Mental health care

1. U.S. citizenship. VA is unable to consider applications from anyone who is not currently a U.S. citizen. Verification of citizenship is required following selection. All interns must complete a Certification of Citizenship in the United States prior to beginning VA training.
2. A male applicant born after 12/31/1959 must have registered for the draft by age 26 to be eligible for any US government employment, including selection as a paid VA trainee. Male applicants must sign a pre-appointment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration before they can be processed into a training program. Exceptions can be granted only by the US Office of Personnel Management; exceptions are very rarely granted.
3. Interns are subject to fingerprinting and background checks. Match result and selection decisions are contingent on passing these screens.
4. VA conducts drug screening exams on randomly selected personnel as well as new employees. Interns are not required to be tested prior to beginning work, but once on staff they are subject to random selection for testing as are other employees.
5. TQCVL. To streamline on-boarding of Health Professional Trainees (HPTs), VHA Office of Academic Affiliations requires completion of a Trainee Qualifications and Credentials Verification Letter (TQCVL). An Educational Official at the Affiliate must complete and sign this letter. Your VA appointment cannot happen until the TQCVL is submitted and signed by senior leadership from the VA facility. For more information about this document, please visit https://www.va.gove/OAA/TQCVL.asp
6. Health Requirements. Among other things, the TQCVL confirms that you, the trainee, are fit to perform the essential functions (physical and mental) of the training program and immunized following current Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines and VHA policy. This protects you, other employees, and patients while working in a healthcare facility. Required are tuberculosis screening, Covid vaccine, Hepatitis B vaccine, as well as annual influenza vaccine. Declinations are EXTREMELY rare.
7. Additional Forms. Additional pre-employment forms include the Application for Health Professions Trainees (VA 10-2850D) and the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF 306). These documents and others are available online for review at https://va.gove/oaa/app-forms.asp. Falsifying any answer on these required Federal documents will result in the inability to appoint or immediate dismissal from the training program.
8. VA identity proofing requires presentation of two source documents (IDs). Documents must be unexpired and names on both documents must match. For more information visit: https://www.oit.va.gov/programs/piv/_media/docus/IDMatrix.pdf

Internship applicants also must meet these criteria to be considered for any VA Psychology Internship Program:

1. Doctoral student in good standing at an American Psychological Association (APA) or Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) accredited graduate program in Clinical, Counseling, or Combined psychology or Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS) accredited program in Clinical Science. Persons with a doctorate in another area of psychology who meet the APA or CPA criteria for respecialization training in Clinical, Counseling, or Combined Psychology are also eligible.
2. Approved for internship status by graduate program training director.

For additional information about eligibility criteria please visit: Resources for Health Professions Trainees Coming to VA | Eligibility and Forms - Office of Academic Affiliations

The Charles George VA Psychology Internship Program requires documentation of 500 hours of completed AAPI Doctoral Intervention/Assessment Hours. Experience gained outside of the doctoral program can be considered if supervision was provided by a licensed mental health professional. Projected hours cannot be counted in the 500 hour total. In addition, the applicant will ideally have clear assessment skills in administration, scoring and integrated assessment report writing (10 integrated reports) or documented evidence of these required skills. The applicant should have educational training and/or practicum experience in commonly used diagnostic instruments such as the MMPI-2-RF/MMPI-3, PAI, and Wechsler scales.

*** Health Professions Trainees (HPTs) are appointed as temporary employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs. As such, HPTs are subject to laws, policies, and guidelines posted for VA staff members.  There are infrequent times in which this guidance can change during a training year which may create new requirements or responsibilities for HPTs. If employment requirements change during the course of a training year, HPTs will be notified of the change and impact as soon as possible and options provided. The VA Training Director will provide you with the information you need to understand the requirement and reasons for the requirement in timely manner.***

As an equal opportunity training program, this internship welcomes and strongly encourages applicants from all qualified candidates, regardless of racial, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, disability or minority status.

The Charles George (Asheville) VA Psychology Internship Program uses the APPIC Application for Psychology Internships (AAPI) available at the APPIC website (www.appic.org). Requests for information beyond what is described in this web site may be made by email to:

Lauren.Milner@va.gov

Each applicant is required to submit standard electronic online AAPI application materials including the following:

• Cover letter indicating intent to apply to the internship program and internship training interests
• Completed APPIC Application for Psychology Internships (AAPI)
• Curriculum Vita
• Three letters of evaluation from individuals familiar with recent academic and clinical performance. At least one letter of evaluation should be from a clinical supervisor with direct knowledge of the applicant’s clinical skills
• Official transcripts of all psychology graduate training

All materials must be available no later than November 1, 2023. 

Nondiscrimination Policy – The leadership and faculty of the Charles George VA Internship in Clinical Psychology are firmly committed to a strong and consistent policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, gender, color, national origin, disability, limited English proficiency, age, sexual orientation and gender identity. Providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment has long been the objective and policy of the Veterans Health Administration.

VHA Directive 2008-024 states that “It is VHA policy that no one is subjected to any form of discrimination because of race, color, national origin, LEP, age, sex, handicap, or reprisal in any and all VHA programs, programs receiving VA funding, or any VA program receiving Federal financial assistance.”

VHA Directive 2008-013 states that “VA employees are to be able to perform their jobs in workplaces free from discrimination, including intentional discrimination based upon one’s sexual orientation.[…] It is VA policy to provide an equal opportunity to all of its employees and applicants for employment without discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

The Charles George VAMC Internship in Clinical Psychology adheres to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) guidelines in the selection of intern applicants. Equal employment opportunity is the requirement, based in both law and regulations, that agencies provide employees a full opportunity to enter into, function in, and progress in their careers based on their abilities and performance, rather than on such non-merit factors as race, religion, sex, or age.

Providing equal opportunity requires a coordinated effort among faculty supervisors, VA managers, EEO program officials, and HR officials. Working together, they seek to ensure that all employees are protected:

• with the opportunity to compete fairly for positions for which they are qualified,
• by receiving objective ratings based on their performance,
• from being subjected to personnel decisions based on non-merit factors.

In short, the objective of the EEO program is not to provide special or unfair advantage to any groups or individuals, but rather, to ensure that employees are not unfairly disadvantaged based on non-merit factors that are outside their control. Please refer to https://www.va.gov/ormdi/ for further EEO information.