Skip to main content

Appointments:1-888-884-BEAR (2327)

Children's National Hospital logoChildren's National Hospital logoChildren's National Hospital logoChildren's National Hospital logo

Psychology Externship Program

Children’s National Hospital is the pediatric teaching hospital for the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Psychologists at Children’s National hold academic appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Pediatrics at the medical school. Children’s National offers a variety of training programs in various medical specialties, all of which are overseen by the medical staff. The Division of Psychology conducts postdoctoral, internship and practicum-level training for psychology students.

Psychology and Behavioral Health — led by Randi Streisand, PhD — is a division within the Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine Center, which is directed by neurologist Roger Packer, PhD. Other divisions in this center include Neuropsychology, Psychiatry, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Developmental Pediatrics, Genetics and Metabolism, Hearing and Speech and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. This Center for Excellence structure was designed to stimulate multidisciplinary collaboration, in terms of both patient care and research, among disciplines and specialties with common interests. 

Psychology Externship Opportunities 

Children’s National offers several externship experiences in child clinical and pediatric psychology to students enrolled in doctoral programs in psychology. Applications may be submitted electronically or in paper form and individual supervisors will indicate their preference in the descriptions below. Due to the high volume of calls received in the past, we request that you don't call to confirm the status of your application. 

Interested applicants should complete this survey one time, regardless of how many externships you are applying for.

Applications for our next round of externships are due Feb. 1, 2026.

Eligible candidates are encouraged to apply to one of the following externships:

Psychology and Behavioral Health Extern Didactics Series

Extern group didactics are offered twice a month, typically midday (12-1 p.m.) on Zoom. Didactics are frequently lectures with some opportunities for experiential learning from students. For some talks, trainees at all levels are invited including those in our APA-accredited internship, postdoctoral fellows, as well as externs. Didactic speakers are local leaders, faculty and postdoctoral fellows in the psychology training program.

Didactic topics are selected for relevance to externs and changes year-to-year, and all talks are recorded to permit externs to view asynchronously if they cannot participate live. Specific didactics are subject to availability year-to-year. 

Spanish Training Emphasis Program (STEP)

The Spanish Training Emphasis Program’s (STEP) mission is to address mental health disparities for Latinx children, adolescents, young adults and their families by increasing the availability of bilingual psychologists who are trained in the provision of bilingual, culturally competent therapy and assessment services. When available, trainees may participate in activities such as didactic sessions on multicultural competency, process groups in Spanish and opportunities for direct service provision and supervision to Spanish-preferring families. STEP also seeks to expand access to Spanish-language resources and offers optional advocacy and program development opportunities in the DMV region. Participation and programming depends on trainee schedules, faculty availability and program capacity.