The Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) is pleased to announce the outcome of its Psychology Training Enhancement Initiative for the 2011-12 academic year. The purpose of this initiative was to increase the number of trainees and the availability of a well educated, highly skilled pool for VA’s anticipated recruitment needs in Psychology. Psychology has been identified as one of the top ten occupational recruitment needs in the 2009 and 2010 VHA Workforce Succession Strategic Plans.

Through this process, OAA has been able to identify and approve training programs that are located in rural settings as well as sites that have a high preponderance of rural Veterans among those served. A total of 90 additional training positions were created through this effort.

Predoctoral Internships

Through this initiative, OAA will fund 9 new Predoctoral Internships programs. This is the single largest VA expansion of internship sites in recent memory. New programs will be located in:

• Boise, ID
• Canandaigua, NY
• Columbia, SC
• Huntington, WV
• Indianapolis, IN
• Madison, WI
• Philadelphia, PA
• Tuscaloosa, AL
• West Palm Beach, FL

Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs.

In addition, OAA will be starting 11 new Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs. These programs provide one year of advanced training emphasizing clinical areas of particular importance to Veterans and to VA, such as PTSD, Serious Mental Illness, Women’s Health, and Behavioral Health and Primary Care.
As well, a year of postdoctoral education qualifies these fellows to sit for the licensing examinations in most states. These new postdoctoral fellowship programs have been awarded to the following VA facilities:

• Atlanta, GA
• Biloxi, MS
• Columbia, SC
• Dayton, OH
• Hampton, VA
• New York Harbor, NY
• North Chicago, IL
• Salt Lake City, UT MIRECC
• San Juan, PR
• Tampa, FL
• Tucson, AZ

In addition, OAA has also expanded 31 existing internship and postdoctoral programs by 34 positions.

OAA is pleased with the breadth and diversity of sites funded by this initiative. We plan to repeat the initiative with a particular emphasis on bringing psychology training into even more locations located in rural settings or serving high proportions of rural Veterans.