APA-Accredited Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology

Located in Buchanan Hall on the College’s South Campus, the Health and Wellness Center includes counseling services, health services, and wellness promotion.  The Health and Wellness Center supports the college’s mission to promote an exceptional student experience that celebrates personal growth by providing prevention-focused, accessible, and high quality health care and counseling for a diverse student population. The Health and Wellness Center’s mission is to encourage behaviors that eliminate or change barriers to learning, and promote optimal physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and community wellness through a collaborative team approach. Interns will have the opportunity to develop programs and workshops that support this mission.  

The Health and Wellness Center seeks to provide culturally competent clinical services, outreach, and supervision/training and to promote and affirm the diversity of our community. We strive to create an environment where all people feel recognized and respected and where student, trainee, and staff identities are supported and celebrated. As a staff, we attempt to facilitate mutual respect and understanding among people of diverse racial, ethnic, national, and socioeconomic backgrounds, gender identities, sexual identities, mental and physical abilities, languages, classes, ages, and religious/spiritual beliefs. We recognize that systems, and the individuals within them, cannot be considered healthy while oppression and marginalization maintain power imbalances and inequality within them.  Therefore, our commitment to mental health is also a commitment to advocate against oppression in all of its forms.

The APA-Accredited doctoral internship is designed to train clinical/counseling psychology doctoral interns in providing psychological services in an integrated college counseling center. Interns will be exposed to a variety of aspects of counseling services at a small liberal arts college. The program also places a strong emphasis on outreach, consultation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community intervention.

The primary aims of the internship program are:

1. To train clinical/counseling psychology doctoral interns in the provision of psychological services and the range of roles of a psychologist on a small college campus.
2. To facilitate the personal and professional development of strong generalist clinicians who are self-aware, ethical, empathic, authentic, and culturally humble.
3. To prepare clinical/counseling psychology doctoral interns to become entry-level Health Service Psychologists.

To achieve these aims, we provide closely supervised experience in a college counseling center setting, designed to facilitate development in the following profession-wide competencies:

1. Research
2. Ethical and Legal Standards
3. Individual and Cultural Diversity,
4. Professional Values and Attitudes,
5. Communication and Interpersonal Skills
6. Assessment
7. Intervention
8. Supervision
9. Consultation and Interprofessional /Interdisciplinary Skills.

The internship is designed to be a professionally and personally transformative year for trainees in their development as psychologists.  We expect interns to complete the internship year skilled in the range of roles of a psychologist on a small college campus, knowledgeable about the intersection of developmental issues and mental health concerns, and able to work comfortably with the wide variety of mental health concerns that college students experience. Interns can expect to develop the profession-wide competencies by gaining experiential practice in the following:

• intake assessment
• individual, couples, and group therapy
• crisis assessment and intervention
• diagnostic screening 
• community psychology and outreach programming
• consultation
• interdisciplinary collaboration
• providing supervision
• program administration and evaluation

The training program strives to help interns articulate their specific strengths and solidify their therapeutic approach and professional identity as they transition from student to psychologist. Emphasis is placed on helping interns find their voice and develop their therapeutic style.  Interns are also encouraged to identify learning opportunities that fit with their interests and may be able to tailor some aspects of their experience to help them develop more expertise in that interest area.

The internship focuses on helping interns develop the skills necessary to use themselves as an important instrument of change in the counseling relationship. Interns will be encouraged to focus on their personal growth and increasing self-awareness. This includes continuing to develop an awareness of issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and embodying cultural humility. Interns are expected to explore their identities and deepen their understanding of the impact of oppression, power, and privilege in the therapeutic context. 

The training program also emphasizes a community-based approach to health and wellness and trains interns to work with systems and groups, intervening on the community level with students, staff, and faculty to promote a holistic view of wellness on a college campus. Interns will be provided with consistent and intensive supervision both individually and in a small group to support their clinical, personal, and professional development throughout the internship year.

The internship utilizes a practitioner-scholar model of psychological training and service delivery. The practitioner-scholar training model emphasizes the integration and application of critical thinking and skillful reflection across a broad range of experiential activities.

The internship program is designed to provide experience in and exposure to the clinical work that is characteristic of a college counseling center setting. It is a time to advance clinical skills and move toward establishing an integrated professional identity. Interns are exposed to the many different professional activities of clinicians in a college counseling center.  All activities and experiences are conducted under consistent and intensive supervision to foster the development of more skills throughout this process.  Training and supervision are collaborative in nature, emphasizing each intern’s unique strengths, goals, and areas for growth. 

Training of interns is recognized as a developmental process, and interns are assessed individually regarding their clinical skills and stage of professional development. Interns are asked to complete a self-assessment at the beginning of the training year to identify the skill and expertise that they bring to the program as well as their unique training needs, goals, and interests.  This process is the foundation of a collaborative approach that is infused throughout the training program.

As emerging professionals, interns are expected to have a strong degree of self-motivation and self-direction. In a supportive and collegial atmosphere, interns are treated with respect and encouraged to participate in all activities of the center.  This level of involvement and participation enables interns to be directly exposed to modeling of professional values including cultural humility, concern for ethics, and the importance of continued growth and professional development.

The internship program strongly values respect for diversity, an understanding of how one’s own identities and experiences influence them as a psychologist/psychologist in training, an awareness of the cultural and individual differences that are present for clients or others we interact with in our roles, and an orientation towards social justice.  The internship program supervisors strongly believe that to train interns to be multiculturally competent and to create an ideal environment for training and empowering interns of a variety of identities and cultures, supervisors must engage in the same critical self-reflection and awareness that they request of interns.  We value authentic, theoretically based, self-reflective, and culturally humble practice, and we strive to meet the highest ethical standards as clinicians and supervisors working within an interconnected university community.

*Program tables updated 7/21/2023

Program Disclosures

Internship Program Admissions

Briefly describe in narrative form important information to assist potential applicants in assessing their likely fit with your program. This description must be consistent with the program's policies on intern selection and practicum and academic preparation requirements:

The Lake Forest College Health and Wellness Center prefers applicants from APA or CPA accredited doctoral programs in Clinical or Counseling Psychology. Applicants from APA or CPA accredited doctoral programs in School Psychology are not given preference but will be considered.  Applicants from non-accredited programs will not be considered for the internship. Applicants must be in good academic standing with their department, and all required coursework should be completed prior to the start of internship. To be considered, applicants must have passed their comprehensive exams and completed a minimum of 250 intervention hours by the application deadline. Applicants must also report approval of their dissertation proposal by the ranking deadline. The intern selection committee strives to develop a holistic picture of each applicant and the potential fit between the training program and an applicant’s experience, goals, and interests. 

Successful applicants are typically interested in being trained as generalists and increasing their competence in the variety of roles that a psychologist performs on a small college campus.  They usually demonstrate self-awareness, multicultural competence and sensitivity, and the ability to work successfully in a small, integrated team. Previous experience in a college counseling center is not a requirement for consideration, but strong applicants are able to articulate their interest in completing their training a college counseling center. The HWC seeks to train and provide services to individuals with diverse identities. As a training site, the program is committed to the recruitment, selection, and retention of diverse intern candidates. Individuals with underrepresented and/or minoritized identities are encouraged to apply to our site.

Does the program require that applicants have received a minimum number of hours of the following at time of application? If Yes, indicate how many:

Describe any other minimum criteria used to screen applicants.

• Applicants must have completed a minimum of three years of graduate training and at least two graduate level clinical practica.
• Interns who match to our training program must successfully pass a background check before a final offer of employment is made. Background checks may include, but are not limited to, criminal history, national sex offender search, and motor vehicle history. According to the College's Background Check policy, although a disqualification from employment is possible, a previous issue does not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for employment with Lake Forest College. Depending on a variety of factors (for example, the nature of the position, the nature of the issue, and the amount of time that has passed), the candidate may still be eligible for employment. Any questions about the Background Check Policy can be directed to Agnes Stepek, Director of Human Resources, at stepek@lakeforest.edu or 847-735-5036.

All other minimum criteria used to screen applicants are described in the paragraph and table above.

Financial and Other Benefit Support for Upcoming Training Year

*In the event of a situation requiring extended leave, the intern is expected to work together with the Coordinator of Clinical Training to determine a plan for completion of internship hours. The approval of unpaid leave may require collaboration between Human Resources, the Coordinator of Clinical Training, and the intern’s graduate program.

Initial Post-Internship Positions

The following table contains a tally of the initial post-internship positions for the 3 internship cohorts from 2018-2021.

Two full-time, 12-month internship positions are available. The current stipend (for the 2023-2024 internship year) is $30,000, paid on an hourly, non-exempt basis under the FLSA regulations. Several benefits are available to interns, including health insurance, paid time off for vacation and illness, free parking, and free access to the campus fitness center.  

The application deadline for the 2024-2025 training year positions is Thursday, November 2, 2023. The start date is August 1, 2024. Applicants will be notified of their interview status via email by December 15, 2023. All interviews will be conducted virtually. To assist with planning purposes, tentative interview dates for 2024 are Thursday, January 4, 2023, Friday, January 5, 2023, and Monday, January 8, 2023. Interviews are expected to be scheduled over the course of a full workday, with breaks scheduled throughout. 

Please see the training brochure for additional information about benefits and the selection process.

As a member of APPIC, the Health and Wellness Center’s Internship Program participates in the National Matching Services Internship Matching Program. You must be registered for the Match to be eligible to match to our program. You can obtain instructions and download the Applicant Agreement required to register for the Match through the National Matching Services website.

Interested applicants can submit the electronic APPIC Application for Psychology Internships (AAPI Online) through the AAPI Applicant Portal. A complete application includes:

• A completed AAPI with essays
• A cover letter (included in the online AAPI) stating your goals for internship and explaining your interests in training at Lake Forest College
• A current curriculum vitae (included in the online AAPI)
• 3 standardized reference forms (included in the online AAPI); it is preferred that at least two forms are completed by direct supervisors of your clinical work.
• Official transcripts for all graduate work (included in the online AAPI)

No supplemental materials are required by the Lake Forest College Health and Wellness Center.

Our application deadline is Thursday, November 2, 2023 at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time (10:59pm Central Standard Time).  Please make note of the time deadline and pay attention to the time zone that you are in. The application portal for this internship will close automatically at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time on November 2, 2023. If you experience issues submitting your application, please reach out to the Coordinator of Clinical Training at schultzsaindon@lakeforest.edu.

National Matching Services Code # 127711

This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern candidate. Applicants are required to follow the  APPIC Match Policies.

The Lake Forest College Doctoral Internship Program in Health Service Psychology strongly values diversity and is committed to providing an equitable, inclusive, and safe environment for each intern to learn and grow.  Consistent with the American Psychological Association’s charge that “professional psychology training programs strive to ensure that psychology trainees demonstrate acceptable levels of knowledge, skills, and awareness to work effectively with diverse individuals”, one of the core goals of the training program is the development of respect and understanding of all types of human diversity. This competency requires not only knowledge and skills but also strong awareness of oneself as a cultural being.  Development of such self-awareness and integration into each intern’s professional identity and practice requires a safe and supportive environment in which to examine one’s own identities and related values, beliefs, and biases that potentially impact encounters with others.  The training program makes every effort to create and sustain such a safe and supportive environment, and Health and Wellness Center staff actively advocate for policies and procedures that advance an inclusive and equitable environment for all the diverse members of the campus community.  The College similarly is committed to supporting and promoting respect for diversity and preventing any discrimination towards students, faculty or staff, as demonstrated in the official non-discrimination policy:

Lake Forest College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, parental status, marital status, age, disability, citizenship status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by law in matters of admissions, employment, housing, or services or in the educational programs or activities it operates.

Lake Forest College complies with federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination based on the protected categories listed above, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits discrimination based on sex (including sexual misconduct) in the College’s educational programs and activities.

Lake Forest College provides reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants, students, and employees with disabilities and to individuals who are pregnant.

Any inquires or concerns with respect to sex discrimination, sexual misconduct, or Title IX may be directed to LaShun McGhee, Title IX Coordinator; 555 North Sheridan Road, Lake Forest, IL 60045; 847-735-6009; TitleIX@lakeforest.edu.

A person may also file a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights regarding an alleged violation of Title IX by visiting www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/complaintintro.html or calling 800-421-3481.

The campus coordinator for Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (prohibiting discrimination based on disability) is Agnes Stepek, Director of Human Resources; 555 North Sheridan Road; Lake Forest, IL 60045; 847-735-5036; stepek@lakeforest.edu. Inquiries or concerns with respect to any other type of discrimination may also be directed to Agnes Stepek.

Consistent with this policy and the values stated above, the training program welcomes diverse applicants and actively seeks to create a diverse training environment.  Diversity amongst trainees and faculty enrich the training experience for all involved and promote multiculturally competent services for our diverse student clientele.  The program does not discriminate against any applicants because of race, color, sex, religion, national or ethnic origin, ability status, sexual identity or orientation, or gender identity or expression and evaluates applicants solely on the basis of prior education, training experiences, and fit with the goals and activities of the program.

The Lake Forest College Health and Wellness Center Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since 2016.  We are members of the Association of Postdoctoral and Psychology Internship Centers (APPIC) and participate in the APPIC Match (Program Code Number 127711), and follow all APPIC Match Policies. This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant. Applicants are required to follow the APPIC Match Policies.

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
701 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979 / Email: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: https://accreditation.apa.org

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Dr. Kasey Schultz-Saindon at 847-735-5241 or schultzsaindon@lakeforest.edu.