December 1, 2022
Thank you for your interest in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience (PBN) at the University of Chicago! Our Department hosts several externship programs directed by our psychologist faculty. Every year, we train between 45 and 55 externs selected from
Chicago-area doctoral programs in health service psychology. We occasionally also have externs from other graduate training programs who have relocated to the Chicago area. As you will learn, our training programs are housed in both Adult and Child Psychiatry across many
different clinical services within the Department and the larger medical center. Although our externship programs share a common core, each faculty member’s programs, requirements, policies, and regulations, are distinct.
The University of Chicago’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience offers comprehensive practicum training programs for advanced psychology graduate students. These externships provide training in the delivery of mental health care to patients presenting to a large academic medical center for evaluation, consultation, and intervention. Training occurs in the Adult and Child Sections of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.
All externs receive at least one hour of individual supervision by a licensed clinical psychologist. Additional individual and/or group supervision may also be available. Further, externs are an integral part of the Education Mission of our Department and attend numerous required and optional didactic experiences along with our other trainees including psychology interns and fellows, medical students, and residents and fellows in psychiatry and other specialties.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our training program has been adapted (repeatedly!) and we expect that change will continue. Please know that the health and safety of our staff, trainees, and patients is our ultimate priority. We recognize that working remotely and providing telemedicine services presents other challenges for training and we look forward to navigating these issues with you should you choose to train with us. At this time, we are utilizing a hybrid model with some of our psychotherapy services being provided remotely and medically-based assessment, intervention, and consultation services being provided in person. We expect that this balance will continue to shift based on patient and provider preference, availability of space, and insurance regulations and reimbursement. As we prepare to recruit for a new
training year, different faculty members have different expectations for the externs in their programs with regard to clinical activity, supervision, and didactics. Please review this information carefully to learn more about our program and to determine if you meet the requirements for specific externship programs before you invest time and energy in applying. It is also important for you to assess whether our training programs are a good fit for your learning goals and your life circumstances.
On behalf of all my colleagues, I encourage you to learn more about our Department to determine if we are a good fit for this next chapter in your training. Externs are integral contributors to our clinical and educational missions and we are committed to providing you with an enriching educational experience. If you choose to apply, we believe that you will be actively engaged in a stimulating and challenging learning environment. We hope that you will experience our programs as opportunities for supervised training in evidence-based assessment, intervention, and consultation in the integration of the science and practice of health service psychology.
You are welcome to contact me directly with questions or concerns. Thank you for your interest in our programs.
Sincerely,
Shona N. Vas, Ph.D., ABPP
Director, Clinical Psychology Training
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
The University of Chicago
5841 S. Maryland Ave., MC 3077
Chicago, IL 60637
Contact Information: svas@bsd.uchicago.edu; W: 773-702-1517; C: 773-508-9034
Shona Vas, PhD
Professor of Adult Psychiatry