APPIC Internship Membership Types:
Full Membership & Provisional Membership
APPIC offers two categories of membership for doctoral psychology internship programs: Full Membership and Provisional Membership. Information below explains the differentiation between the two membership types, differences in the rights & benefits for Provisional Member Programs, and process for progressing from Provisional to Full Membership.
Provisional Membership vs. Full Membership:
Full Membership is designed for doctoral psychology internship programs that meet specified criteria and have a minimum of two interns currently on site and in training. Provisional Membership is a time-limited APPIC membership status intended for new and/or developing internship programs and non-member internship programs that intend to become Full APPIC members and meet specified criteria while having fewer than two interns on site.
APPIC Membership Criteria may be found here.
APPIC Provisional Membership Additional Information: Click Here
Provisional Membership Criteria are identical to Full Membership Criteria, with the exception that Provisional Membership does not require adherence to Full Membership Criterion #9, excerpted below, in italic:
- The internship agency has a minimum of two interns at the predoctoral level of training during any training year. These interns must be at least half-time (i.e., 20 hours per week). The minimum number of interns must be on site and in training at the time of the initial application for APPIC membership.
Internship programs may maintain Provisional Membership status for a maximum of three consecutive Match selection cycles (including the APPIC Match and/or PMVS). A site that becomes a Provisional Member in the midst of a selection cycle may elect to utilize their first year of eligibility and participate in the remaining components of that cycle or may choose to wait until the next selection cycle to use their first year of eligibility.
Internship programs that have not previously been APPIC members and that meet Full Membership Criteria (i.e., including having two interns on site and in training) should apply for Full Membership rather than Provisional Membership.
Membership Privileges & Benefits
A list of the products and services APPIC offers, along with the organization’s mission statement, can be found here: https://www.appic.org/About-APPIC/APPIC-Mission-Statement. Provisional Member programs enjoy all of the privileges and benefits of Full Membership (including access to the APPIC Match and Post Match Vacancy Service) with the following exceptions:
- Provisional Member programs do not have voting rights (e.g., for APPIC bylaws changes or board member elections).
- Training directors/training faculty of Provisional Member programs are not eligible for election to the APPIC Board of Directors unless the individual is otherwise affiliated with another APPIC-member training program (i.e., an APPIC-member Postdoctoral Fellowship) and therefore eligible through that mechanism.
- Provisional Member programs are not eligible to renew membership at the Provisional Member status after three consecutive Match cycles (see below).
Transitioning from Provisional Membership to Full Membership
A Provisional Member internship program is eligible to request transition to Full Membership once the program has at least two interns on site and in training (i.e., meets all APPIC Membership criteria, including criterion #9). Once a Provisional Member program has a cohort of at least two interns on site, and prior to the conclusion of the three consecutive Match cycle maximum, the program should notify APPIC Central Office and request transition to Full Membership.
Students who are placed at an internship site while the site is a Provisional Member will, upon completion, be deemed as having graduated from an APPIC-member program, even if the internship loses its membership status prior to the student's internship completion date.
APPIC Member Renewal Reviews for Unaccredited Internship Programs
Internship programs (both Full and Provisional Members) that are not accredited by the APA or CPA are required to undergo review by the APPIC Member Renewal Committee every 3 years or as requested by APPIC as needed. For unaccredited Provisional Member programs, the time frame for the three-year review will be determined by the date of Provisional Membership; the time frame of this review cycle does not “reset” if the program progresses to Full Membership.