The MSH Behavioral Health Services (BHS) Department offers a doctoral internship for eligible persons from Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychology programs who desire extensive experience with inpatient populations. As a training facility, MSH welcomed its first internship class in August 1998. Our first APA site visit was conducted in May 1999, and the MSH Internship was accredited by the Commission on Accreditation (CoA) of the American Psychological Association at the July 1999 APA-CoA meeting. We have completed our fifth reaccreditation self-study and are awaiting our site visit.

Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) is a publicly funded behavioral health and nursing home facility, located approximately 15 miles from the state capital of Jackson, in Whitfield, Mississippi. Nestled on a 350-acre campus amidst hundreds of pine and oak trees, MSH is the largest facility owned and operated by the Mississippi Department of Mental Health (DMH), employing over 900 individuals, and operating over 250 licensed psychiatric and 200+ licensed nursing home beds. The hospital currently employs licensed and license-eligible psychologists, doctoral and master’s-level counselors, peer support specialists, and numerous Behavioral Health Services (BHS) Department support employees across a wide range of services and specializations. MSH is a diverse regional facility that offers modern psychiatric treatment to the 1300+ patients served each year. Most patients are involuntarily committed to MSH, and treatment is provided to children, adolescents, and adults. Continuity of care is the goal, which is sought through close working relationships with the state’s regional hospitals, community mental health centers, and other community agencies. An important community resource is Jaquith Nursing Home, which is located on the MSH campus, and which provides a wide range of psychiatric and behavioral health services for those individuals. In addition, training opportunities may be available at our sister facility, Hudspeth Regional Center, which is one of five state operated comprehensive regional programs for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This facility is conveniently located across the street from MSH.

Consistent with the hospital’s goal of providing the highest quality patient care, MSH has maintained full accreditation by The Joint Commission for all service units, since December 2000. MSH provides an array of interdisciplinary-driven inpatient treatment services for patients across the lifespan. Service areas include the Female and Male Receiving Services, Forensic Service, Substance Use Service, Whitfield Medical-Surgical Hospital (WMSH), Child and Adolescent Service (psychiatric and substance use), and Continued Treatment Service.