Internship: A Unique Setting for Training Psychologies
Known since the seventies as "Central New Hampshire Community Mental Health Services, Inc." (CNHCMHS), the agency changed its name late in 1995 to "Riverbend Community Mental Health, Inc.," after one of its larger and most recognized clinic names, "Riverbend." (The city of Concord, New Hampshire, is situated by a dramatic bend in the Merrimack River.)
Riverbend Community Mental Health serves a population of 140,000 in the Capitol District/Merrimack County region of New Hampshire. Starting as an outpatient clinic in Concord in 1963 with a professional staff of two, in its 42nd year, Riverbend has a staff of 300 and serves more than 7,000 individuals annually from a dozen different sites.
Riverbend's mission is to offer responsive accessible and effective mental health services in partnership with the community so that families and individuals at all stages of life can achieve and sustain health and wellness. Our services address a wide range of mental health needs. We serve people with severe and persistent mental illness. We serve anyone experiencing emotional and life crises. We serve individuals, couples, and families coping with the everyday stresses of modern life. We serve children and youth with severe emotional disturbances. And we serve those whose jobs involve helping other people: physicians, police, teachers, and human service professionals. Riverbend provides comprehensive mental health services including:
Every year in central New Hampshire, more than 7,000 individuals and families receive services from Riverbend Community Mental Health, one of New Hampshire’s ten regional community mental health centers. The system's primary charter is to provide services and support to persons with severe and persistent mental illness, including children with severe emotional disturbances. Riverbend contracts with the State of New Hampshire to provide those services within our geographic area. Client fees, health insurers, HMO’s, foundation grants, individual contributions and funding from the United Way, support Riverbend’s services to other populations.
Riverbend Community Mental Health, Inc., is a private, not-for-profit organization governed by a volunteer board of directors. It is affiliated with Capital Region Health Care, Inc., a non-profit health care corporation which includes several major agencies in our area, including Concord Hospital, our local community hospital.
History of the Psychology Internship Program
The Graduate Intern Program was begun in 1979 and trained more than 100 psychologists, clinical social workers and mental health counselors in a highly structured, intensively supervised half-time practicum and internship setting. In 1992, recognizing the need for more extensive and systematic training, and in coordination with APA criteria, Riverbend launched a separate and formal full-time internship for psychologists: the Internship Program in Professional Psychology (IPPP). The IPPP was granted provisional APA accreditation at the Accreditation Committee's October 1993 meeting. It was effective as of the June 1993 APA-Accreditation Site Visit. In 1996, the IPPP was granted full Accreditation through 2001. Our most recent site visit was in May of 2006, and we were granted full five-year re-accreditation in November 2006.
The APA Committee on Accreditation may be contacted at the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation at (202) 336-5979.