA requirements. Neither of these factors is a necessary requirement for the Consortium’s other primary placements.
Please review the descriptions of the Consortium agencies in which you are most interested for additional criteria specific to these agencies.