Navy Doctoral Internships In Clinical Psychology

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD
Naval Medical Center San Diego

 

ACCREDITATION:

The Navy doctoral internships at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD and Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA are fully accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) as clinical psychology internships. Inquiries regarding accreditation may be addressed to the APA's Commission on Accreditation at the following address or phone number:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C., 20002-4242
(202) 336-5979

NAVY RECRUITING REQUIREMENTS:

VERY IMPORTANT: There are two parts to the Navy internship application: the standard AAPI and an application used to determine eligibility for commissioning as a Naval officer.

The Navy application is completed with the help of a Navy Medical Programs Officer Recruiter.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact a recruiter as early as possible, preferably by October of 2024.

If later than this date, applicants are still encouraged to apply. However, Initiating contact with a recruiter after 1 November increases the risk that the application will not be completed by the application deadline. (The Navy application includes a medical evaluation, and there are frequently delays in getting medical appointments scheduled).

PLEASE NOTE: The deadline for submitting AAPIs to the Navy internships is 8 November 2024 for the San Diego Internship, and 18 November 2024 for the Walter Reed internship. The deadline for completing the Navy commissioning application (with the help of your recruiter) is 2 December 2024.

Finding a Recruiter:  There are two options for locating the Medical Programs Officer Recruiter nearest you:

1. Go to the following website: U.S. Navy Clinical Psychology Careers | Navy.com, - Click on “Find a Recruiter” located at the bottom of the page, then type in your zip code. You can also call or use the chat feature to find a Medical Programs Officer Recruiter in your area. Not all recruiting stations have Medical Programs Officer Recruiters, but they should be able to easily direct you to the nearest one.
2. Contact the Navy Clinical Psychology National Training Director, who can connect you with a recruiter in your local area and can be reached at the following email address: usn.ncr.bumedfchva.list.msc-clinicalpsychology@health.mil

BACKGROUND:

The Navy’s doctoral internships in clinical psychology are organized around a Practitioner-Scholar model. They provide an intensive, twelve-month period of clinical, didactic, and leadership experiences.

Prior military experience is neither a requirement nor an expectation for applicants. Most applicants for the Navy internships have no prior military experience. Applicants do not have to be in the military to apply, and there is no military service obligation unless an applicant matches with one of our internships through the APPIC match.

Internship applicants who match with a Navy internship in 2025 will be commissioned as Lieutenants in the Navy Medical Service Corps, and will serve a minimum of 4 years on active duty - 1 year as a clinical psychology intern and 3 years following their internship training.

There is no military obligation for applicants who do not match with a Navy internship.

The Navy internships give careful consideration to all available information about each applicant, and select interns on a competitive basis without regard to race, gender, gender identity, religion, creed, color, national origin (Article 1164 Navy Regulations), or sexual orientation.

GOALS OF THE INTERNSHIPS:

The overarching goals of these internships are to produce highly qualified, resourceful, and autonomous professional psychologists who are prepared to function effectively in traditional settings (e.g., hospitals and mental health clinics) and in military-unique settings (e.g., on aircraft carriers, with Marine Corps units, etc.).

Interns are trained to employ critical thinking and an empirical orientation in their clinical work. This is accomplished by modeling, encouragement, and constructive feedback as interns encounter a range of clinical conditions, patient populations, and settings.

ARE THE NAVY INTERNSHIPS A CONSORTIUM?

The two Navy internships are not a consortium. They are separately accredited by the APA and are listed separately on the APPIC website. Applicants have the option of applying to one or both internships. Applicants who wish to be considered for both internships must apply to them separately on the APPIC website. Interns will attend the specific internship program with which they match (i.e., Walter Reed or San Diego).

IMPORTANT DATES:

Applicants must meet all age, security background check, and medical requirements for commissioning as Naval officers prior to being placed on the internships’ APPIC match lists.

Deadline for AAPI:
8 November 2024 for the San Diego Internship, and 18 November 2024 for the Walter Reed Internship

Deadline for Navy commissioning application:
2 December 2024 for both internships (this is the portion of your application that is completed with the help of a Navy Medical Programs Officer Recruiter).

Officer Development School (Newport, RI):
July to August 2025. Officer Development School (ODS) is a five-week orientation course that all interns must attend prior to starting the internship. ODS marks the point when interns first enter active-duty status. The specific dates of ODS are still to be determined, but it will start around mid-July and end in mid-August. Following completion of ODS, students will attend a 1-week in-person course in Bethesda, MD called “Navy Medicine 101.” The NM101 course provides new officers with an introduction to the Navy Medical Department. Incoming interns will complete this course prior to starting their internship year. All travel to/from ODS, NM101, and internship will be arranged and funded by the Navy.

Internship Start Dates:

In 2025, the Walter Reed Internship will start on September 2nd, right after Labor Day. The San Diego internship will start on September 8th.

INTERVIEWS:

Applicants will be required to participate in virtual interviews for each site to which they are applying. These virtual interviews will be offered to all applicants in accordance with the schedule below. Applicants will also have the chance to participate in optional in-person visits to each internship site. These in-person visits will enable applicants to get a more complete picture of our training programs, but they are entirely optional and will not impact internship selection decisions.

Interviews will be conducted for the San Diego internship between 19 - 21 November 2024.

Interviews will be conducted for the Walter Reed internship between 3 -5 December 2024.

Applicants who are selected for interviews will be contacted by mid-November 2024 (following the AAPI submission deadline) to schedule an interview.

Information about the optional in-person visits will be promulgated later in the year. Applicants who are applying to both sites will be required to participate in interviews at both sites.

INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTIONS:

Both programs are organized around a core of sequential clinical rotations that are augmented by:

• Didactics
• Trans-rotational psychotherapy experiences
• Out-of-hospital training at Navy and Marine Corps bases and with military operational units.

The two internships are similar in many respects, but they are not a consortium, and the on-site Training Directors are free to create a curriculum that takes optimal advantage of the patient populations, faculty strengths, and clinical services available at their individual sites. More information is available at the following links:

Naval Medical Center San Diego Internship
Trainee Admissions, Support, and Outcome Data – San Diego (PDF)
Internship Training Manual - San Diego (PDF)

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Internship
Trainee Admissions, Support, and Outcome Data – Walter Reed (PDF)
Internship Training Manual – Walter Reed (PDF)

ASSIGNMENTS AFTER INTERNSHIP:

Around Jan or Feb of each year, interns are presented with a list of duty stations that are available following their internship year. Each intern is asked to rank their preferred duty stations, and every effort is made to assign students to a site that is as high as possible on their preference list. Interns are typically assigned to a Navy hospital or clinic, most of which are located within the continental United States. However, overseas assignments are also available, particularly in areas like Hawaii and Japan. Increasingly, our interns are also being offered positions with non-medical military units, such as Marine Corps Battalions and submarine squadrons. Interns are eligible to fill these types of assignments if post-doctoral supervision can be guaranteed at the site.

In addition, each year the Navy offers some interns the opportunity for an additional training year. This training takes place in either San Diego or Norfolk, VA, and provides trainees an opportunity to learn about the practice of clinical psychology in Navy operational settings. Those who choose to complete this training spend their first post-internship year in a training status, and the remaining two years of their service obligation as a psychologist in one of these operational settings.

Regardless of one’s post-internship assignment, the service obligation remains the same: 4 years of service, including the internship.

It is important to note that all graduating interns will be assigned to positions where post-doctoral supervision is available for licensure purposes. While the Navy does not offer or require a formal postdoctoral fellowship year for graduating interns, one of the primary goals of the post-internship year is to get licensed, so we make certain to provide all the experience and supervision hours required for licensure. It is expected that interns will be fully licensed within 18 months of internship completion.

For more information, email us at: usn.ncr.bumedfchva.list.msc-clinicalpsychology@health.mil.