Internship
Tracks
We offer thirteen unique tracks to which you can apply. Each track has a different code number which you will use to create your rank list. You may rank as many tracks as you like. Multiple rankings do not reduce your chances of matching into your most preferred program. Choices are not binding and may be changed at any time during the application process. Program codes are listed below:
Child Tracks
The ASMI internship will conform to APA guidelines for training in clinical psychology with ~75% effort dedicated to assessment, treatment, and community outreach in this year-long placement within the UCLA Center for the Assessment and Prevention of Prodromal States (CAPPS), which provides comprehensive assessment and innovative treatments for adolescents and young adults who are deemed to be at high-risk for developing psychosis. Additionally, interns will have the opportunity to assess and treat individuals from other clinical populations with or at risk for severe mental illness (i.e., youth at genetic high risk for psychosis). Interns will have the additional opportunity to provide Family Focused Therapy and serve as a skills group co-facilitator for individuals with or at risk for severe mental illness and their families through a collaborative research program with the UCLA Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program (CHAMP) clinic.
This track is designed to train psychologists to enter careers in the field of developmental disabilities. Autism and neurodevelopmental disabilities are the focus of most of the internship activities with the foal of further developing expertise in this area.
Offering both depth and breadth, the intern in this track will receive training in both assessment and treatment for those with neurodevelopmental conditions and complex comorbidities from preschool through adulthood.
The AND Assessment track intern will participate in assessment activities through the UCLA Child and Adult Neurodevelopmental (CAN) Clinic for 20 hours per week and treatment activities through the UCLA PEERS Clinic for 8 hours pre week throughout the year.
This track is designed to train psychologists to enter careers in the field of developmental disabilities. Autism and neurodevelopmental disabilities are the focus of most of the internship activities with the goal of further developing expertise in this area.
Offering both depth and breadth, the intern in this track will receive training in both assessment and treatment for those with neurodevelopmental conditions and complex comorbidities from preschool through adulthood.
The AND Treatment Track intern will participate in treatment activities through the UCLA PEERS clinic and/or UCLA CAN Clinic for 20 hours per week and assessment activities through the UCLA CAN Clinic.
The intern in the Child and Adolescent Acute Care Track receives 8 months of training in the Child and Adolescent Inpatient Service and the Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, offering intensive experience in severe psychopathology and severe psychosocial stressors in children and adolescents. The intern also receives training on the Pediatric Psychology Consultation-Liaison service working with children and adolescents in a wide variety of psychiatry, behavioral, emotional and family problems that are complicating their medical care.
Interns in the General Child Track receive training in the ABC children’s day treatment program, the Child and Adolescent Inpatient Service, the Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program and in Pediatric Psychology Consultation-Liaison Service. This offers a breadth and depth of training in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with severe psychopathology and severe psychosocial stressors and children and adolescents with a wide variety of psychiatric, behavioral, emotional, and family problems that are complicating their medical care.
The intern in the Pediatric Consultation Liaison track sees children and adolescents with a wide variety of psychiatric, behavioral, emotional, and family problems that are complicating their medical care. Trainees gain first-hand experience working with children and families struggling with serious childhood illness and become integral members of the subspecialty teams. They learn how pediatric medical care is delivered and the role that mental health professionals can and should play in this system.
The Pediatric Neuropsychology Track offered through the UCLA-Semel Institute and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital’s APA-approved doctoral internship program is designed to meet the requirements set forth by Division 40 (Neuropsychology) of the APA for specialty training in neuropsychology with children and adolescents. The primary emphasis will be on neuropsychological assessments conducted through the Medical Psychology Assessment Center (MPAC).
Stress, Trauma and Resilience track psychology trainees will send approximately 65% of their time dedicated to evaluation, treatment, and community outreach in this year-long placement within the UCLA Nathanson Family Resilience Center (NFRC) which provides family-level interventions for children exposed to various challenges, including traumatic events, pediatric illness, community violence, sexual abuse, parental illness/injury related to combat experience, or natural disasters.
UCLA TIES (Training, Intervention, Education, and Services) for Families is a leading interdisciplinary program dedicated to optimizing the growth and development of children and young people in foster care, kinship care, or adopted through foster care and their families. In partnership with Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Department of Mental Health, UCLA TIES serves children from birth to age 25 in foster and adoptive families. Since 1995, UCLA TIES for Families has facilitated the development of foster children and their resource families by providing a range of interdisciplinary mental health and auxiliary services and programs, supplying high-quality local and national training to professionals and families, and developing research to better understand the strengths and challenges for this population. Our team includes professionals from 8 disciplines (psychology, psychiatry, pediatrics, education, social work, speech and language, occupational therapy, and in-home behavioral services) and diverse backgrounds and experiences to rally around foster/adoptive children and families with trauma and healing informed, child-welfare competent care to enhance stability and optimize outcomes for children. We are sensitive and attuned to an array of cultural contexts and diversity issues. A substantial proportion of children we serve are of color, some of whom are in transracial placements, and approximately one third of the families we serve identify as LGBTQ. Interns will learn through supervised practice, interdisciplinary team participation, research team meetings, and training opportunities.
*Additional descriptions for each track can be found in our internship manual.
Adult Tracks
The Adult Clinical Neuropsychology Track offered through the UCLA Semel Institute and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital’s APA-approved doctoral internship program is designed to meet the requirements set forth by the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (previously known as Division 40) of the APA. This track follows Houston Conference Guidelines for specialty training in clinical neuropsychology, and following the taxonomy for education and training in clinical neuropsychology (Smith, G., Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, Volume 34, Issue 3, May 2019, Pages 418–431), is considered a Major Area of Study (with more than 50% effort dedicated specifically to clinical neuropsychology. The primary emphasis will be on neuropsychological assessments conducted through the Medical Psychology Assessment Center (MPAC), and when appropriate to individual training goals, complementary experiences in other programs may be arranged.
The focus of the Geropsychology-Neuropsychology track is on inpatient and outpatient neuropsychological assessment of adults 65 and older, caregiver education, and group psychotherapy. Individual psychotherapy opportunities and behavior modification assessments arise on occasion, upon request of physicians or family members.
Inpatient Geriatric Psychology-Neuropsychology revolves around the 4-North inpatient unit which serves psychiatric patients 55 years of age and older with an emphasis on evaluation and brief treatment during an average stay of just under three weeks. The unit is divided into an A and B portion, treating patients with dementia and non-dementia related psychiatric conditions, respectively.
The focus of this track is consultation with medically ill patients in ambulatory and inpatient hospital settings through the Adult Consultation-Evaluation Service. The intern in this track spends approximately 50% of his or her time on this service from July through February. Specialty areas of training include the assessment, treatment and consultation of chronic pain, sleep disorders, neurobehavioral disorders, and oncology. March through June is spent on the Pediatric Psychology Consultation Liaison service and in the Adolescent Medicine Clinic, a primary care clinic serving transitional age youth.
The Major Mental Illness track is designed to focus on assessment and intervention training that is suited to patients with serious adult psychiatric disorders, including particularly schizophrenia and related psychoses, obsessive-compulsive disorder, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders. This track is designed to allow the intern to split his or her training approximately equally between assessment and intervention experiences. Keith Nuechterlein, Ph.D., serves as the Track Director and advisor for the intern in this track, with multiple faculty psychologists serving as individual supervisors for therapy and assessment rotations.
The Lifespan Assessment Through Integrated Neuropsychology Track offered through the UCLA Semel Institute and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital’s APA-approved doctoral internship program is designed to meet all requirements for exemplary training in clinical neuropsychology as described in the “Adult Neuropsychology Track” description. The primary emphasis of this specialty track is on neuropsychological assessments of Spanish monolingual, English/Spanish bilingual, and culturally self-identified Hispanic and/or Latina/o patients. Thus, trainees on this track MUST demonstrate proficiency in both English and Spanish to be considered for this position.
*Additional descriptions for each track can be found in our internship manual.