Doctoral Internships

Institute for Integrated Behavioral Health

Design Your Own Internship in

Addiction Medicine and Integrated Care

We are accepting 2 new doctoral psychology interns at East Tennessee State University’s College of Medicine for 2025-2026. You will train in a well-established, model program in integrated behavioral health serving patients in rural Appalachia. As part of a State of Tennessee grant program, you will learn about the interface of primary care and addiction/recovery and will have the opportunity to collaborate with faculty at the Addiction Science Center to support and develop programming in integrated primary care settings to address prevention and recovery. You can “design your own adventure” by selecting major and minor tracks to build an experience that will launch your career.  

Major Tracks:  Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Ob/Gyn, Addiction Medicine  
Minor Tracks: Research/Evaluation, Community-Based Recovery Programs, Programs for Incarcerated Individuals, Infectious Disease, Interprofessional Pediatric Assessment, Community Programs for Those Experiencing Homelessness, Sports Medicine. 

The Institute for Integrated Behavioral Health provides an evolved experience that focuses on developing your skills in leadership, community engagement, and working in a policy/advocacy role. Questions can be directed to Dr. Jodi Polaha, Director, Institute for Integrated Behavioral Health polaha@etsu.edu 

Major Tracks:

  • ADDICTION MEDICINE
    • Expand your expertise while extending services to patients with Substance Use Disorder and Behavioral Addictions by engaging with those in need (read: everybody) of BHC services in the Addiction Medicine Clinic, housed in the ETSU Department of Family Medicine Johnson City Clinic.  
    • Reap the benefits of working in an evidence-based, compassionate, energized and integrated environment with Board Certified Addictionologists, addiction medicine fellows, nurses, licensed social workers, and Certified Peer Recovery Specialists.  
    • Facilitate in person and virtual groups, individual therapy, couples’ counseling, and family counseling.  
    • Participate in ETSU's nationally recognized interprofessional education program.
    • Engage in leadership and development activities within the Internship and in coordination with the Addiction Science Center.  

    Track supervisor and Institute Faculty: Dr. Jodi Polaha, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Integrated Behaviorial Health; polaha@etsu.edu 

  • FAMILY MEDICINE
    • Bristol Family Medicine serves a rural, high needs, and medically complex patient population. Given the Family Medicine setting, BHCs gain experience training as true generalists working with a wide range of patient demographics ranging from infant to older adult, and a diverse array of presenting concerns, including traditional mental health symptoms, chronic health management, substance use treatment, smoking cessation, and health behavior change.  
    • Play a significant role in our Medication Assisted Treatment program providing behavioral health support and further developing our team-based care protocol for substance use treatment. We serve many patients, including pregnant women who seek treatment for opioid use disorder.  
    • Engage in program development targeting substance use screening in primary care and developing routine clinic pathways for screening and connecting patients to treatment. 
    • Hone skills in motivational interviewing for substance use concerns, including tobacco cessation, alcohol use, methamphetamine use, and opioid use. 
    • Gain experience working with a range of interprofessional health care professionals, including medical residents, nurses, clinical pharmacists, and social work team members.  Collaborate with other professionals through routine patient care and participate in focused treatment clinics, such as hospital follow-up visits, complex pharmacy consultation visits, and substance use treatment appointments.   
    • Train residents, medical students, and other interprofessional learners, participate in teaching behavioral health didactics and contribute to behavioral health education through clinical practice alongside team members. 
    • Engage in leadership and development activities in the ETSU Department of Family Medicine. 

     

    Track Supervisor and Institute Faculty, Dr. Alex Melkonian; melkonian@etsu.edu 

  • OBGYN
    • Provide generalist BHC services to one of two general OB/GYN clinics including low and high-risk obstetrics, general gynecology, hormone therapy for gender affirming treatment, and in-house MAT obstetrics clinic. 
    • Provide training for medical students, residents, and other interprofessional learners including opportunities for research activities. 
    • Engage in leadership and development activities including supporting the wellbeing of the interprofessional team in the ETSU Department of OB/GYN. 
    • Provide behavioral health services in the Perinatal SUD Clinic. This clinic engages with patients on buprenorphine for the treatment of OUD as well as other substance use disorders to assist patients in meeting their treatment goals and having healthy babies.  
    • Help lead the implementation of universal Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in OB/GYN. 
    • Provide a pathway and touchpoint for all patients who are using tobacco/nicotine during pregnancy to engage in motivational interviewing, health coaching, and coordination for nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as appropriate. 

    Track Supervisor and Institute Faculty, Dr. Jessica Turner; turnerjh@etsu.edu 

  • PEDIATRICS 
    • Grow as a pediatric focused clinician: Advance your generalist BHC skills by serving children, adolescents, and their families in pediatric primary care. Clinics are affiliated with ETSU and prioritize training the next generation of healthcare providers in state of the science practices. 
    • Lead substance use disorder education and treatment: Treat adolescents and parents with substance use problems via focused interventions in primary care. Engage in education and community outreach related to addiction with adolescent medicine physicians. Develop best practices for substance use screening and treatment in pediatric primary care. Opportunities may exist to work in a clinic serving both patients from pediatrics and OBGYN, or in a clinic with children born substance exposed.  
    • Grow as an educator: Train residents, medical students, and other interprofessional learners. Learn key “microteaching” skills to establish yourself as an effective clinical preceptor.  
    • Grow as a leader: Engage in leadership, advocacy and program development activities in the ETSU Department of Pediatrics with mentorship tailored to your needs and goals.  
    • Work in a warm and supportive environment where psychology is valued, and your training goals are prioritized. Opportunities for advanced training in behavioral, acceptance and commitment therapy, and cognitive behavioral approaches.  

    Track Supervisor and Institute Faculty, Dr. Matthew Tolliver; tolliverr@etsu.edu 


Minor Tracks:

  • RESEARCH/EVALUATION 
    • Conduct locally impactful research in coordination with several ongoing projects evaluating the PCBH model of integrated care.  
    • Facilitate SUD research with interprofessional teams in one of our major track offerings. 
    • Learn how to use data and stories to advocate for healthcare/integrated care to local and state government. 
    • Collaborate with national experts in recovery science at ETSU’s Addiction Science Center. 

    Direct questions to Institute Director, Dr. Jodi Polaha, polaha@etsu.edu 

  • COMMUNITY-BASED RECOVERY PROGRAMS 
    • Provide behavioral health services to individuals with substance use disorder in one of the community-based recovery programs in our region. ETSU Health is well-connected to a wide range of community-based recovery programs including treatment programs, recovery court, and recovery housing.  Specific programs can be determined based on Intern's interest and program availability.  

    Direct questions to Institute Director, Dr. Jodi Polaha, polaha@etsu.edu 



  • PROGRAMS FOR INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS  
    • Provide behavioral health services to incarcerated individuals in the Washington County jail, including those with substance use disorder. 
    • Work in close collaboration with facility staff and the medical team. 
    • Engage in program development and growth within this innovative and vital program. 
    • Gain supervision from a respected expert in mental health for incarcerated individuals. 

    Track Supervisor, Dr. Kelly Moore; mooreke2@etsu.edu 



Why ETSU? 

We provide an evolved experience that focuses on developing skills in leadership, community engagement, and working in a policy/advocacy role.  We don’t fit you to our needs – we fit our opportunities to your needs and you can mix and match the training tracks to design the adventure that will launch your career. 

Institute Faculty include research, policy, and health system innovators with strong track records in publishing, implementation and sustainment of novel programming, and local advocacy.  Our team has a servant-leader orientation, lives our values around work-life balance, and prioritizes a work culture of connection and support.