APPIC Intern Applicant Policy

APPIC has adopted the following policies of the American Psychological Association concerning intern applicants:

Intern applicants shall have completed practicum experience and be enrolled in a doctoral program in professional psychology which requires internship training; or




The internship is an essential component of the training for persons seeking to change to a professional specialty for which they were originally not prepared.

It must be stressed that taking an internship, or acquiring experience in a practicum setting, is not sufficient preparation for becoming a clinical, counseling, or school psychologist without prior training in the relevant specialty area. The internship experience is properly seen as only one element in the change of specialty. Thus, doctoral psychologists who are attempting to qualify as practitioners in an area different from that emphasized in their original training must be certified in writing by a director of a doctoral-level professional psychology training program in the new specialty, as having completed an organized program of didactic and practicum work which is the equivalent of the usual pre-internship preparation in the specialty area. APPIC members will not, therefore, accept applicants who do not meet these and other current policies regarding re-specialization in professional psychology.