Introduction to MMPIC

Welcome to the Mid-Michigan Psychology Internship Consortium (MMPIC) internship in Health Service Psychology with a focus on child psychology. Our aim is developing health service psychologists who use evidence-based approaches to support children, adolescents, and families in community. The three MMPIC sites are:

• Michigan Medicine: Division of Pediatric Psychology (Ann Arbor, MI)
• Sunfield Center (Ann Arbor, MI)
• Thriving Minds Behavioral Health Center (Ada/Brighton/Chelsea/Livonia, MI)

At the Mid-Michigan Psychology Internship Consortium, we train scientist-practitioners in health service psychology who conceptualize their work with children, adolescents, and transition-age students from an ecological systems perspective. MMPIC offers intensive, structured training experiences with a diverse population at the individual, family, school, and systems-level by consulting and collaborating with caregivers, family members, school professionals, medical professionals, and other important stakeholders to support client care. MMPIC values evidence-based practices that take into consideration individual, cultural, ethnic, and societal differences. Interns are trained to engage in scholarly inquiry and apply research in their clinical practice.

The internship program is one full year (12 months/2000 hours) in duration. The consortium accepts applicants from school and clinical psychology doctoral programs, and preference is given to interns from accredited programs.

MMPIC is defined by its commitment to offering a well-rounded, comprehensive, and unified training program. Interns apply for and are admitted to individual sites, though all sites are under the same leadership. Interns are a part of a consortium cohort across all participating sites. While intern responsibilities and supervision are coordinated at individual sites, interns attend seminars, case consultation, and didactic training together as a cohort at all three sites and at Michigan State University. As a result, all interns develop competencies and deep understanding of assessment, intervention, and consultation within an ecological framework, though their daily activities may vary considerably from site to site.

Internship Training

Culturally Competent Training

MMPIC is committed to the value of diversity and the richness of human differences. Our service and training mission prioritize providing people from all backgrounds respectful, culturally-appropriate treatment and service. In particular, the consortium recognizes that stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination have affected training and service-delivery practices in the mental health field and we seek to address systemic racism.

We believe we benefit from the perspectives of those who differ by gender, ethnicity, race, culture, sexual orientation, age, religious beliefs, socioeconomic class, and varying abilities. Thus, the consortium’s policies and procedures, as well as its activities, associations, and interactions with the community, reflect and promote the dignity and worth of the individual and the value and strength of diversity in the community. We encourage diverse individuals to apply to our program and seek out opportunities to serve diverse clients and systems.

Commitment to Excellence in Training

The consortium’s affiliation with Michigan State University and Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan maintains the training emphasis. Dr. Aupperlee, training co-director, is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, and the other training co-director, Dr. Lancaster, has trained students across university- and systems-level positions. All recruited consortium sites have demonstrated their commitment to collaborative, high-quality training over time and they all have a history of valuing students, providing strong supervision, and fostering high intern satisfaction. The consortium supervisors are committed to having interns develop competence across domains. So, rather than interns only completing revenue-generating activities, interns develop their competencies through a broad array of carefully-supervised activities.

This internship is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) and is an Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) member site. We attained APA accreditation in 2021 and have a ten year accreditation period. Questions related to the program’s accreditation status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979 / E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation