Psychology Internship

Conemaugh Health System's Psychology Internship is designed to train future psychologists to work in health care settings as providers of comprehensive psychological services that stress interdisciplinary collaboration. 

Internship Experience

• • • 2,000 hours of full-time training, in not less than 12 months and not more than twenty-four months consecutively
    • Training which extends and integrates the intern's basic academic program highlighting primary care psychology and behavioral medicine
    • Broad range of experiences in an inpatient/outpatient to develop APA core professional competencies
    • Intern shared responsibility in designing and planning the internship experience in collaboration with the intern’s supervisors and Psychology Training Director
    • Faculty facilitating intern transition from the role of student to that of professional psychologist
    • Serve as a mental health resource to its staff, local students, medical professionals, and the surrounding community

Conemaugh Health System is committed to preparing psychologists for ethical practice in clinical application of psychology with a particular emphasis on professional practice in an interdisciplinary healthcare setting. Upon completion of the internship, interns are prepared to assume an entry level doctoral psychology position across the lifespan in multiple care settings (i.e., medical, inpatient, outpatient and behavioral health care settings).

Our program is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). Our program is not currently accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Questions related to the program’s accreditation status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street NE, Washington, DC. 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979
apaaccred@apa.org

Program Philosophy

Conemaugh Health System's Psychology Internship experience involves training which extends generalist training to include APA core competencies in primary care psychology and behavioral medicine.

• • • Integrates training plan with intern's overall graduate/professional school training plan
    • Coherent progression from basic knowledge and practical clinical skill competencies 
    • Prepares graduates to assume an entry level doctoral psychology position in medical, inpatient, outpatient, adult, child, and adolescent psychiatric behavioral health care settings 
    • Development of proficient to advanced level clinical skills through supervised clinical experiences in the application of theoretical and empirical psychological knowledge
    • Provides continuum of clinical training opportunities within broad range of interdisciplinary clinical settings emphasizing clinical health psychology
    • Training curriculum relevant to the current demands of practicing psychologists and the populations they serve with respect to ethical and cultural uniquenesses
    • Activities of the internship designed to teach and develop professional competence
    • Provision of service to culturally diverse communities, as well as the treatment of underserved populations with significant health disparities
    • Didactic training seminars balanced between needs for training, training staff competency, and input from former and current interns based on a needs assessment
    • Training to develop interventions based on matching clinical presentation to theory and empirically based treatment
    • Training to understand and articulate the assumptions and limitations of their interventions, as well as implement practices that address the problems they encounter
    • Demonstrate competence in all professional issues related to the practice of psychology 
    • Development of competency-tiered manner, with the interns being sequentially supervised through didactics, role modeling, (e.g., observing their supervisors in the process of intakes, evaluations, or interventions), direct observation by supervisors, indirect observation by supervisors via video, and case presentation-based supervision

Non-Discrimination Policy

Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center's policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, gender, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, religion, creed, disability, or marital status. The policy applies in recruitment of medical staff, employees, medical students, and any scholarship programs. This policy is also followed in the operation of all other facilities within the larger Conemaugh family.

Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center subscribes to the principles and adheres to the requirements of state and federal law pertaining to civil rights and equal opportunity, in accordance with the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, amended; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended. 

Evidence of practices inconsistent with this policy should be reported to the Director of Human Resources, who is the designated coordinator of Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center's nondiscrimination program.

Conemaugh Psychology Internship Documents

Psychology Internship Handbook (2024-2025)

Discussion Focused Didactics (2024-2025)

Program Contact Information: 
Shannon Eckenrode
Phone: 814.534.9403
seckenro@conemaugh.org