Internships, Fellowships, and Residency

Internships and fellowships

Psychology Internship

The Doctoral Internship Program at St. Cloud VA Health Care System (VA HCS) is a generalist training program; and it is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation (CoA) of the American Psychological Association (APA).  Our next site visit will be in 2034.  Questions related to the program's accreditation status should be addressed to: APA, Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242; ; e-mail: apaaccred@apa.org; Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation. 

The program is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC).  Therefore, our program participates in the annual Match process. This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant.

The Psychology Internship Brochure is available to download and print. 

The Doctoral Internship Program in Health Service Psychology at St. Cloud VA HCS offers internships to US citizens who are pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical, counseling, or combined psychology from an APA- or CPA-accredited institution; or a Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS)-accredited program in clinical science.  The program accepts three interns per year.  Applicants must demonstrate completion of at least 4 years of graduate coursework. Potential interns must have a minimum number of supervised graduate level pre-internship practicum experience hours to include 250 intervention and 50 assessment hours.  Applicants must have completed their comprehensive examinations, proposed their dissertations (or equivalent), and be certified as ready for internship by their Director of Clinical Training.

Social work Internship

Welcome to the Social Work Internship at the St. cloud VA Health Care System. Our program offers practical experience for second-year Master's in Social Work (MSW) students within various healthcare settings. We provide five internship positions annually, divided between two key programs:

• Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (MHRRTP)
• Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program

Educational components include: 

Interns at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System will benefit from various educational components designed to enhance learning and professional development. These include 

- Interprofessional Collaborative Practice principles 

- Weekly didactics covering DSM-5/Diagnostic Evaluations

- Person-centered treatment planning

- Various therapy modalities 

- Recovery Model insights 

- Suicide Prevention techniques 

Internship Duration

The internship follows the academic calendar established by your institution, usually starting in August and ending in April. Interns must complete at least 500 practicum hours over two semesters to fulfill program requirements, providing ample time to immerse fully in the learning experience. 

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the internship program, students must be in the second year of their MSW program or in Advanced Standing at the time of their internship. This ensures that interns have the foundational knowledge and skills needed for a hands-on learning experience. 

Placement Requirements

This placement is ideal for proactive students ready to engage fully in a sophisticated healthcare setting. Essential qualities include:

•              Strong patient engagement skills

•              Commitment to high standards for service quality

•              Ability to maintain thorough documentation

•              Openness to learning and collaboration during supervision sessions

How to apply

Please download the application.

Refer to The Masters in Social Work Student Handbook for further details.

Contact Information

Penny Pesta, MSW, LICSW

Social Work Executive

penny.pesta@va.gov

Clinical Pastoral Education

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is an interfaith professional education for ministry. It brings theological students, seasoned chaplains, and interfaith clergy into supervised encounters with persons seeking spiritual care. CPE serves as a part of preparation for parish ministry, chaplaincy, lay ministry, teaching and counseling. A student’s learning contract may be focused toward integration of theological, psychological and pastoral insights into pastoral functioning for parish work. The contract also may be designed with a career goal of chaplaincy or pastoral counseling. CPE develops the capacity for the pastoral/spiritual care of individuals, families and systems.

Out of an intense involvement with persons in need and the feedback from peers, staff chaplain mentors and ACPE Certified Educators, students develop a new awareness of themselves as persons and of the needs for whom they minister. From theological reflection on specific human situations, students gain a new understanding of ministry. Within the interdisciplinary team process of helping persons, students develop skills in interpersonal and inter-professional relationships. 

CPE is designed for people at various stages of life, for example, clergy seeking to develop their skills as pastoral caregivers, military chaplains seeking specialized training in the hospital setting, and seminarians or lay people preparing for ordained ministry.

Learn more about Clinical Pastoral Education and commonly asked  questions.

Program Description

We have six residency positions at the VA, two of which are second year specializations. The VA students may be civilians or Veterans.  In addition, we accept up to six summer and extended unit interns, once a year, depending on interest. The CPE residents and interns rotate to different clinics and services within the St. Cloud VAHCS throughout the year. 

The Chaplain Residents and Interns rotate to various services and clinics throughout the health care system, where clinical opportunities and on-site supervision are available to enhance the learning experience. Students in the program are considered part of the team and attend interdisciplinary team meetings on the unit where they are assigned. They work with staff chaplains who cosign their notes and offer clinical guidance and consultation. Services that the CPE students typically serve include:  

Community Living Center (CLC), Outpatient Mental Health, Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (RRTP), Acute Psychiatric Unit, Primary Care (Patient Aligned Care Team) & Urgent Care, Home Based Primary Care (HBPC), Home Based Memory Care (HBMC), Hospice & Palliative Care, Adult Day Health Care (ADHC), and Infusion clinic. Chaplain students also provide spirituality groups for Veterans addressing Grief & Loss, and Self-Forgiveness, along with individual counseling for veterans seeking mental health services.

CPE Program - Frequently Asked Questions

For more information about CPE program, please refer to VA St. Cloud's CPE Program-Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

The St. Cloud VAHCS is accredited by ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education to provide Level I/II, and Certified Educator CPE. For more information, contact ACPE;  55 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard, Suite 835, Atlanta, GA 30308.  404-320-1472.

ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education

• ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education

ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education

• ACPE Application

ACPE Application

Last updated: February 14, 2024

Residency 

PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency

Site Profile

The St. Cloud VA Health Care System is a Joint Commission-accredited health care institution providing outpatient care in the areas of internal medicine, psychiatry, cardiology, pulmonology, rheumatology, neurology, nephrology, urology, home care, hematology/oncology, podiatry, ENT, orthopedics, pain and urgent care. Inpatient care is provided in long-term care, hospice, acute psychiatry, and residential rehabilitation. The St. Cloud VA provides exceptional care to over 38,000 veterans annually at 4 locations in Central Minnesota spanning 27 counties.

Pharmacy Services: Medication Therapy Management and collaborative prescribing are provided by over 20 Clinical Pharmacy Practitioners (CPP)  for both outpatients and inpatients via referrals for management of anticoagulation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, pain and palliative care, and other chronic conditions for thousands of patients annually. Automation includes provider order entry, completely computerized medical record, bar code medication dispensing and administration, and automated dispensing cabinets.

Educational Experiences

This ambulatory care focused PGY1 pharmacy residency program is designed to develop pharmacist practitioners with the knowledge and skills to serve as a vital member of interdisciplinary health care teams.  Residents who complete this PGY-1 residency program will participate in a diverse selection of rotations, enabling them to provide exceptional patient care across various practice settings. Learning opportunities include outpatient pharmacy, ambulatory care (PACT), long-term geriatric care (Community Living Center), Home Based Primary Care (HBPC), pain, mental health,  cardiology, anticoagulation, and other specialized areas. Pharmacy residents gain hands-on experience managing medications, conducting patient visits, and participating in team meetings, and providing education. Upon successful completion of this residency program, residents will be prepared to seek board certification in pharmacotherapy (i.e. BCPS) and pursue additional training opportunities such as postgraduate year two (PGY2) residency. Additionally, residents will complete a quality improvement project.  

Each resident gains exposure to many areas of direct patient care in a team-based setting by providing care via 25-50 patient encounters per week. Our CPP have a scope of practice which allows for medications to be independently managed by the CPP through provider referral and population management, and includes prescribing privileges. The resident will work collaboratively with the interprofessional health care team at this site including: physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, nurses, dieticians, social workers, scheduling staff and pharmacy technicians. Residents will complete concentrated learning experience rotations in the areas of primary care, anticoagulation, cardiology, pain, mental health, long-term and rehab care, and management. 

In our primary care area, the resident will serve as the pharmacist on the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). As the PACT pharmacist, the resident will be responsible for meeting with veterans for face-to-face visits, conducting virtual visits via telephone and video, completing medication consults, responding to drug information questions, and participating in team meetings. Typical disease states encountered include anticoagulation, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, heart failure, and other chronic disease states. In PACT, each appointment is 30 minutes in length, during which the resident conducts patient interviews, reviews and reconciles the patient's medications, assesses vital signs, evaluates laboratory results, and formulates a treatment plan. A progress note is entered into the electronic chart for each visit. The resident is also responsible for scheduling appointments, ordering labs, ordering medications and conferring with a provider when clinically appropriate.  

Specialty practice experiences in the areas of anticoagulation, pain, cardiology and mental health function similarly as PACT with integration into the clinical practice teams.  This experience provides the resident broadened practice exposure and therapeutic treatment planning working with preceptors with advanced training and experience in these specialties.

Home Based Care Program (HBC) operates similarly to PACT  with care provided in the veterans’ home.  In addition to disease state management, the CPP also focus on transitions of care, care coordination, and quarterly comprehensive chart reviews. 

Our Community Living Center (CLC) provides a skilled nursing home level of care and a variety of rehabilitation programs. The resident will be exposed to a variety of patients admitted to CLC, including rehab, long-term stay and hospice patients, through interviewing of patients, chart review and consultations from providers. In this area, the pharmacy team is responsible for medication reconciliation on admission, discharge counseling, monthly nursing home chart reviews, pharmacy consult completion, fall reviews, drug information questions, and disease-state management. CLC chart review functions encompass comprehensive medication management reviews of our veterans on a monthly basis. Through chart reviews, the pharmacy resident will gain experience evaluating a variety of geriatric disease states including dementia, Parkinson’s, osteoporosis, BPH and others, as well as learn the management of other chronic disease states in a geriatric population. The resident will be responsible for disease state monitoring in the area of anticoagulation, diabetes, hypertension and antimicrobial monitoring. The resident will assist with managing transitions of care between settings through admission medication reconciliation, plus discharge education and outpatient appointment scheduling.

For our practice management experience, the resident will be exposed to committee involvement, policy/protocol review and development, medication safety projects, quality improvement projects, population pharmacotherapy, leadership development, organizational learning, and introduction to pharmacy management roles. The resident will be involved in the medication error committee and the P& T Committee. The resident will complete a performance improvement project and medication use evaluation. 

Education and teaching experiences are provided through regular presentations of journal club, topic review, and case presentation opportunities to our pharmacy staff and student pharmacist precepting opportunities. A longitudinal residency project will be completed throughout the residency year.

Traditional pharmacy staffing duties will be expected approximately one day of every 2 weeks, in many of our care areas, depending on the rotation and the learning needs of the resident. Staffing will occur during regular tour of duty. The resident will also be given residency time each block to work on projects, drug information questions, presentations, and other assignments.

Position Details:

Duration: 12 months
Position(s): 1
Starting Date: June 29, 2026
Estimated Stipend: $53,632
Application Deadline: January 3, 2026
Interview Required: Yes

Benefits:

Benefits include health insurance, annual leave (vacation), time off for illness/appointments/family care and paid federal holidays within compliance to ASHP standards. 

How to Apply:

The St. Cloud VA Pharmacy Residency Program participates in the Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service (PhORCAS).  To apply,  the following must be submitted through PhORCAS by the deadline to be considered for an on-site or virtual interview. 

• Letter of Intent
• Curriculum vitae
• Pharmacy school transcripts
• Three completed references in PhORCAS

For questions or concerns, please contact: 

Sara Faber, PharmD

PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program Director

PACT Clinical Pharmacy Practitioner

St. Cloud VA Medical Center 

E-mail: sara.faber@va.gov