Mission

The VA Psychology Training Council's (VAPTC) mission is to represent VA matters of training in psychology and shape the future of professional psychology training at all levels from practicum to postdoctoral.
The VAPTC is sponsored and funded by the VA Office Office of Mental Health Services (OMHS)

The Scope of Training:

VA provides Internships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, and Practicum Training in many sites across the U.S. With about 430 internship positions and 200 postdoctoral fellowship positions funded each year, VA is the largest provider of training in Psychology in the nation. The following link will connect you to a directory of all VA Psychology Internship and Postdoctoral Residency Programs.

Membership

Training directors of all VA Psychology internship and Postdoctoral Residency programs are members of the VAPTC. There are no membership dues since the VAPTC is fully funded by the VA Office off Mental Health Services (see link below).

Officers:

Chair - Jeanette Hsu, PhD. (Jeanette.Hsu@va.gov) (term ends 8/10 - becomes past chair)
Chair Elect - Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., ABPP (term ends 8/10 - becomes chair)
Past Chair - Wayne Siegel, Ph.D., ABPP (term ends 8/11)
Secretary/Treasurer - John Beauvais, Ph.D. (term ends 8/13)
Administrative Subcommittee Chair - Jim Besyner, Ph.D., ABPP (term ends 8/12)
Clinical Subcommittee Chair - Lisa Brenner, Ph.D., ABPP (term ends 8/13)
Member at Large - Postdoctoral Training Representative - Keith Shaw, Ph.D. (term ends 8/12)

Meetings and Annual Reports:

The VAPTC had its second annual meeting on July 20th, 2009 as a preconference to the VA National Mental Conference.
The VAPTC will participate in the CCTC Joint Training Conference in Orlando, FL 2/10/10 - 2/13/10.

Links:

Veterans Affairs Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) Title 38 U.S.C. mandates that VA assist in the training of health professionals for its own needs and those of the nation. For almost sixty years, in accordance with VA's 1946 Policy Memorandum No. 2. VA has worked in partnership with this country's medical and associated health professions schools to provide high quality health care to America's veterans and to train new health professionals to meet the patient care needs within VA and the nation. This partnership has grown into the most comprehensive academic health system partnership in history.

Veterans Affairs Office of Mental Health Services (OMHS) The Office of Mental Health Services aims to insure that all veterans have access to needed mental health care. VA Mental Health advances the principle that mental health care is an essential component of overall health care and promote mental health recovery. Through its collaborations with the Office of Academic Affiliations, OMHS strives to support excellence in VA psychology training and the continued expansion of best practices in mental health care for veterans.

Council of Chairs of Training Councils (CCTC) Member (VAPTC is a member of CCTC)

American Psychological Association (APA)

APA Commission on Accreditation (CoA) (APA accreditation is an expectation for all VA psychology training programs)

Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC)