Article archive / July 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 11. Source pages: 10.
The Predoctoral Internship Program in Professional Psychology located in Lake Charles, Louisiana acquired membership in Association of Postdoctoral and Internship centers (APPIC) in May of this year. The program is in its first full year of operation and will graduate its interns; Kimberly Hutchinson and Thomas DuVall in September 2013. Each will have completed a 2000-hour internship program where they offered supervised services at areas hospitals and agencies in the Southwest Louisiana Region. The internship program has accepted two doctoral psychology interns who will begin their rotations this fall.
Supervising faculty include area psychologists Andrew Thrasher, Ph.D., Allyson Bennett, Ph.D., Ray Hawkins, Ph.D., ABPP, Larry Dilks, Ph.D., Darrell Turner, Ph.D., and Jerry Whiteman, Ph.D.
The pilot program was initiated in 2011 to test the feasibility of the internship program and investigating if the Lone Star Model of community-based internship would work in the Southwest Louisiana community. The application of community based activities proved workable and the first intern class began in September of 2012. The second year of operation has brought greater community awareness, interest, and funding.
The internship program was started due to the large number of clinical psychology doctoral students who were finishing coursework and could not find an internship placement. The internship placement shortage has be a developing problem over the last several decades, with increasing awareness due to the large number of students left without internships as a result of a supply and demand problem.
The advisory board consists of Cameron Melville, Ph.D. Paul Matthews, Ph.D., Terry Fowler, JD, Kashi Yadalam, MD, and Valarie Waldmier Ph.D.
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