Spring Grove Hospital Center

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

STUDENT TRAINING PROGRAMS 

Current COVID-19 Hospital Precautions:  Mandatory masks for staff and patients; hand hygiene practice; social distancing

Psychology Externship  

Two-semester, 15-20 hours per week advanced practicum working with patients with serious mental illness. Prerequisites: 1) Current enrollment in a Ph.D. or Psy.D. in Clinical or Counseling Psychology Program (APA-Accredited, preferred); 2) Completion of two (2) full years of graduate study; 3) Completion of at least two (2) courses in psychology assessment and the write-up of at least 2 (two) full batteries, one of which is an adult; 4) Affirmation of Eligibility from the Director of Clinical Training at the student's home university to participate in the Psychology Externship Program (form included in application packet);  6) A training agreement must be in place between the home university and SGHC (can be arranged by contacting the Coordinator of Psychology Externship Training); and 7) Professional liability coverage.  An assessment and therapy (group and individual) element is involved in addition to mandatory lectures and didactics.

Application Procedure:  To request an Externship Brochure and application packet

(not available on-line), please contact via email (preferred):

Leila Ford, Ph.D., Coordinator, Psychology Externship Training 
Spring Grove Hospital Center, White D Unit
55 Wade Avenue
Catonsville, MD 21228
410) 402-7606 
Leila.Ford@maryland.gov

Psychology Internship

The internship is a one-year, full-time (40 hours per week) training program for students completing APA-accredited doctoral programs in Clinical or Counseling Psychology. Interns are selected through the APPIC Match process utilizing the AAPI application, a comprehensive sample report and mandatory interview. 

Interns at SGHC are currently designated as essential employees. “Essential Employee" has the following definition in the Executive Order entitled, PROCEDURE FOR RELEASE OF STATE EMPLOYEES UNDER EMERGENCY CONDITIONS: an employee whose duties are of such a nature as to require the employee to report for work or remain at the work site to continue agency operations during an emergency situation. The appointing authority or designee may excuse emergency essential employees from duty, or require their presence, as circumstances and conditions warrant, to maintain minimum staffing requirements for the affected facilities.

Diversity and Non-Discrimination Statement

The Psychology Internship Training Program at Spring Grove Hospital Center (SGHC) is committed to maintaining and enhancing diversity in ideas, orientation, culture, ethnicity and experience.  To that end the program encourages and solicits qualified applications from all localities, schools, minorities and diverse backgrounds to apply.

As an agency of the Maryland Department of Health (MDH), Behavioral Health Administration (BHA), SGHC prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion or belief, marital status, sexual orientation, genetic testing, political affiliation, and mental and/or physical disability in the operation and administration of its services, facilities, programs, benefits, and employment opportunities. The Psychology Internship Training Program at SGHC recruits qualified doctoral interns based upon the individual merits and achievements of applicants. All selection decisions including, but not limited to, recruitment, selection, graduation, and termination are made without regard to the race, color, religion, national origin, veteran's status, sex, age, physical or mental disability, and/or any other characteristics protected by law.  The Psychology Internship Training Program does not discriminate on the basis of any factor that is irrelevant to the successful completion of internship training.
 

FOR TRAINING YEAR 2022-2023 THE REQUIREMENTS REMAIN MODIFIED DUE TO THE CONTINUING IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON PSYCHOLOGY TRAINING                     

Prerequisites: 1) Current enrollment in an APA-Accredited Ph.D. or Psy.D. Clinical or Counseling Psychology Program; 2) Completion of 775 hours of total practicum experience by application deadline; 3) Total of 425 direct, face-to-face Intervention and Assessment (combined) preferably with at least 50% of  the combined Intervention/Assessment hours with adult populations; 4) Further, of the 425 Combined hours:  a) minimum of 240 Intervention Hours and 80 Assessment Hours completed  by application deadline; 5) Comprehensive Exams passed by application deadline; 6) Dissertation/clinical research project approved by application deadline (though the further along the better); 6) Experience working with a serious and persistent mentally ill population, particularly adults, is highly desirable/preferred, as is prior psychiatric inpatient experience.

Special Requirements – State of Maryland

If you are invited for an interview at Spring Grove Hospital Center, you will need to complete and submit additional application materials required by the State of Maryland prior to your interview.  These include the MS-100 State Application, Criminal Conviction Report, and Authority for Release of Information Form.

If you are selected /matched as an intern, you will be required to submit written proof of a student professional liability policy to cover you for the training year by the start of the internship. You will also be required to have a pre-employment physical and TB testing as a newly hired employee.  Further, your State of Maryland employment is contingent upon undergoing and passing a criminal background check.  Please note- a record of conviction is not an automatic bar to State of Maryland employment and each case is considered on its own merits. Factors such as job-relatedness, age at the time of conviction, nature of the offense, success of rehabilitation, the number of convictions and the recentness of convictions are taken into consideration to determine whether a criminal record disqualifies a candidate for employment.  Background and criminal record checks are done routinely for all new appointments. If you, as an applicant, have any concerns or questions about eligibility as a State of Maryland Employee, please contact the Training Director so she may confer with Human Resources to discuss your particular circumstances.

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.

THE FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF SPRING GROVE HOSPITAL CENTER'S APA-ACCREDITED PSYCHOLOGY INTERNSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM. FOR A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM, PARTICULARLY IT'S OVERALL AND SPECIFIC TRAINING AIMS, COMPETENCIES, TRAINING STAFF, OTHER RESOURCES, AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, PLEASE REFER TO OUR INTERNSHIP BROCHURE (link below).

Overall Program Aims

The 40 hours/week one-year full-time doctoral internship training program in the Psychology Department at Spring Grove Hospital Center is APA-accredited and a member of APPIC. The program It is designed to train and prepare competent, health service psychology practitioners who will deliver clinical psychology services and lead mental health providers in the delivery of services to the public in various settings, with a particular focus on service provision to the seriously mentally ill patient population. The Psychology Internship Training Program strongly encourages the integration of the theoretical and empirical literature in all areas of professional decision-making. The program further trains and develops early career psychologists who are able to critically evaluate and use available literature in the field and who will approach assessment, intervention, and consultation from a scholarly, evidence-based approach.  At the same time, the program encourages interns to develop a unique identity consistent with the best practices in the field, professional ethics and values, and the individual's own personal therapeutic style with a sensitivity towards diversity and individual differences.

Specific Training Aims and Desired Training Outcomes

Over the course of the internship training year, the program employs, along targeted goals and requirements, nine profession-wide competencies as vehicles to build skills and impart knowledge so that each intern will meet the program's aims and desired outcomes, as well as the intern's personal training goals and objectives. The Internship Training Program has as its specific training aims the following:  

Aim 1.To develop early career Health Service Psychologists who are competent in the assessment and treatment of patients with a particular emphasis on the seriously mentally ill.

Aim 2. To develop psychologists who are competent in the complexities of

providing supervision to other professionals.

Aim 3. To develop psychologists with skills in integrating science and practice

and effectively disseminating knowledge to a variety of audiences, including

psychology trainees, peers, and other professionals.

Profession-Wide Competencies

The interns are systematically guided to move from the role of intern to that of professional psychologist by developing required profession-wide competencies and practicing these competencies under the under the supervision of licensed psychology staff.
 
The nine profession-wide competency areas are:

1) Research;
2) Ethical and Legal Standards;
3) Individual and Cultural Diversity;
4) Professional Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors;
5) Communication and Interpersonal Skills; 6) Assessment;
7) Intervention;
8) Supervision; and,
9) Consultation and Interprofessional/ Interdisciplinary Skills.

Over the course of the training year, the profession-wide competencies are developed through the integration of:

1) A variety of training seminars, didactics and lectures (including a broad-based approach to individual and cultural diversity, evidence-based practices, theories and methods of supervision, professional development issues and topics, and neuropsychology theory and practice); 

2) The apprenticeship with practicing, professional psychologists and other credentialed/licensed mental health professional (re: psychological assessments, individual and group therapy, consultations, etc.);

 3) Through opportunities to learn to become effective supervisors via peer supervising and mentoring psychology externs; and; 4) through scholarly professional presentations to department staff on current topics and/or research related to health service psychology.

The supervisors, Training Director and psychology department staff guide the interns within and across rotations in a graded sequence of training experiences towards the goal of producing competent early career health service professional practitioners who are capable of functioning independently with minimal supervisory consultation. The overarching aim of the Psychology Internship Training Program at Spring Grove Hospital Center is to produce graduates who are competent beginning health service psychologists who reflect a creative scholarly approach to ameliorating psychological problems, with a variety of patients, particularly with the seriously mentally ill, and who are ready to proceed to obtain licensure (e.g., in Maryland) or a final year of supervised experience in preparation for licensure as independent psychologists.
 

Application Procedure:  Link to our Internship Brochure, which includes information on Internship Admissions, Support, and Initial Placement Data, can found below:

[Spring Grove Hospital Psychology Internship Brochure]

NOTE: Our Internship Brochure is updated annually, typically by end July/early August. If you are unsure if you have the most recent version, please contact us at the email address below and we will gladly send it to you. 

Missie McGreevy, Department Secretary
(410) 402-7829; Delana.McGreevy@maryland.gov

We accept the AAPI along with supplemental data (a comprehensive psychological report sample). For further information, please see the APPIC online Directory, Internship Brochure, or contact:

Robyn Davidson, Ph.D., Director, Psychology Internship Training 
Spring Grove Hospital Center, Department of Psychology
55 Wade Avenue- Tuerk Building 
Catonsville, MD 21228
(410) 402-7830; Robyn.Davidson@maryland.gov

For questions related to the program's accreditation status, please direct your inquiry to the Commission on Accreditation at:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC   20002-4242
Phone: (202) 336-5979, TDD:  (202) 336-6123  
Email: apaaccred@apa.org

Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation​​