Mission

To prepare the next generation of Army psychologists as practitioner-scholars, emphasizing the application of evidence-based psychology through a developmental approach to training. We do this by tailoring our training to meet each intern's unique professional development needs, fostering a collaborative and supportive environment that challenges interns to refine their skills.

Vision

Continuously contribute qualified behavioral health practitioners to the ever-changing landscape of military medicine and healthcare delivery.

Aims

1. Recruit and Support Diverse Interns: Attract and select a diverse range of qualified interns, providing them with comprehensive financial, logistical, and administrative support to ensure their success.
2. Foster a Respectful and Inclusive Learning Environment: Maintain a supportive learning environment that values cultural diversity and individual differences, ensuring a climate of respect and inclusivity.
3. Deliver Comprehensive, Structured Training: Offer robust training experiences that are progressively challenging and service-oriented, supervised by a diverse and highly competent team of training supervisors.
4. Engage in Continuous Program Evaluation and Improvement: Conduct ongoing program evaluation, utilizing intern feedback and measurable outcome data to continually improve the program and assess interns' progress in developing profession-wide competencies.

Many didactic opportunities are available to interns throughout the training year Fridays are reserved for required didactics and case conferences. Didactic topics include assessment, therapeutic intervention, ethics, cultural diversity, professional development, and research among others. There are also periodic faculty and intern case conferences. In addition, interns may attend workshops. In addition, there may be 1–2-day workshops offered on various topics throughout the year. These workshops are typically presented by notable clinicians in their respective fields of psychology.

Outpatient Rotation (4 Days per Week, 6 Months)

The Outpatient Rotation trains the intern to be a well-rounded, generalist practitioner informed by relevant research using empirically validated intervention models. The rotation includes adult clinical activities with a diverse patient population of varying ages, duty status, and ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Most outpatient rotation training experiences occur through the treatment and assessment of active-duty service members and some family members. Interns typically can conduct both individual and group treatment. Interns also receive comprehensive training in the full range of specialty evaluations to include command-directed mental health evaluations, fitness for duty evaluations, security clearance evaluations, special duty evaluations, persons of trust evaluations, among many others. The Outpatient Rotation is intellectually challenging, and interns can develop additional professional skills including supervision (of behavioral health technicians), consultation (multi-disciplinary teams), time management, inter-departmental communication, critical thinking (especially evaluation, analysis, and synthesis), and concise verbal and written communication.

Neuropsychology Rotation (3 Days per Week, 3 Months)

This rotation offers an introduction to clinical neuropsychology. These skills will provide a foundation that will allow interns to assess patients suspected of having neuropsychological problems; and recognize common syndromes such as mild traumatic brain injury, post-concussion syndrome, early dementia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Interns are expected to develop the ability to determine when to make appropriate referrals for neuropsychological evaluation and to medical, allied health, and rehabilitation specialties. In addition, the intern will learn to provide neurobehavioral recommendations, treatment suggestions, and patient-family psychoeducation. Interns will typically arrive with varying degrees of preparation in neuropsychology, and the supervisor will make every effort to tailor the rotation to the individual's strengths. Interns in this rotation will master the essential tools of a screening battery and a comprehensive battery and its application to a wide variety of cases observed in a major medical training center. Interns will receive a minimum of one hour a week of individual supervision.

Behavioral Medicine Rotation (3 months)

The Behavioral Medicine rotation exposes interns to a general overview of a hospital-based Behavioral Medicine practice by providing various training opportunities and experiences in this specialty area. The rotation utilizes a systems-oriented, biopsychosocial model to develop practice skills in prevention, assessment, and treatment of several medical disorders. Direct patient care activities may include acquiring skills necessary to provide services to a wide range of medical patients. The rotation may also allow for specific training in biofeedback-assisted self-regulation and pain management. Interns will receive a minimum of one hour a week of individual supervision. Interns may also can supervise practicum students or behavioral health technicians.

Intensive Outpatient Rotation (3 months)

This rotation is designed to provide psychology predoctoral interns with the opportunity to gain experience in the assessment and treatment of patient population that comprises adults with a range of psychopathology marked by pronounced suicidal and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) difficulties—in an intensive outpatient setting. Interns will have the opportunity to provide individual and group psychotherapy, as well as assist in the supervision of practicing student and enlisted and civilian psychological technicians. Additional opportunities for assessment and intervention may be available based on the intern's level of training, experience, and knowledge. Interns receive scheduled weekly clinical supervision across all major competencies & activities: assessment, treatment planning, individual and group therapy, case management, and professionalism & ethics. We have a weekly meeting that includes topics: referral & enrollment review, didactic topics, and curriculum review.

Mini Rotations

Additional training experiences are offered within a wide range of clinical settings to include inpatient psychiatric ward, emergency/urgent behavioral health, and a variety of specialized clinics as opportunities arise such as sleep, Behavioral Health Consultation Liaison Service, Primary Care, Child and Family Behavioral Health Service or the Interdisciplinary Pain Management Clinic among others.

Much of the internship curriculum focuses on helping interns apply foundational skills and concepts within a military-specific environment, covering areas such as ethics, assessment, treatment, forensics, and leadership. Additionally, the curriculum includes military-specific topics, such as the role of the Brigade Behavioral Science Officer, Family Advocacy Program, Medical Evaluation Board, and roles of Judge Advocate General (JAG) and Inspector General (IG), etc... to inform interns about key military programs.

TAMC CPIP leadership curriculum is primarily experiential in nature. All interns spend a minimum of 2 months as the Chief Intern. During their time as chief, the intern attends weekly mentorship/leadership development meetings with the Director of Training (DOT). This time is used to discuss things that are going well for the chief as a peer-leader and troubleshooting areas of difficulty or challenge. The chief intern also attends clinic/department level leadership meetings when appropriate.

Interns will participate in scholarly activity which culminates in a presentation at the end of the year. The intern can choose from a variety of activities from which to participate. The project may also be an independent project or a collaborative project with other staff or providers. Interns will develop their project with the advice of a faculty advisor of their choosing however, all proposals must be approved by the Director of Training (DOT), the Director of Research, and the Department of Clinical Investigation Services.

There are several professional development activities throughout the year. Some of the opportunities are program directed in the form of didactics, others are collaborative in nature and are initiated by quarterly developmental counseling, still others like the interns seeking out professional development opportunities on their own are program supported/encouraged.

• Tripler Army Medical Center

Rotation Opportunities

If an applicant is a recipient of the Health Professions Scholarship Program, there may be an opportunity during their yearly Active Duty Time to complete a 3-4 week rotation at TAMC.

Application Procedures

The Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) Clinical Psychology Internship Program follows all APPIC policies and procedures for intern selection. Applicants must register for the Match using the registration system on the APPIC Match website. The APPIC website has additional information on Match dates. In accordance with APPIC Match policy, our program abides by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any ranking-related information from any applicant.

Application Deadline: November 11, 2024

Diversity: Our faculty and the Army values cultural and individual diversity and strongly encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds to apply. In keeping with our commitment to diversity, we seek an internship class representing a wide range of backgrounds, interests, talents, and life experiences. It is the policy of our program and the Army to provide equal opportunity in employment for all qualified applicants. Discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, or status as a parent, is prohibited. In accordance with United States law, applicants must be United States citizens and meet age, security background, and medical qualification requirements for an Army officer commission before being placed on the internship’s APPIC Match ranking list.

Number of Anticipated Positions: 6.  There are no civilian positions available. All interns must commission as active-duty Army officers.

Army Selection Process: If there is any possibility that an applicant plans to apply to an Army clinical psychology internship, they should contact an AMEDD recruiter as soon as possible. Contacting a recruiter no later than August of the application year is highly recommended to allow the applicant and the recruiter time to ensure all Army application criteria (e.g., health physicals, medical waivers, etc.) are completed on time. Interested applicants can contact a recruiter via the Army Recruiting website or via phone 1- 800-USA-ARMY. Submit the online APPI application including all supporting documents and confirmation of approved proposal for dissertation before the application deadline. All internship applicants will concurrently go through the Army selection process.

Dissertation Status: We will NOT consider applicants who have not successfully defended their doctoral or clinical research project proposal before the CPIP board in December. Suppose an applicant completes the proposal after the November program application deadline. In that case, the applicant must have their Director of Training from their academic institution send a letter certifying completion to the Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) Clinical Psychology Internship Program (there are no exceptions to this policy):

TAMC Psychology Internship Director of Training
MCHK-BH, B-Wing, Room 4B-108
Department of Behavioral Health GHE
Clinical Psychology Internship Program Director, Tripler Army Medical Center
1 Jarrett White Road, Honolulu, HI 96859-5000

Additional Requirements: Applicants must use the AAPI portal to upload the following documents in addition to APPIC Match minimum requirements:

• Graduate transcripts
• Three letters of recommendation
• Curriculum vitae
• A de-identified written sample of a psychological assessment case including formal psychometrics reflecting actual clinical work – unedited by peer or supervisor

We will NOT consider applicants who do not submit all materials as per above.

All interviews are 50-minute virtual interviews. Each candidate will have one individual interview with a group usually consisting of one of the Directors of Training, a faculty member, and a current trainee (3 individuals in total).

Near the end of internship, interns are encouraged to consider submitting an “Early Entry” application for the American Board of Professional Psychology within any specialty for which they may be eligible.

Interns are encouraged to and supported in imparting knowledge both formally and informally in various contexts. Interns are required to deliver one formal didactic to the behavioral health technicians and one brief during Grand Rounds. Outside of the required training, most interns teach as part of their supervisory responsibilities of the technicians and take advantage of other teaching opportunities that arise both in and out of the hospital.

Faculty subspecialities include Health Psychology, Forensics Psychology, Child Psychology, and Neuropsychology.

Each incoming intern will be assigned a mentor/sponsor from the outgoing internship class to provide them with guidance and support as they transition to Active Duty. Interns are also encouraged to seek mentorship both within and outside the program to grow their unique interests and foster a continued understanding of life and opportunities within the military. Lastly, interns have the option of requesting a preceptor to mentor/guide them in challenging areas that may arise during their training journey.

We aim to foster a space in which the TEAM and its individuals are valued. Collaboration, support, and friendly competition are emphasized as tools to be successful in the internship and beyond. The importance of self-care and well-being are not only highlighted during didactics, but time is given during the training year to practice. There are several points throughout the year where we pause from the typical day-to-day activities and go out into the community on this beautiful island to do a unique activity that enhances well-being and team building.