Graduate Psychology Education Programs - The Indiana University School of Medicine’s Clinical Psychology Internship Program seeks to expand and enhance its program, address critical workforce shortages, and improve behavioral health services in Indiana by training a diverse cohort of doctoral psychology interns in integrated, interdisciplinary care. The grant will support four additional interns annually, addressing Indiana’s significant shortage of behavioral health providers. This expansion is critical to meeting the mental health needs of our state’s underserved populations. Interns will be trained to work in integrated care settings alongside interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, social workers, and other allied health professionals. The project emphasizes enhancing the Internship Program’s experiential and didactic training in key areas, including substance use disorder (SUD) and opioid use disorder (OUD) prevention, treatment, and recovery; trauma-informed care; behavioral health services across the lifespan, including in childhood and adolescence; and tele-behavioral healthcare delivery. It also includes faculty development initiatives to ensure high-quality supervision and training. Interns will gain experiential training across rotations in interdisciplinary teams, including pediatric and adult behavioral health, SUD/OUD treatment, and trauma-focused care. Program rotations span diverse populations and settings, from early childhood and adolescent care to adult integrated care and specialty areas like oncology and pain management. The program will expand SUD/OUD training opportunities, including evidence-based modalities such as cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and medications for OUD. Elective rotations in adult and adolescent addictions will be made available to all interns. In addition to learning models for providing culturally responsive, trauma-informed care that can be applied across settings and populations, interns will engage in rotations focused on trauma across the lifespan, including perinatal, child and adolescent, and adult traumatic stress clinics. Training will include evidence-based therapies such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, prolonged exposure, and cognitive processing therapy. Tele-behavioral healthcare experience will be incorporated into rotations, enabling interns to deliver behavioral health services to rural and underserved communities. Faculty supervisors will receive advanced continuing education training in evidence-based assessment and intervention strategies – including for SUD/OUD and trauma-related concerns – fostering a high standard of mentorship and enhancing the program's capacity in these priority areas. Curricular enhancements will be aligned with national standards and designed to prepare interns for licensure and clinical practice in high need, high demand areas. The program will track outcomes through intern and alumni surveys and performance evaluations. Efforts will be made to secure alternative funding sources for sustainability beyond the grant period. This initiative addresses pressing mental health and addiction challenges in Indiana, where behavioral health needs dramatically exceed current service capacity. The project aligns with HRSA’s goals by strengthening the workforce and expanding access to care through innovative training programs. We are requesting a funding priority based on our program’s ability to train psychology professionals to work in interdisciplinary, integrated care settings and preference under the high rate qualification given that at least 80% of our recent graduates are employed in settings with one or more medically underserved community designations.
