Recent attention to gaps and inadequacies in U.S. community mental health systems has revived efforts to improve access and the quality of mental health care to underserved, diverse, rural, and seriously mentally ill populations. The importance of elements such as evidence-based practice importation, needs assessment and evaluation, and mental health care disparities in this effort calls for innovation and leadership from professional psychologists. Yet, psychologists have been diminishing in representation from public mental health settings, and there have been limited efforts to comprehensively define the competencies required of practice in the public psychology specialty. This article presents the unique functional and foundational competencies required of psychologists to lead a transformation in the public mental health system. These public psychology competencies provide a foundation for professional psychologists to meet the challenges of a changing public mental health services context and promulgate effective evidence-based community systems of care. With education and training efforts, exposure to the public psychology competencies established in this study can aid in the transition of more psychologists into the public sector.

National reports have illuminated problems within the public mental health system such as fragmented care for serious mental illness, mental health care disparities for underserved populations, a dearth of data-driven evidence-based practices, and inadequacies in policy and advocacy work (President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, 2003; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). Chu et al. (2012) established the public psychology competencies that would create the foundation needed for psychology leadership to assist in the transformation of the community mental health system. Yet, systematic doctoral-level training efforts in these competencies appear sparse. This article presents key components of a Public Psychology Doctoral Training Model that trains psychologists in the competencies needed for leadership in community mental health. Key components include the following: (a) a focus on public psychology foundational and functional competencies, (b) collaborative partnerships between academic, community, and county/state/federal entities, and (c) group case–method learning beyond the classroom. The Diversity and Community Mental Health (DCMH) emphasis area is presented as an example, and recommendations are provided for other doctoral programs endeavoring to establish similar programs.

In recent years, practicum training has become increasingly salient in professional psychology. External practica in particular play a large role in the early, formative experiences of students in training as professional psychologists. The results of this survey of coordinators of external practicum sites {N = 123) give a fresh perspective on how this important work is conducted, building on surveys conducted over 10 years ago, and on a related survey of practicum policies and practices in graduate programs (R. L. Hatcher, C. L. Grus, & E. H. Wise, 2011). The survey responses suggest that there are many strengths and positives in our current system of practicum training. Practicum coordinators value their role in training and report that graduate students bring significant benefits to the training setting. Practicum sites generally reported sufficient resources for conducting training and a good level of communication with graduate programs. Sites' training priorities closely match those of graduate programs in most respects, although offering less training in systematic use of research literature and assessment of outcomes. Very limited use of direct observation of student clinical work was also concerning, perhaps reflecting strain related to other priorities in real-world settings. External practicum sites lack any kind of professional organization, and the majority of site coordinators expressed interest in opportunities to share professional resources in order to enhance training. Overall, the results suggest that our current system of practicum training is characterized by significant strengths and a number of areas in which further growth and development are warranted.

Internship is a vital component of professional psychology training. This article describes a variety of internship structures that have developed outside the more traditional ones. Complex relationships with the academic program, specific elements of philosophy of training, emphasis on diversity and social responsibility, and responsiveness to changing demography in clients and students are noted. The authors suggest implications for the viability of a variety of internship structures, the content and methods of quality assurance within the context of competency evaluation, tailoring internships to the needs of students, and the issue of stipends and resources.

In the past 50 years, psychology has so heavily emphasized the full-time internship as the preeminent training model that it has often overlooked the benefits of half-time internships for educators, students, the profession, and the populations that psychologists serve. This article makes a case for the nearly forgotten half-time predoctoral internship. The history and context of the half-time internship, culminating in a recent national conference, is presented. The benefits to students, doctoral programs, and the community are described, as well as obstacles and solutions for their implementation. Implications for developing more half-time internships for psychology stakeholders are also discussed.