Psychology internship as partnership: Four perspectives

Abstract

Internships for psychologists are intended to provide grounding and training for practice in the field. We posit that this, though certainly bringing focused attention to content and competencies, is best completed within collaborative working relationships intentionally nurtured between educational and practice settings on behalf of the intern to greater degrees than are normally present in most internships. This article brings views from four perspectives: Those of the University Programme Co-ordinator in overview, the Intern Psychologist, the Psychologist Site Supervisor, and the Psychologist University Supervisor. Using a mountaineering metaphor, we present a chronicle of the experience, useful learnings, and practical recommendations. The four authors worked together through the internship year, with the intern working in an on-campus student health centre. Internship detail of this setting is provided to anchor the narrative, but the learnings generalise across internship settings.