Each year, Mississippi State Hospital provides about 1,600 Mississippians with quality mental health services. MSH provides psychological services to the following populations: child, adolescent, adult (acute and continued care), forensically-involved patients, and patients dealing with substance abuse. Additionally, MSH's campus houses community nursing homes, an inpatient medical-surgical hospital, laboratory/radiology department, and pharmacy. Patients at MSH are engaged in tailored therapeutic programming including psychosocial, educational, and rehabilitative treatment activities provided by nursing, psychiatry, social services, and recreation therapy. Ambulatory services including neurology, ECT, and occupational/physical therapy are also provided.

Due to the wide variety of services, MSH provides a rich learning environment where psychology interns will have the unique opportunity to care not only for patients with common psychological disorders, but also patients with rare and unique disorders that most interns will only read about. As one of only a few state hospitals that still provide full life-span care, the treatment experiences at MSH are virtually limitless. Whether your preferred population is aged 9 or 90, we are able to provide training experiences that will increase your professional development.

Our Training Department is dedicated to helping interns feel well-equipped prior to treating patients. The first three weeks of internship are devoted to general MSH orientation, Behavioral Health Services Department orientation, and a discussion of all available rotations. During this time, interns will undergo our “Internship ABCs” (Assessment of Baseline Competencies) through which their initial clinical competencies (individual intake/therapeutic skills, assessment, and oral board skills) are assessed via a series of experiential exercises. “Meet & Greet” events and meetings with individual supervisors (by request) are also scheduled to assist interns with determining rotation preferences. Intern rotation assignments are determined jointly by the Training Director and the intern based on intern request, training needs, and available program resources. Some rotations may be subject to limited availability, but it is typically possible to grant all rotation requests, or service area experiences, during the internship year. By the end of the orientation period interns will have requested their first rotation and will be expected to have tentatively identified their second and third rotation preferences, with the understanding that their interests may evolve and rotation availability may change as the year progresses.