The Wendt Center for Loss and Healing is committed to educating future mental health professionals in the specialization of grief and trauma-focused work. Our internship operates during the traditional academic year (starting the last week of August through the last week of April) and is open to second year graduate students in the mental health field. Due to the extensive training associated with trauma and grief-focused work, we are currently unable to accommodate students who require internships outside of the traditional academic year (e.g. mid-year start dates, summer only internship, etc).
We cannot accept mid-year or summer starts.
Currently, we are not able to offer funding for this internship, though we continue to seek grant opportunities for the organization. We believe in equitable access to internship opportunities and encourage you to pursue external funding sources. While we cannot provide stipends, we do offer weekly in-service trainings facilitated by licensed Wendt Center therapists at no cost to interns—an educational benefit valued at approximately $3,900 by the end of the internship year.
The 2026-2027 Internship Application is available below. If you have questions or experience technical errors, please use the contact us form.
Wendt Center Internship Details and Application
The Wendt Center for Loss and Healing is a nonprofit mental health agency dedicated to reducing barriers to high-quality trauma- and grief-focused therapy. Our internship is multi-program, meaning each intern is placed across several Center programs (e.g., Outpatient Therapy, School-Based Counseling, Family-Based Counseling). This structure exposes interns to diverse clinical perspectives, treatment models, and service environments where effective trauma and grief therapy takes place. Interns receive weekly in-service trainings led by experienced Wendt Center clinicians on topics central to trauma- and grief-focused psychotherapy. They also benefit from ongoing clinical development through weekly individual supervision and monthly peer supervision and case consultation.
Please see the program descriptions below to better understand how interns participate in these services.
The Wendt Center Outpatient Counseling Program
Our office-based counseling and teletherapy program provides individual and group trauma- and grief-focused therapy for clients ages 5 and up who are experiencing trauma, loss, terminal illness, or death. We offer teletherapy appointments during daytime and evening hours Monday–Friday, and in-person appointments on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Interns assigned to office-based work will gain experience providing both remote and, when possible, in-person services to individuals and groups. While we offer sessions throughout the day, the highest demand is between 4–8 PM Monday–Thursday; interns available during these hours are most likely to maintain a consistent caseload.
Resilient Scholars Project: School Based
The RSP-School Based (RSP-SB) program is a community-based program; therapy services take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, approximately 8:00am-4:00pm, at designated school sites throughout the District of Columbia. Interns will be paired with a clinician and work with students (elementary through high school) both individually and in group settings. The RSP-SB program attempts to reduce barriers to access to services by supporting students in their school environment, and interns will be offered a variety of learning opportunities as part of this program.
Resilient Scholars Project: Family Based
The Wendt Resilient Scholars Project – Family Services Program (RSP-FB) addresses barriers to mental health care faced by at-risk children and adolescents in Washington, DC, by providing access to evidence-based, trauma-informed family treatment services. Therapy services take place primarily on weekday evenings (3pm-7pm) and are mostly remote via teletherapy. Interns will be paired with a clinician and work with families who have experienced a traumatic event in their lives. Interns will be trained in TA-FC (Trauma Adapted Family Connection), an evidence-based model. There will be opportunities for interns to administer assessments, shadow and lead family sessions and meet with family members for individual sessions.
Voices of Now
Voices of Now (VON) is a community-based program that meets weekly beginning in January and culminating in mid-May. This program is a collaboration between the Wendt Center and the Arena Stage Outreach and Education department. Interns will work side by side with a grief therapist and Arena Stage teaching artists. This program is a theater-based program which invites young people to explore life issues and experiences and ultimately create a script that is performed at the Voices of Now festival and the Wendt Center grief forum in May. Interns will work directly with caregivers, teaching artists and student artists. Intern will participate in all theater exercises, opening rituals, group engagement and post session process discussions.
**Commitment to this program might extend past your final day of classes and internship.
It is strongly recommended to view past Voices of Now videos to best understand a final production created by an ensemble:
2022- Time Stamp: https://vimeo.com/718417831
2021: Road Map: https://youtu.be/rLpl0ocSoGs
2013: Present Tense https://vimeo.com/66760952
Internship Document Uploads
Please make sure to complete the Internship Application above PRIOR to submitting any documents. Remember that all documents must be in by March 13, 2026 for your application to be considered.
Please make sure to carefully review all the details in the menu above by clicking the plus sign. Once you are confident you are interested in applying, please begin your application.