Neuropsychology Central

[peltaz]

Let us assume that a student applied to a internship program with his/her dissertation completed and did not match. Is there any reason why that person could not enter that program on a voluntary basis and work for free? I am attempting to discover why there are not more internships available to neuropsych students. Is it strictly an issue of funding? Why or why not could a student enter a program with approval and work for free aside from the obvious possibility of starvation? Thanks.

[mprosje]

You have brought up a question on many students' minds: Why are there not more internship positions available (in general, and in neuropsychology specifically)?

Neuropsychology, as all students in this specialization know, is a very competitve route to travel nowadays. Funding is probably an issue for neuropsychology placements, but I also believe there is an issue with the number of sites with neuropsychologists who are available to provide the necessary training and supervision of students. I think neuropsychologists exist in smaller numbers than do other types of professionals in the field of psychology. I further believe neuropsychologists working in large medical centers are keeping themselves very busy with clinical work and research. Many medical centers offer internships with at least a rotation in neuropsychology. I have heard of some smaller institutions who are trying to gain APPIC approval. I do know the APPIC process is a "bear" for programs to go through to attain accreditation.

With regard to entering an internship program on a voluntary basis and working for free, I would keep in mind the following questions: Does the internship need/want a volunteer who will require supervision? I have heard of a couple internship sites that have offered unpaid positions. There are many considerations to keep in mind when considering this: Will your volunteer work provide more experience but not meet the requirements of an internship? OR, will the work be equivalent to an internship? If the work equates to an internship, will you receive the required number of intervention, assessment, and supervision hours? What will the volunteer experience give you that you have not already had? AND, how will that experience help you get the internship you want?
These are thought provoking concerns you raise.
I hope others will offer their two-cents.

[lash]

You can't arrange an unfunded position "except in unusual and infrequent circumstances". There actually used to be unfunded internship positions, but then APPIC outlawed it. Not just for kicks; there were issues that made it a bad idea. For example, at the site where I did my internship, they used to have 1 paid and 1 unfunded position; the funded person was often seen as superior by faculty, which creates a bit of an aversive working environment for the trainee. I think this was one reason for stopping that practice. It's probably been about 7-8 years since those sorts of positions were dissolved. I haven't read the FAQ where APPIC explains their rationale, but here's the link:

http://www.appic.org/about/2_3_10_about_policies_and_procedures_FAQ_unfunded.htm

[peltaz]

Thank you. That is exactly the information I was lloking for.

Now, can you answer this? Since APPIC dictates that a stipend must be paid what happens in an unaccredited internship? Are those required to pay a stipend if they are part of the neuropsych degree program at a particular institution? Thanks.

[lash]

Well, I don't think accreditation has anything to do with it (that usually means APA- or CPA- approved), but do you mean non-APPIC-member sites? I honestly don't know anything about those sites, and didn't even know they existed until I googled it; so, I'll just refer you to a GradPsych article from a few years ago that mentions them:

http://gradpsych.apags.org/mar05/cover-parttime.html

Anyway, as the article suggests, it can be risky to go with a non-APPIC member site, since it limits your job options later (and I think an APPIC internship is probably mandatory for board certification, though I'm not sure). But, to answer the question, since they're not in APPIC, I don't know of any way to regulate whether they fund their interns, so they probably don't need to.