Internship in Health Service Psychology

Dear Intern Applicant,

The Georgia Southern University Statesboro Campus Counseling Center offers four internship positions each year through our APA-Accredited Internship in Health Service Psychology on the Statesboro campus. As training is a treasured and highly valued aspect of our center, we work to cater our internship to the individual goals of each intern. We do this through various opportunities which include: optional rotations, a wide variety of topics for weekly training seminars, provision of supervision to practicum students, and meeting with different individual and rotation supervisors throughout the internship year.

We seek applicants with an interest in working with emerging adults and college student populations, interest in individual and group therapy, and interest in crisis intervention and outreach activities. We seek applicants with emotional and social maturity who have experience in working with diverse client populations, have interest in developing multicultural competencies, and can effectively and collaboratively participate as a team member at the Georgia Southern University Counseling Center.

I hope this information helps you in finding an internship site that will fit your goals and needs. If there is anything I can do to assist with in learning more about our site, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Mark D. Taracuk, PhD, Training Director
Georgia Southern University Counseling Center

Overview of Training Program

Mission
The mission of the Internship Program is to offer high quality training in the practice of health service psychology.  Psychologists who work in a variety of health care settings, including university counseling centers, are recognized as Health Service Providers “…if they are duly trained and experienced in the delivery of preventative, assessment, diagnostic and therapeutic intervention services relative to the psychological and physical health of consumers based on the following: 1) having completed scientific and professional training resulting in a doctoral degree in psychology; 2) having completed an internship and supervised experience in health care settings; and 3) having been licensed as psychologists at the independent practice level” (APA, 1996; HSPEC, 2013, August 5).  The Counseling Center adheres to the principals of the Health Service Psychology Education Collaborative (HSPEC, 2013, August 5). For more information please visit: Health Service Psychology: Preparing Competent Practitioners.

Philosophy
The internship training program at the Georgia Southern University Counseling Center is designed to offer high quality training in the practice of professional psychology, based on an integrated working knowledge of the application of clinical theory, research, and ethical, legal, and professional standards. In addition, the Training Committee believes that every competent practitioner in the field should be guided by sensitivity to individual differences within a diverse society, and by an openness to lifelong learning.

These ideals are incorporated into our training programs via a practitioner-apprenticeship training model in which didactic and experiential learning are combined. Trainees are treated as professionals and, as such, are expected to understand, demonstrate, and apply appropriate levels of clinical skills, acquired from their academic training program, as well as to participate fully in the mission of the Georgia Southern University Counseling Center. The Counseling Center functions under the Division of Student Affairs. The staff collaborate regularly with colleagues in the Dean of Students Office, Health Services, University Residence Life, Student Wellness and Health Promotions, and Office of Career and Professional Development, along with the broader campus community.

Please feel free to review the most recent internship manual for more in-depth information:

Application & Selection Process

The Counseling Center is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) and adheres to APPIC policies for intern selection. The 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. For the 2026-2027 internship year, the application process will be completed via the APPIC MATCH. Please visit the APPIC Website for more information on the Match process.

Applicants should have obtained at least 400 direct hours (can include both intervention and assessment). Applicants must submit their entire application to the AAPI online. The AAPI Online includes a cover letter, the summary of personal and educational information, the summary of your doctoral experience, four essays, a CV, letters of recommendation and graduate transcripts. We request your letters of recommendation include at least two persons familiar with your clinical performance and that your cover letter include your long-term professional goals and how you envision our internship site meeting your training goals and interests.

Candidates will be notified via email regarding their interview status by the interview notification date. For those candidates who are extended an offer to interview, the email will include times and dates for a Zoom interview. Zoom interviews will be held the first two weeks of January 2026. The Zoom interview is approximately 2 hours in length comprised of an interview with 4-5 members of the staff including at least 1 current intern.

Expectations for Successful Completion of Internship

For successful completion of the internship, the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Accreditation (CoA) expects that programs will require each intern to demonstrate competency in each of the nine professional-wide competencies: Research, Ethical and Legal Standards, Individual and Cultural Diversity, Professional Values and Attitudes, Communication and Interpersonal Skills, Assessment, Intervention, Supervision, Consultation and Interprofessional/Interdisciplinary Skills.

In general, trainees are expected to demonstrate each profession-wide competency with increasing levels of independence and complexity as they progress across levels of training. In addition, the expectation of accumulated hours for successful completion of this internship is acquiring at least 2,000 overall internship hours including 500 direct clinical hours (25 percent of total hours).

Some doctoral programs require their students to have additional training contracts and evaluations completed by their internship programs. Georgia Southern University Counseling Center internship does not enter into training contracts with academic programs nor will site supervisors complete evaluations developed by academic programs. As an APA-accredited internship, our interns receive comprehensive evaluative feedback throughout the training year using evaluations based on APA guidelines and customized to our internship; evaluations used in the Georgia Southern University Counseling Center internship can be found in the internship manual. Copies of completed evaluations are provided to academic programs at both the mid-point and end of the training year. If your academic program requires additional training contracts and evaluations, you are encouraged to consult with your Director of Clinical Training as to whether or not you are eligible to apply to this internship.

Contact

For further information or questions about the internship program, contact the training director at:
Mark D. Taracuk, PhD
Georgia Southern University Counseling Center
P.O. Box 8011
Statesboro, GA 30460-8011
912-478-5541 or mtaracuk@georgiasouthern.edu

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Trainees Admissions, Support, and Outcome Data

Last updated: 7/30/2025