The Alaska VA Healthcare System Psychology Internship is a pre-doctoral training program that focuses on broadening and extending clinical and professional skills in order for participants to become competent and effective professional psychologists able to work in culturally diverse, urban and rural health care environments.  While some objectives are specific to each rotation, all of the program’s training experiences focus on developing competencies in assessment, intervention, consultation and supervision, scholarly inquiry, professional issues, and ethics and sensitivity to diversity.

Training occurs in four primary care contexts: 1) outpatient mental health post-traumatic stress disorder specialization, 2) health psychology and specialty mental health, 3) local recovery coordination, and 4) compensations and pensions examination.  During these four rotations, interns develop clinical competencies and experience in facilitating group therapies, consultations with primary care providers and other interdisciplinary clinicians, practicing motivational interviewing and behavioral change skills for chronic disease management, and health promotion/disease prevention, developing partnerships with patients, families, and caregivers, etc.

Other training opportunities include multi-session focused training to develop competencies in psychotherapies and intervention modalities, topic specific symposia, long-term therapy case supervision, intern case presentations, and special projects such as clinical research.  Interns may also choose to work one day per week at an optional placement outside the Alaska VA Healthcare System in order to gain clinical experience/training in an area not available within the system.