A typical, one-year, full-time predoctoral internship with a family psychology emphasis should include a balance of clinical experiences and didactic offerings. The integration of theory, research and practice in applied psychology generally and family psychology more specifically will be central to the professional socialization of the pre-doctoral intern. In addition to substantial opportunities for assessment and treatment of individuals and interpersonal psychopathology and/or organizational problems, interns should be provided diverse clinical experiences in assessment and intervention with couples and families. Both individual and group supervision should be offered.
Internships that are strong in family psychology training are those that meet the following three criteria:
- Include didactic or case presentations focused on family psychology or systemic theoretical perspectives.
- Include at least one clinical rotation (greater than 25 percent client contact hours) of couples/family therapy or systemic consultation supervised by a faculty member with demonstrated competence in family psychology.
- Employ at least one licensed faculty member with demonstrated competence in family psychology. Demonstrated competence in family psychology is defined by board certification in family psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology; election as fellow of Div. 43; service in Div. 43 through governance or committee activities; scholarly publications, including research reports, related to family psychology and/or completion of postdoctoral training in family psychology.
The 2018 APPIC Directory lists 225 APA-accredited internships that offer experience in couples and/or family therapy. This constitutes 37.5 percent of the total 600 APA-accredited internship listings. These sites are listed below.
