Welcome to the website of the Mississippi Psychology Residency (Internship) Training Program. We are a consortium between the Division of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) and the Psychology Division of the Mental Health Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). This consortium has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since its inception in 1964.
The residency program endorses a cognitive-behavioral orientation within a scientist-practitioner model. Interest in and experience with this approach are important selection criteria. Residents gain clinical experience across a wide variety of patient populations and settings, including inpatient and outpatient services, and community placements. Clinical supervision and training are conducted on a one-on-one or small group basis within the clinical rotations. Additional clinical opportunities are available whereby residents gain experience working with longer-term cases, and can receive supervision from residency psychology faculty other than their rotation supervisors.
Residents are encouraged to function with a high degree of autonomy, assuming responsibilities at the junior staff level. Continuing education didactics comprise an additional important component of training. The consortium offers a series of seminars that cover a broad range of topics, including assessment and treatment approaches with specific populations, neuropsychology, psychopharmacology, research methodology, legal and ethical issues, cultural diversity and professional development. A Research Rounds/Case Presentation series is presented by residents and post docs. Finally, many other seminars, rounds and informal presentations offered by other departments are open to our trainees.
Although clinical training activities play a paramount role in our program, residents are required to maintain active involvement in research as well. A high percentage of psychology residents have authored or co-authored one or more publications based on their research activities during the residency year. Close supervision on all aspects of research comprises an integral component of the residency program. Residents may participate in their rotation supervisors' research programs or choose to work with another faculty member. Independent research is encouraged. Didactics on grantsmanship are part of the residency training experience, and residents are expected to have a draft of their own independent grant by the end of the residency year.
Significant resources are available to support training activities. PCs are easily accessible with primary software packages including MS Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel) and SPSS among others. Laboratory and A/V equipment include psychophysiological assessment and biofeedback equipment, video recorder/playback systems, DLP projectors, etc. The Rowland Medical Library offers excellent facilities and receives all major psychology journals; in addition, the vast majority of these journals are available electronically. The capacity for database searches of the card catalog, Medline, ERIC, CINAHL, HEALTH, New England Journal of Medicine, and PsychLit (Psychological Abstracts) is available on-site and remotely.
Financial Support
Residents accepted for the program receive different funding, depending on the source of funding. UMC-funded residents are paid $24,843 and receive the state financial health insurance plan, which is covered in their pay. VA-funded residents are paid $22,898 and have to pay for their own health insurance. This discrepancy is the result of national, not local, VA policy. We are working on remedying this discrepancy.
The residency year begins on July 1, and runs for a full year
Applicants who are not currently registered in a clinical or counseling psychology Ph.D. program must include a letter from the director of a clinical or counseling program stating that their training and practicum have been equivalent to a Ph.D. program in clinical or counseling psychology.