Internship in Clinical Psychology

Welcome to the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School Internship in Clinical Psychology for 2025-2026.

The Massachusetts General Hospital is the oldest voluntary nonprofit hospital in New England and the third oldest in the United States. Additionally, it is the first and largest teaching hospital affiliated with the Harvard Medical School.

Mass General has a tripartite mission: Guided by the needs of our patients and their families, we aim to deliver the very best health care in a safe, compassionate environment; to advance that care through innovative research and education; and, to improve the health and well-being of the diverse communities we serve.

Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School offer a full-time, doctoral internship in Clinical Psychology to matriculated doctoral students enrolled in clinical or counseling psychology programs.

Internship Details

The internship is currently being conducted in a hybrid format — some didactics, supervision, and outpatient psychotherapy are being delivered virtually and many other activities are happening in-person.

Interviews for the 2025-2026 training year will be conducted virtually.

On-site activities include:

• A rotation on the inpatient psychiatry unit for 4 hours/week for 6 months (all elective tracks, child track interns have the option to substitute 4 hours/week for 6 months in the Acute Psychiatry Service [APS] to work with children and adolescents and their family members)
• Psychological testing at the Psychology Assessment Center (PAC) (Adult and Neuropsychology tracks) and the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program (LEAP) (child track)
• Some didactics, supervision meetings and outpatient therapy
• All interns are on-site at least 3 days per week

There will be 16 funded one-year internship positions available. The internship year begins July 1, 2025 and ends on June 30, 2026. A stipend of $44,000, four weeks of vacation and subsidized health and dental insurance are some of the provided benefits. Additionally, all interns will receive a one-time $10,000 stipend which is intended to help with relocation expenses, childcare expenses, educational expenses, etc.

Our internship is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). Our training program subscribes to the guidelines of the Association of Predoctoral Psychology Internship Centers (APPIC) and follows that schedule of recruitment, interview, offers and acceptance. 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.

Learn more about the APPIC Match

Mass General is a teaching facility of Harvard Medical School and a member of Mass General Brigham.

The Internship in Clinical Psychology at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School has a long history of training psychologists who go on to become clinicians, academics and researchers within the field.

Aims & Objectives

The goal of the Mass General Internship in Clinical Psychology is to develop professional psychologists who exemplify the scientist-practitioner model. Our aims are to train interns to do the following:

• To understand, utilize and conduct academic research.  
• To practice in an ethical manner in line with legal standards.  

• To practice in a manner that is sensitive to individual and cultural diversity. 
• To reflect professional values, attitudes and behaviors of professional psychology.  
• To utilize effective interpersonal and communication skills
• To conduct psychological/diagnostic assessments and evaluations. 
• To provide effective clinical interventions to patients.  

• To be able to provide and utilize supervision. 
• To provide consultation to and collaborate with interdisciplinary teams. 

This is accomplished through a program of graded clinical experience, supervision, seminars and mentoring. The internship is organized around a core training curriculum that emphasizes the development and enhancement of skills in diagnosis, assessment, treatment, research and the role of science in clinical practice. This generalist training prepares graduates to pursue specialty training in their postdoctoral experience. In addition to generalist training, interns choose an elective training area for supplementary experiences in specific domains of psychology.

Electives

Interns choose from the following electives:

• Adult Clinical Psychology (2 interns/year)
• Behavioral Medicine (BMED) (3 interns/year)
• Child Clinical Psychology (3 interns/year)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (3 interns/year)
• Lifespan Health (3 interns/year)
• Neuropsychology (2 interns/year)

Curriculum

Core Activities

The foundation for all training experiences is the core shared philosophy and common activities of providing clinical services to a diverse patient population. We consistently adhere to the scientist-practitioner philosophy in the following activities.

Treatment

All interns are responsible for providing individual outpatient psychotherapy through the outpatient service.

The Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic offers an array of outpatient services to a diagnostically and socioeconomically diverse group of patients. Patients are typically referred by their Mass General primary care providers for treatment. Current treatment modalities include individual and group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy.

The Child Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic offers family therapy, behavioral and academic interventions in addition to the services listed above.

Assessment/Evaluation

All interns in all elective tracks complete a rotation on the Mass General inpatient psychiatry service on Blake 11. During this six-month, four-hour per week rotation, evaluation and treatment services are provided to adults with diverse diagnoses. This rotation consists of interns attending patient rounds, seeing patients individually, and co-leading groups. In addition, they attend a weekly one-hour didactic seminar that covers a range of topics related to inpatient psychology and psychiatry. We use a “tapering” training model to accommodate the range of backgrounds, therapeutic orientations, and familiarity working with acute psychopathology (i.e., observing supervising psychologist; co-therapy; taking the lead in a session; conducting clinical responsibilities independently). This staging process is applied flexibly to match intern confidence, skill, and training goals, as well as patient medical and psychiatric acuity, treatments, and characteristics. All interns are required to see patients independently by the end of the 6-month rotation. Supervision is provided by a team of inpatient psychologists.

As noted above, child track interns have the option of working in the Acute Psychiatry Service with children, adolescents, and families 4 hours/week for 6 months if they wish.

Consultation

Because they are working in a major medical center, all interns have the opportunity to consult on cases with a variety of health care providers including psychiatrists, primary care physicians, and other allied health professionals.

Research

As the first component of research training, the internship is committed to assisting in completion of the doctoral dissertation. To that end, resources include a dissertation seminar and consultation with research faculty. Over 90% of interns have completed their dissertations by the end of internship. Other research opportunities are offered by training faculty. The research opportunities vary by track, but most interns are assigned a research mentor and are able to co-author manuscripts and/or submit grants during the internship year.

Core Didactics

All trainees in all elective tracks are involved in the following seminars:

• Core Training Seminar: Weekly seminar that offers modules in diversity, consultation, supervision and ethics
• Blake 11 Seminar: Weekly seminar for six months teaching assessment, evaluation and treatment of psychiatric inpatients on a short-stay unit
• CBT Seminar (Child CBT seminar for child elective track interns): Weekly seminar teaching empirically validated treatment of psychiatric disorders

Additional seminars are offered within each elective area.

Supervision

Each intern will have a minimum of four hours of weekly supervision.

Faculty Training Committee

• Susan Sprich, PhD, Director of Psychology Training, Co-Clinical Director of Psychology, Co-Director, CBT Internship Elective
• Jonah Cohen, PhD, Assistant Director of Psychology Training
• Jonathan Jenkins, PsyD, Assistant Director of Psychology Training
• Sabine Wilhelm, PhD, is a Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Chief of Psychology, Director of the Center for Digital Mental Health, and Director of the Center for OCD and Related Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
• Amanda Baker, PhD, Director, Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders; Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
• Andres Bedoya, PhD, Clinical Director, Behavioral Medicine Program; Assistant Professor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School
• Jennifer Burbridge, PhD, Assistant Director, CBT Program
• Corinne Cather, PhD, Director, Center for Excellence for Psychosocial and Systemic Research at the MGH Psychotic Disorders Program
• Anne Chosak, PhD, Director, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program
• Mary (Molly) Colvin, PhD, Co-Director, Child Internship Elective
• Victoria Grunberg, PhD, Co-Director, Lifespan Health Elective
• Christina D. Kay, PhD, Director, Neuropsychology Internship Elective
• Richard Liu, PhD, Director of Suicide Research in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Conall O’Cleirigh, PhD, Director, Behavioral Medicine Program
  
• Ellen O'Donnell, PhD, Co-director, Child Internship Elective
  
• Christina Psaros, PhD, Associate Director, Behavioral Medicine; Director, BMED Internship Elective
• Michelle B. Stein, PhD, Director, Adult Internship Elective
• Ana-Maria Vranceanu, PhD, Director, Lifespan Health Clinical and Research Program; Co-Director, Lifespan Health Internship Elective

Application Requirements

Applicants to the Clinical Psychology Internship should meet the following requirements:

• Three years of full-time graduate study in a doctoral program (preferably APA-approved programs in Clinical Psychology, but applicants from other programs will also be accepted)
• Two years of clinical experience, at least one of which must be supervised practicum experience
• Verification of Internship Eligibility and Readiness Form, completed by graduate program director
• Typically, competitive applicants for the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Behavioral Medicine, Lifespan Health, and Neuropsychology electives have significant clinical research experience in the form of completed publications and presentations at professional meetings
• Typically for the Child Elective, competitive applicants have experience working with children
• Typically for the Adult Elective and Child Elective, competitive applicants have experience with psychological assessment

Applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds are welcome. Learn more about the Department of Psychiatry's Center for Diversity.
Note: Per Mass General Brigham policy, all employees, including psychology interns, are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and to receive the annual flu vaccine.

How to Apply

Qualifications for Prospective Applicants

The Mass General Psychology Internship adheres to the selection policies and procedures as outlined in the 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.

In order to be considered as a prospective candidate, all applicants must:

• Submit the required APPIC Online Application by midnight on 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, November 1, 2024
• Include the following information in the cover letter accompanying your application:
  • Indicate the elective track for which you would like to be considered
  • Indicate your preferred interview date according to elective track

Please upload work samples according to elective track requirements below.

Review the Requirements (above) section to determine your eligibility to apply.

Choosing an Elective Track

Applicants should only apply to one elective track. This choice determines the review process of your application materials. (Please see below for required elective track-specific work samples to be submitted.)

Application Timeline

• 11:59 p.m. EST November 1, 2024: Deadline for receipt of completed applications

• December 15, 2024: All applicants will be notified of their interview status. Note: interviews will be held virtually for the 2025-2026 training year

• Interview Dates: If invited for an interview, you will be offered one of the dates below. Please be sure to indicate your preferred date on your cover letter. We will try to honor requests but may not always be able to offer your first choice due to scheduling conflicts. On the day of your interview, please plan to be available from 8:00 a.m. to approximately 4:00 p.m. EST

References

Please include three letters of reference. Due to the volume of applications, we appreciate your adherence to the request for three letters.

Work Samples

Please upload work samples as required below:

• Adult Elective Track: Submit a) one full de-identified psychological test report on an adult patient (18 or older), and b) one sample of other de-identified clinical work (e.g., intake evaluation, discharge summary, case report, etc.) for an adult patient
• Child Elective Track: Submit a) one full de-identified psychological test report on a child or adolescent patient (up to and including 18 years old), and b) one sample of other de-identified clinical work (e.g., intake evaluation, discharge summary, case report, etc.) for a child or adolescent patient, up to (and including) 18 years old
• Neuropsychology Elective Track: Submit two full de-identified neuropsychological evaluation reports, preferably one adult and one child/adolescent
• CBT, BMED, and Lifespan Health Elective Tracks: No work samples are required