VA Fellowships and Internships
Veterans’ mental health is a top priority at VA. After returning from combat, many Veterans struggle to readjust to life at home. Our mental health care providers play a critical role in helping these Veterans reclaim their lives by providing cutting-edge care. VA supports this mission by ensuring that our mental health professionals have the most innovative technologies, facilities, and training at their fingertips. When you join VA, you will be a core member of our interdisciplinary care team structure, collaborating with both primary care and other mental health professionals to establish the right course of treatment for patients.p>
Expanding Nationwide Opportunities
VA provides Internships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, and Doctoral Practicum Training in many sites across the U.S. VHA’s support for psychology training through the Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) has increased annually in recent years. As of the 2021-2022 training year, OAA is supporting 1264 funded psychology training positions. These include positions in 129 internship programs, 120 postdoctoral fellowship programs, and 21 Advanced Research fellowships. Over the course of the past 13 years, VHA psychology internship and postdoctoral training has almost tripled in scale (i.e., from 432 total positions in 2005, to 1165 for academic year 2018-19). Because of their newness, some of the recently funded programs are not yet accredited. However, graduates of these programs will be eligible for employment as psychologists within the Department of Veterans Affairs just as are graduates from accredited programs. Many existing VA Internship and Postdoctoral Psychology training programs hold APA accreditation status.
VA Psychology Training Council
The VA Psychology Training Council (VAPTC) represents VA on matters of training in national forums and helps to shape the future of professional psychology training within the VA. The VAPTC plays a crucial role in providing guidance both to VA’s individual training programs and to the Office of Academic Affiliations and the Office of Mental Heath and Suicide Prevention on matters pertaining to training in psychology.