CAPS Doctoral Internship Program Receives Prestigious Accreditation by the American Psychological Association
Campus Health’s Counseling & Psych Services (CAPS) Doctoral Internship Program (CDIP) at the University of Arizona has officially been granted “Accredited on Contingency” status by the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Accreditation (APA CoA). This designation is awarded to high-quality doctoral internship programs that have demonstrated strong training practices and adherence to the APA’s Standards of Accreditation. The CoA reviewers highlighted several standout strengths of CDIP, which they broadly deemed to be “in substantial compliance” with their Standards. They praised CDIP for delivering excellent generalist training across all nine APA Profession-Wide Competencies, offering robust supervision and didactics, and fostering a supportive learning environment. Accreditors also commended the program’s strength in interdisciplinary collaboration and its significant positive impact on student mental health at the University of Arizona. “This stamp of approval from the APA comes in recognition of the strength of our training program, the excellence of our training staff, the support of our administration, our dedication to the mental health of our students, and our commitment to preparing the next generation of psychologists in our communities,” said Joel Gaffney, Ph.D., CAPS Training Director.
APA accreditation is the national benchmark for doctoral internship programs. State psychology licensing boards factor accreditation status into decisions about whether to grant licenses to practice psychology—some states even require it—making APA accreditation influential in an intern’s career trajectory. The accreditation also elevates CAPS’ visibility across the country, outwardly positioning CDIP as a competitive, high-quality training site for prospective interns. “APA Accreditation allows the training program to be a highly desired doctoral internship placement by interns across the country trying to match with sites, significantly increasing the likelihood of matching with candidates who are a good fit with the training program,” said James Berger, Psy.D., a staff psychologist at CAPS who was hired after successfully completing his internship with CDIP’s inaugural cohort.
CDIP brings in doctoral students in psychology from across the country to support the mental health needs of U of A students. In their on-the-job generalist training as psychologists, interns provide cost-free evidence-based individual and group counseling, receive ample supervision, deliver psychoeducational workshops, consult with the campus community, participate in CDIP’s robust didactics program, and are trained to supervise other graduate students in mental health fields. As a marquee component of CDIP, interns also work one day a week in an emphasis placement serving students at sites such as the Guerrero Student Space, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs (APASA) Space, Athletics, the CAPS Assessment Team, and the SALT Center, among other campus partners. This structure offers interns a personalized dimension to their training while expanding access to services and strengthening campus partnerships. By the end of their training year, interns engage in a breadth of experiential learning opportunities that support both their development and the well-being of U of A students.
Now that CDIP has achieved APA accreditation, students, communities, and prospective interns can confidently assume a high degree of quality in the program and the services it provides. “I’m proud that our program has earned this status,” said Gaffney, “primarily because it means that the preeminent psychological organization in our country believes that we’re meaningfully contributing to the quality preparation of new psychologists and providing excellent care to our students while doing so.”