Required Minor Rotations

An internship with Sanford Health prepares interns for doctoral-level independent practice in clinical psychology by providing interns exposure to various professional roles, treatment settings, and clinical acuities. All interns are required to participate in minor rotations during their internship year to gain training experience related to inpatient behavioral health, hospital consultation, rural behavioral health, and other specialized services offered in a robust integrated healthcare organization. Rotation schedules and placement details are pre-determined based on the intern’s Primary Site placement, as well as staff resources available during the training year.

Each rotation provides a unique learning experience that enhances the intern’s clinical, diagnostic, and assessment skills and knowledge. For each rotation, interns participate in treatment team meetings, site-specific didactic trainings, supplemental supervision, as well as other tasks that are delegated by the supervising psychologist. The following are brief descriptions of the rotation opportunities:

LGBTQ Focused Care – Moorhead, MN Clinic

The LGBTQ Focused Care Rotation, based within the Adult Behavioral Health Clinic at Sanford in Moorhead, MN, provides a unique opportunity to work with patients of all ages. This rotation will focus on evaluating and supporting gender and sexually diverse patients in pursuing their health needs in both urban and rural areas.  We will focus on evidence-based care and evaluation techniques that consider the needs of this population. Thus, both in-person and tele-video interventions will be a part of the experience. Interns will have the opportunity to observe the work of a psychologist with expertise in working with LGBTQ patients. Working with patients, families, loved ones, and community partners is a key part of this training. In addition to direct service, interns will have the opportunity to engage in a minimum of 20 hours of didactic training with significant opportunities for involvement in consultation conversations related to a variety of cases. Interns will be introduced to multi-disciplinary collaboration with applicable specialties. Supervision will be conducted via both individual and group modalities. Ethics and emerging issues in the field will be addressed, with lots of opportunity for interns to shape their own experience in this specialized care.

Adult Psychological Evaluation – Moorhead, MN Clinic

This minor rotation is based at the Sanford Behavioral Health Clinic and focuses on adult psychological evaluation. Referrals come primarily from within Sanford Health, including behavioral health, psychiatry, and primary care. Adult autism evaluation is a central focus of the rotation, including presentations in women and other high-masking people who are frequently missed or misunderstood in standard clinical settings. Beyond autism assessment, the rotation addresses diagnostic clarification across a range of referral concerns, including attention and executive functioning, learning, memory, mood and personality, OCD, and trauma. Gender-affirming and culturally responsive evaluation practice is woven throughout the rotation, with particular attention to LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse clients in collaboration with the LGBTQ-Focused Care minor rotation. Interns will move through the full evaluation process, from initial diagnostic interviewing and case conceptualization through test administration, interpretation, clinical feedback, and report writing.

Assessment measures that will be used in this rotation include, but are not limited to:

• Cognitive, attention, and executive functioning:
• Memory, visuospatial, and sensorimotor:
• Personality, mood, and adaptive behavior:
• Validity: Symptom validity tests (SVTs) within the broader battery