Psychology Internships: How to Find (and Get) Them

Psychology internships are a necessary part of becoming a psychologist. During a psychology internship, you’ll get opportunities to apply your advanced theoretical knowledge and gain hands-on clinical experience you can use to help people in need of mental health services.

You’ll need licensure to practice as a psychologist and can’t obtain a license without supervised clinical experience. This is why internships are required as part of many graduate psychology programs. If your psychology program doesn’t offer internships, you’ll have to find them on your own. In this guide, we’ll explore some of the popular options for psychology internships and provide guidance on how to secure one for yourself.

An easy way to find psychology internships is to search your college’s job board for opportunities. Most graduate programs in psychology will actively connect students to internships and clinical experience opportunities.

You can also search for opportunities through the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) or American Psychological Association (APA) online directories. Connecting to organizations and seeking membership within your field of expertise can also help you find internships.

Networking is a great way to find psychology internships. You can attend psychology conferences, join psychology associations, and connect with psychology professionals on social media.

There are different types of psychology internships popular among graduate students. These opportunities include child development, forensics, school, and behavioral research psychology.

As a behavioral research psychology intern, you’ll help with research projects, including data collection and analysis. You may observe counseling or therapy sessions and join other clinical activities.

All of these tasks will help you deepen your psychology knowledge and research skills, helping prepare you for clinical practice.

If you are interested in child clinical or pediatric psychology, you can benefit from a child development psychology internship. You’ll gain expertise with a range of diagnostic skills and assessment techniques.

Your work will include developing treatment goals, integrating science and clinical practice in intervention and therapy, and learning child protective, legal, and ethical issues in child development psychology.

During a community health internship, you’ll help collect and analyze data, engage in policy advocacy, and participate in health education initiatives and community outreach programs. This work can help improve community health while also developing your skills, which can help prepare you for the profession.

Throughout these internship experiences, you’ll get opportunities to apply your newfound psychology knowledge to real-world environments, gaining public health practice skills and experience that can boost your skills and bolster your graduate school and job applications.

Forensic psychologists work at the intersection of criminal justice and psychology. These professionals provide psychological insight and expertise to the legal system.

An internship in forensic psychology will involve administrative and hands-on work. You’ll conduct research and collect your findings in reports, among other field-related tasks.

Your internship can take place in various settings, including a government agency, a prison, a rehabilitation center, or a law firm.

As a psychology teaching assistant, you’ll teach college or university psychology courses. A psychology professor will supervise you, although they may or may not occasionally visit your classes while you teach.

You’ll gain plenty of experience designing and teaching psychology courses. More specifically, you’ll create syllabi and presentations, design and grade assignments, and advise students on coursework.

Teaching assistants must balance their coursework with their teaching, so you’ll need advanced organizational and time-management skills. Self-motivation is another key skill for a psychology teaching assistant.

School Psychology Internships

School psychologists advise K-12 students on educational, career, mental health, and personal challenges.

As a school psychology intern, you’ll work under the supervision of an experienced school counselor or psychologist at an approved school district.

Your responsibilities can include counseling students and parents, writing psychological reports, and establishing relationships with faculty and staff.

Here are five tips to help you find a psychology internship that works for you:

You can start by stopping by career services to talk to an advisor. Remember, your internship doesn’t necessarily need to occur in a psychology organization. For example, school psychology interns work in schools to gain experience.

Find out if your university has partnerships with local schools, clinics, research labs, or other organizations that offer psychology internships.

College and university professors are another resource from which you can draw. They typically have robust networks with academics and other psychology professionals.

So, ask your psychology and counseling professors and instructors if they can connect you with any psychology internship programs.

Check your college or university campus to see if there are any campus organizations you can join, as many universities host psychology clubs.

For example, Xavier University hosts the Xavier Psychology Association of Graduate Students (XPAGS), and Ohio University houses the Psychology Graduate Representative Council.

Student organizations like these often collaborate with counseling services and other related organizations to offer psychology students internship opportunities.

Many internship programs require letters of recommendation for consideration, similar to the college admissions process.

Even if your desired internship program doesn’t require letters of recommendation, seeking them out can bolster your application.

These documents give internship committees insightful details about your clinical and interpersonal skills, achievements, and work ethic. In other words, letters of recommendation help internship committees learn about who you are as a budding psychology professional.

Collect your application documents, including your resume, early on to give yourself plenty of time to apply to your desired psychology internships.

If a cover letter is required, write it early to give yourself time to seek out feedback and revise. Your feedback can come from a career advisor or a trusted professor.

The best psychology internship applications are tailored to the role and the organization. But don’t forget to highlight your coursework, skills, and extracurricular activities, such as volunteer work.