For nearly 25 years, Andersonville Behavioral Health (ABH) has been a training clinic, partnering with colleges and universities in the Chicago metropolitan area to provide clinical training to graduate students in the allied mental health disciplines, namely clinical mental health counseling, counseling psychology, and clinical psychology. ABH has provided structured clinical practicum and internship opportunities to graduate students in MA, MS, PsyD, and PhD programs having trained nearly 200 clinicians over the years. The clinical training program at Andersonville Behavioral Health is a competitive and sought-after 12-month experience that requires a commitment of 20 to 24 hours per week, during which graduate student clinicians provide 10 to 12 hours of face-to-face clinical services to individuals, couples, families, and groups. Every week, graduate student clinicians receive one hour of individual clinical supervision, one hour of group supervision, and participate in an hour of Grand Rounds/clinical triage. The remainder of the time is spent involved in psycho- educational outreach, conducting intake interviews, professional consultation, clinical documentation, report writing, and related administrative work. Our training program is best suited for graduate students interested in learning about clinical services in a private practice context and those who are interested in community-based clinical work with diverse populations, namely people struggling with depression, anxiety disorders, trauma, loss, personality dysfunction, and neurodevelopmental disorders. We specialize in LGBTQ issues across the lifespan and gender-affirming care and proudly serve members of the LGBTQ community. Opportunities exist to receive specialized training in mood disorders, ADHD, and learning disabilities. Students selected as externs must be able to work Fridays, one half-day on Saturdays, and one other day of the clinician’s choice. For training programs that abide by ACEPT, the students must abide by their rules.

There is more flexibility for graduate students enrolled in programs that use a rolling admission approach to matriculation in practicum/internship. In those cases, graduate student applicants can submit their materials more flexibly throughout the year. On-site or Zoom interviews will be scheduled for applicants whose credential review is strong. Previous students who have trained at Andersonville Behavioral Health have gone on to secure positions at competitive, APA- accredited and APPIC pre-doctoral internships and post- doctoral fellowships including positions at Madigan Army Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University Counseling Center, Ottawa Hospital, University of San Diego, Northern Illinois University, Jewish Child and Family Services, Hudson Valley VA Hospital, SUNY-Buffalo, University of South Florida, Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center, Fifth Avenue Center for Counseling and Psychotherapy, Cook County Juvenile Court, Hutchings Psychiatric Institute, the Institute for Living, and Kaiser Permanente.