High Plains PIC Intern Expectations
High Plains PIC offers one-year, full-time doctoral internships beginning and ending in August each year. The Consortium is comprised of five agencies located in Northern Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska and provides a range of clinical and didactic experiences that represents the necessary depth and breadth required for future professional practice within rural school and clinical settings.
Interns have a primary placement at one site with the possibility of completing other training experiences at other sites within the consortium or with community partners. Across training sites, interns are expected to:
- Complete 2000 hours of training during the year
- Have at least 25% spent in face-to-face direct service delivery with a focus on evidence-based practice
- Achieve the APA Profession-Wide Competencies
- Abide by the APA Code of Ethics, requirements of the High Plains PIC training program, and the policies and procedures of their training sites.
Contact High Plains PIC
For questions related to the consortium contact Robyn Hess at robyn.hess@unco.edu.
Important Dates
- December 1: Application deadline
- January 11: Virtual Interviews
- August 2023: Start Date
Major Training Emphases
High Plains PIC offers interns a unique opportunity to advance their clinical training in rural and frontier settings, areas in which behavioral healthcare is often in short supply. Interns are afforded rich clinical experiences that highlight the specific demands and shared experiences within these small communities, as well as identify and creatively address the common barriers inherent in rural health. As providers, interns participate in High Plains PIC’s goal to expand the capacity of underserved rural communities to address behavioral healthcare needs through integrated services. Furthermore, all training experiences are provided within the context of a developmental perspective and trauma-informed care.
In addition to offering a distinctive experience in rural psychology, High Plains PIC offers the following major training emphases in all sites:
Supervision
All interns receive a minimum of 4 hours per week of formal, scheduled supervision. One licensed psychologist serves as primary clinical supervisor at each consortium site. Interns receive a minimum of two (2) hours of individual supervision each week from a licensed psychologist, with at least one (1) hour of that supervision from their primary supervisor.
Supplemental weekly individual supervision is provided by supervisors of elective rotational experiences as needed. Weekly group supervision is required and conducted with all interns for two (2) hours per week.
Group supervision is conducted via high-quality, secure distance technology with in-person sessions occurring at least four (4) times per year. Group supervision focuses on case presentation, professional development issues, and clinical topics. In addition, "on-the-fly" informal supervision and consultation is encouraged and provided by High Plains PIC supervisors.
Didactics
Interns are exposed to a variety of psychologists and guest speakers through a comprehensive didactic seminar series that spans the length of the training year. Didactics focus on a wide range of topics, including issues related to direct service provision, as well as more theoretical and/or professional development focused topics, all designed to build upon prior knowledge and experiences and complement experiential training during the internship year. All didactic seminars are expected to incorporate individual and/or cultural diversity themes and adhere to professional grade presentation standards, with up-to-date evidence based citations and references as appropriate.
Given the distance between sites, didactics occur in an all-day format that will be conducted in person, one time per month, in either Greeley, Fort Collins, Cheyenne, or Scottsbluff. Approximately four of the didactic days will occur in an online format. Didactics will be organized around a broad theme (e.g., ethics, diversity, professional development, advanced skills, assessment) in order to provide depth and opportunities for discussion among interns and the Training Committee. For all didactic presentations, interns are given the opportunity to provide direct feedback via an electronic survey.
Research
High Plains PIC trains psychologists who are effective consumers of research and who utilize scholarly inquiry to inform their practice. In addition to infusing current research into areas of practice, interns are expected to engage in an applied research experience during their internship year. Interns are able to select from one of the following research opportunities in a self-selected area pending supervisor approval: site-specific program evaluation, action research project related to site goals, writing a grant, and/or partnership with a UNC faculty member on an existing project. At our biweekly research meetings, interns are introduced to different aspects of program evaluation (e.g., creating logic models, single subject design, identifying disproportionality) and encouraged to read and discuss relevant research.
Stipends and Benefits
The stipend for the 2020-2021 training year varies based on clinical training site. Volunteers Of America: Northern Rockies and Options in Psychology, LLC offer a stipend of $25,000. The Colorado Center for Assessment and Counseling and Educational Service Unit #13 offer a stipend of $31,800. The stipend for Weld County Re-8 School District is $28,000. Two of the clinical training sites follow a school schedule and afford interns several scheduled breaks. At a minimum, all interns are provided with 15 scheduled vacation days, 5 flex days, and 2 professional leave days (for post-doctoral position interviews, dissertation defense, etc.). In addition, interns are provided with 2 hours per week of dedicated research time that may be used for dissertation and/or activities fulfilling the research requirement of the internship. Interns are asked to inform their primary site supervisor of requested leave at least two weeks prior to the date, except in the case of sickness or an emergency, which should be communicated to their primary site supervisor as soon as possible. Interns are also expected to follow site-specific procedures for requesting leave.
Educational Service Unit #13
- Health insurance benefits
- Longterm disability
- Life insurance
- Liability insurance
Volunteers Of America: Northern Rockies
- Health insurance benefits
- Longterm disability
- Life insurance
- Liability insurance
Options in Psychology, LLC
Provided with a supplemental stipend of up to $250 per month (or $3000 annually) allotted for the purchase of a health insurance plan.
Weld County Re-8 School DIstrict
Provided with a supplemental stipend of up to $250 per month (or $3000 annually) allotted for the purchase of a health insurance plan.
Colorado Center for Assessment and Counseling
Intern does not receive additional health insurance benefits or additional monies given the discrepancy in stipend.
Resources
High Plains PIC interns have access to numerous resources in all training sites. Assessment and other training materials are provided by each training site, and additional materials that may be needed may be purchased pending Training Committee approval. Each intern has access to administrative and IT support through their primary training site. Each intern is provided with a workspace as well as access to a laptop computer and distance technology. Interns are also able to access the Research Consultation Lab through the University of Northern Colorado, and receive full electronic access, including the ability to download books and journal articles, to the UNC library system.
Travel
Interns matched with High Plains PIC are expected to travel to other consortium sites several times during the internship year and therefore, must have access to reliable transportation. Interns are reimbursed for their travel between sites for required training experiences at the mileage rate of $0.53 per mile. The travel policy is included in the Intern Handbook and instructions on how to complete and submit the document to the University of Northern Colorado are provided during Orientation.
