Clinical Psychology Externship Program

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Welcome!

Thank you for your interest in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Externship Program at the University of Chicago. Our externship training year runs from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. Although all necessary information is available on this website, you may learn more about our Department, our educational mission, and our externship training philosophy by downloading our comprehensive brochure.

Overview
The University of Chicago’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience offers comprehensive practicum training programs for advanced psychology graduate students. These externships provide training in the delivery of mental health care to patients presenting to a large academic medical center for evaluation, consultation, and intervention. Training occurs in the Adult and Child Sections of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. All externs receive at least one hour of individual supervision by a licensed clinical psychologist. Additional individual and/or group supervision may also be available. Further, externs are an integral part of the Education Mission of our Department and attend numerous required and optional didactic experiences.

General Requirements
All our externships share a common core of requirements, although some externships have additional requirements. Please review this list carefully and also check requirements for each individual externship to see if you qualify for the externship and are eligible to apply.

  1. Enrollment and good academic standing in a doctoral program in clinical or counseling psychology that is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA).
  2. Ability to devote 16-20 hours to externship training which may need to occur on-site.
  3. Residence in the state of Illinois for services that may be provided when the trainee is off-site.
  4. At least two previous practicum experiences unless otherwise specified.
  5. For any externship that involves the provision of psychotherapy, you will need to have a Master’s degree in order to be compliant with our institution’s credentialing guidelines. If you have not yet completed your Master’s degree, you may still apply for externship, but this degree will need to be obtained prior to the start of your externship. Failure to have obtained your Master’s degree by July, 2023 may result in rescinding the offer to be an extern at UCM. Please feel free to reach out with questions or to seek clarification.
  6. Willingness to be vaccinated against COVID and influenza. Medical and religious exceptions may be available.
  7. Externs will need to successfully pass a preemployment screening which includes a medical examination, a drug test, and a background check. Please note that although marijuana is now legal in Illinois, the use of marijuana in any form is not exempt from the drug test. Failure to pass these screenings will render you ineligible to train at UCM.
  8. Malpractice insurance coverage provided by your school. You will be required to provide us with a copy of this insurance. If you have supplemental individual malpractice insurance, this documentation is needed as well.
  9. Completion of UCM-related training including HIPAA, EPIC, etc.

Note about Internship Applications: Historically, we have interviewed all past and current externs who applied to our internship program. However, moving forward, our faculty have decided that we will evaluate externs using the same criteria as for other applicants. In other words, being an extern at UCM no longer guarantees you an internship application slot. We want you to be aware of this information in the event that it impacts your decision to apply to our site for externship training.

Shona Vas, PhD

Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience

— View full profile

 

Faculty who provide externship training at UCM do not abide by ACEPT training guidelines. Thus, we will not be following the official Chicago-area “Match Day” policies. However, we will be participating in a collaborative effort with Chicago-area Clinical Psychology PhD programs to standardize the application due dates, interviews, and offer schedules. For the 2023-2024 training year which runs from 7/1/23 to 6/30/24, applications for all our clinical psychology externships will be due on Friday, January 20th, 2023 by 5:00 p.m. CST. Interviews will occur anytime between January 30th and February 23th, 2023. All offers will be made by the final date of February 24th, 2023. Offers may be extended at any time; please ask the Externship Director about their preference for a response. Although all offers must be accepted or declined no later than 9 a.m. CST on Friday, February 24th, 2023, some programs may require an earlier response. Our supervisors will make every effort to conform with your program’s expectations and policies. All interview invitations and externship offers will be copied to your academic Director of Clinical Training (DCT). Positions will remain open past 2/24/2023 if they have not been filled. After this date, please contact the Externship Director to see if positions remain available.

For the 2023-24 training year, applications to ALL externship programs will be made using the UCM Externship Application portal. Applications will not be considered outside of this system. You may apply to more than one externship at UCM; please select all programs for which you wish you to be considered in the drop down menu in the portal. In your cover letter, please indicate your preference (in descending order) for externships for which you wish to be considered. Although the requirements for application for our externships are relatively similar, please read the individual requirements for each program to determine if you meet our application criteria and are able to fulfil the required responsibilities for the program.

Please read the information below carefully before you start your application to the Externship Programs at the University of Chicago.
Submission Portals
Your application will need to be submitted via the UCM Externship Application Portal:
https://redcap.link/UCMExternships2023 (Due 1/20/23 by 5 pm CST)

Your references will need to be uploaded to the UCM Externship Reference Portal:
https://redcap.uchicago.edu/surveys/?s=4APCHFYHPCYJ9YRF (Due 1/20/23 by 5 pm CST)

UCM Externship Application Portal
https://redcap.link/UCMExternships2023

In the portal, you will be asked for the following:

  1. Information about YOU
    1. Name
    2. Email address
    3. Phone number
  2. Information about your EDUCATION
    1. Your graduate program
    2. Degree you are seeking
    3. Accreditation status of your program
  3. Information about the DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL TRAINING at your graduate program who will be copied on all communications to you
    1. Name
    2. Email address
    3. Phone number
  4. Externship programs to which you are applying (Select all that apply)
  5. A current CV
  6. A cover letter
    1. Please address your cover letter to the faculty member(s) to whose program(s) you are applying.
    2. In the document, please indicate your preference (in descending order) for the externships for which you wish you be considered.
    3. Submit only ONE application and ONE cover letter even if you are applying to multiple programs.
  7. An unofficial transcript
  8. A deidentified sample or practice report (required for the Adult and Pediatric Neuropsychology Tracks only)
  9. Names of three individuals who will be writing letters of recommendation for you. Ideally, two of these letters should be from individuals familiar with your clinical work.
    1. Please ask your references to upload a letter using this link: https://redcap.uchicago.edu/surveys/?s=4APCHFYHPCYJ9YRF
    2. You only need each of your references to be uploaded once, even if you are applying to multiple externship programs.
    3. You are waiving your right to review your letters of recommendation.

Applications should be submitted by 5 pm CST on Friday, January 20th, 2023.

Click on the links below to learn more about each externship program. If you have questions about particular training experiences, feel free to reach out to the Director(s) of the specific externship programs for clarification. If you have broader questions about externship training at UCM or the application system in general, please contact the Director of Clinical Psychology Training, Shona Vas, Ph.D., ABPP (svas@bsd.uchicago.edu).

Please note the following information before applying to our externship programs:

  1. We do not accept applications from students in Master’s programs.
  2. We do not follow ACEPT guidelines.

UCM Externship Reference Portal
https://redcap.uchicago.edu/surveys/?s=4APCHFYHPCYJ9YRF

Letters of recommendation for externships at UCM should be uploaded to this portal. Even if you are applying to multiple externships, each letter of recommendation only needs to be uploaded once. Please let your letter writers know that we will not accept letters of recommendation outside the portal. Two letters of recommendation should be from individuals familiar with your clinical work.

We look forward to receiving and reviewing your application. We believe that UChicago Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience provides a stimulating and challenging educational environment. We hope that you will experience our programs as opportunities for supervised training in evidence-based assessment, intervention, and consultation in the integration of the science and practice of health service psychology. Thank you for your interest in our program.

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