Psychology Internship Training Amidst COVID-19: Balancing Training Opportunities, Patient Care, and Risk of Exposure

The emergence of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has dramatically altered how psychologists deliver its training. At least for the time being, virtual care has become the primary method for delivering mental health services. This has allowed patients and clinicians to continue to access and provide services in a way that would have been impossible years ago. Not only has this shift impacted patients, but it has also impacted supervision and training. The impact has been especially profound on inpatient units where the psychiatric and medical acuity is high of patients and the therapeutic milieu is an important aspect of treatment. The purpose of this paper is to review the impact of COVID-19 on pre-doctoral psychology interns during their rotation on an inpatient psychiatry unit at the start of the pandemic (January to June of 2020) and use these experiences to onboard the next class of interns in the new academic year (July 2020 to June 2021) using a hybrid model of in-person and virtual training experiences. At the end of 2020/2021 rotation, we voluntarily asked interns to complete a questionnaire that was developed based on the qualitative experiences of the previous class to assess the effectiveness of this hybrid model. We also surveyed multi-disciplinary staff members who were essential personnel and required to work in person during this time about their experiences of safety and support. With this information, we explore and offer guidance to other inpatient training sites who are likely to encounter similar challenges during this time. In particular, we discuss the integration of virtual technology into this training experience, as well as the restructuring of clinical and supervisory experiences. We highlighted several short-term strategies that we have flexibly adapted to our inpatient unit. The lessons learned herein seek to guide supervisors and trainees alike in adapting their psychology training programs to meet the evolving demands of COVID-19.