Psychology Internship Program
For over 70 years, the Hines VA has been training the next generation of health service psychologists, striving to meet the growing and changing demands of the profession by providing the highest quality learning and training experiences in a supportive learning environment.
Units and Patient Programs Served
The units and patient programs served by Psychology Service include:
- Addictions Treatment Program
- Blind Rehabilitation
- Community-Based Outpatient Clinics
- Community Living Center (Geriatrics)
- Emergency Department
- General Medicine and Surgery
- Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Program
- Hematology/Oncology
- Home Based Primary Care
- Infectious Disease
- Palliative Care Clinical Team
- Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic
- Behavioral Sleep Medicine
- Inpatient/Residential Rehabilitation Psychiatry
- Managing Overweight/Obesity in Veterans Everywhere (MOVE) and Bariatrics Program
- Memory Disorders Clinic
- Mental Health Clinic
- Mental Health Intake Center
- Mental Health Intensive Case Management
- Organ Transplant Evaluations
- Opioid Treatment Program
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Polytrauma Program
- Primary Care Mental Health Integration Program (Primary Care Behavioral Health)
- Reproductive Mental Health
- Women’s Health Clinic
- Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center
- Spinal Cord Injury & Disorders
- Substance Abuse (inpatient and residential)
- Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic
- Trauma Services Program
Affiliations
Hines is institutionally affiliated with Loyola University of Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, and also maintains affiliations with the University of Illinois-College of Medicine, Chicago, and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Loyola University Medical Center, which shares a campus with Hines, is one of the largest medical centers in the Chicago area, with 523 licensed beds on a 70-acre campus.
Psychology Service Staff
The staff of Psychology Service is comprised of 63 doctoral-level psychologists, and two program assistants. The broad range of expertise, background and experience represented in the staff at Hines VA is also reflected in the diversity of their professional assignments throughout the hospital.
Most staff members are involved in the training program as either major or secondary supervisors. Some supervisors hold faculty appointments at universities in the Chicago area and are active in funded research endeavors. Our ability to provide both broad-based generalist training in clinical core competencies and a tailored internship experience reflects our wealth of rotational placements and supervisors at Hines.
Internship Program
The Hines VA Psychology Internship Training Program offers graduate students from APA, CPA, or PCSAS-Accredited programs a 12-month in-depth training experience. We believe that the best training to prepare today's interns for the demands of tomorrow's professional challenges consists of providing the highest quality learning experiences to enhance maximum proficiency in clinical work across socio-economic and cultural boundaries that can be adapted to a variety of settings. Toward this goal, the Hines Internship Program provides training experiences in the context of a broad exposure to both medical and psychiatric patients from a variety of backgrounds, with students choosing among up to 19 rotational options to best suit their training needs and goals.
The primary aim of the Hines VA Psychology Internship Training Program is to prepare interns for successful admission to competitive postdoctoral or entry-level professional positions. Training and proficiency across all nine profession-wide competencies identified in the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Standards of Accreditation in Health Service Psychology is strongly emphasized and integral to our aim.
Applications due: November 3, 2025. The internship year will begin July 13th, 2026.
We offer a stipend of $38,317
Tracks:
General Track (6 positions): The General Track is ideal for interns wanting to specialize in general mental health, health psychology, or a combination of the two.
Neuropsychology Track (1 position): The Neuropsychology Track is designed to offer specialized experiences in the areas of neuropsychological assessment and psychological intervention in adherence with the Houston Conference/Division 40 guidelines for training.
Please refer to our Brochure for a detailed description of our Internship Program and application requirements.
Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone:
E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org
Welcome Letter from the Training Director
Dear Applicant:
Thank you for your interest in clinical training in Psychology at Hines VA. We believe our APA‑Accredited program is one of the finest at the internship level.
We are proud of our reputation as a program that produces highly competent graduates ready for entry-level practice in health service psychology. Most of our interns move on to one of their highest ranked postdoctoral or employment positions immediately following completion of their doctoral studies and internship.
Training occurs within a very warm and nurturing environment that is conducive to interns’ professional growth and to their development of an identity as a clinical or counseling psychologist. Our program is committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming to and supportive of those from all backgrounds. Our program is learning- and training-based, as opposed to production-based. Service delivery is subsumed under the interns’ training needs and interests. Interns determine, to good measure, their rotations, focusing on their training needs and interests. Intensive and extensive supervision and education are program priorities, and our staff is dedicated to training and mentoring interns.
We currently have seven interns per class and anticipate having seven for our 2026-2027 class. Our brochure is available on our webpage and provides comprehensive information about our program.
The complete application package must be available on or before November 3rd, 2025. Please refer to the link on our home page titled "Application Information" for details. Applicants will be notified by December 15th, 2025 regarding whether or not they are invited for an interview.
We look forward to your application and to the possibility of meeting you this winter. Please reach out with any questions at katherine.meyers@va.gov.
Sincerely,
Katherine Meyers, Ph.D.
Psychology Training Director
Psychology Training Programs
The Psychology Service at Hines VA has enjoyed a long tradition of training future psychologists. The service presently maintains externship, internship and fellowship training programs that are designed to foster collaboration between externs, interns and fellows. The Psychology Service has supported a psychology practicum program since 1947, and a Psychology Internship since 1950. The program has been formally accredited by APA since 1976. Seven interns are funded within our Internship Program this year.
Psychology also maintains a postdoctoral fellowship training program in Clinical Psychology with five emphasis areas:
- Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
- Integrated Care Psychology/Primary Care Mental Health Integration
- Geropsychology & Integrated Care
- General Mental Health and Special Populations
- Rehabilitation and Health
Our traditional practice fellowship program was awarded 10 years of full APA re-accreditation in October of 2019. More information can be found on our website: https://www.va.gov/hines-health-care/work-with-us/internships-and-fello…
Psychology also maintains a two-year specialty fellowship program in Clinical Neuropsychology. This program was awarded ten years of full APA Accreditation in November 2017.