Intern training has taken place at Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center since 1956 and at Hawthorn Children's Psychiatric Hospital since the hospital's inception over 25 years ago. These two facilities as well as St. Louis Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center are part of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, together serving clients in nineteen urban, suburban and rural counties in the Eastern Region of Missouri with a population over three million. These three Department of Mental Health facilities joined with outpatient providers, including Community Psychological Service at the University of Missouri - St. Louis, to establish the St. Louis Psychology Internship Consortium, creating training opportunities in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Core rotations are available at Hawthorn Children's Psychiatric Hospital and Residential Treatment Center (HCPH), Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center (MPC), the St. Louis Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center (SLPRC) and Community Psychological Service, University of Missouri-St. Louis (CPS).

Each intern participates in three of the four available core rotations for a period of four months at each rotation. The available core rotations include outpatient assessment and therapy experience at CPS, child/adolescent acute care at HCPH, adult inpatient care at MPC, and one of the long-term adult training options at SLPRC.

Interns are also provided a one-day-per-week adjunct rotation at one of the following: Children's Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis (CASGSL), Community Psychological Service (CPS), or the Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Service (SORTS). CASGSL is a Child Advocacy Center accredited by the National Children's Alliance and serves the St. Louis Metropolitan area as the primary provider of forensic interviews and trauma informed psychotherapy for maltreated and traumatized children and their non-offending caregivers. SORTS provides mandatory treatment to certain civilly committed sexual offenders who have been convicted, found not guilty by reason of insanity or committed as criminal sexual psychopaths.

Interns will engage in a variety of activities throughout the rotations, including, but not limited to, individual, group and family therapies along with testing, interviewing, treatment planning, treatment team consultations, and/or milieu interventions. Weekly intern breakfasts are scheduled during work hours to facilitate group cohesion and create the opportunity for informal discussion of ongoing experiences and professional development.

We offer four (4) full-time, salaried internship positions. The internship program is a 12-month commitment, beginning the first week of August.Interns are expected to work a minimum of 40 hours per week to complete the training program.

A typical workweek for an intern includes the following:

  • Core Rotation (at CPS, HCPH, MPC, or SLPRC) - 4 days/week
  • Adjunct Rotation (at CASGSL, CPS, or SORTS) - 1 day/week
  • Didactic Seminars - 2 hours/week
  • Intern Breakfast Group - 1 hour/week