Psychology internships at PHC
A clinical placement for BS, MSc and MPhil psychology students at the Psychological Help Centre, Karachi — real casework, real assessments, supervised throughout. Placement is competitive.
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Who this page is for
You are a psychology student, or you are about to be one, and what you want is the thing your degree cannot give you: hours in a working clinic, with real people, doing work that matters to somebody. This page is for you, not for patients. If you are looking for an appointment, booking an appointment is the page you want.
What this is
PHC's internship programme places psychology students in a working clinical environment under the supervision of experienced psychologists. Interns are involved in real casework, assessments and therapeutic support across a range of presentations — which, in a practice that works with thirty presentations across children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, means a range rather than one clinician's speciality.
The programme is open to BS, MSc and MPhil psychology students, and placement is competitive.
Three sentences from PHC's own description are worth repeating rather than paraphrasing, because they set the expectation correctly: PHC does not offer internships as a formality. Interns work to the same professional and ethical standards as the rest of the team. And they are supervised — the practice's founder is an HEC-approved supervisor and supervision is something PHC does as a service in its own right, not an afterthought bolted onto a placement.
What it is not. It is not observation from the back of a room. It is not a certificate you collect at the end of a fortnight. It is not a qualification — a placement is experience and a record of it, and the qualification is your university's business. And it is not guaranteed: competitive means competitive, and more people apply than there are places.
What you would actually do
Real casework, assessments and therapeutic support, under supervision, alongside the clinical team. In practice that means the unglamorous parts too — the report that has to be written properly, the file that has to be accurate, the session you sat in on that you are still thinking about three days later. That is the part of clinical work a degree cannot simulate and it is the reason a placement is worth competing for.
What it does not mean is carrying a caseload of your own. An intern is not a treating clinician, and at no point is a client's care handed to somebody who is still training.
Who it is for, and who it is not for
It is for BS, MSc and MPhil psychology students who want clinical exposure in a working practice and are willing to be held to professional standards while they get it.
It is not for qualified professionals or for MPhil and PhD students who need supervised hours signed off against a programme requirement — that is clinical supervision, which is a different service with a different structure and a different audience. If you are not sure which of the two you need, say what you are studying and what your programme requires and we will tell you.
What we cannot tell you on this page, and will tell you directly
Intake dates, how long a placement runs, how many places there are, when applications close, how to apply, and whether a placement is paid, unpaid or fee-bearing.
None of that is published here, because publishing a guess about someone's year would be worse than publishing nothing. Write to us and you will get the real answer.
If you are a client and you have found this page
A fair question, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a line in a policy document. Interns at PHC work under the supervision of experienced psychologists, to the same professional and ethical standards as the rest of the team, and an intern does not replace your psychologist. If an intern would be involved in your care in any way, that is something you are entitled to ask about — and to decline.
Who supervises
PHC was founded in 2009 by Prof. Dr Tahira Yousaf, PhD — an HEC-approved supervisor who has supervised postgraduate work at MPhil and PhD level for over twenty years. Every psychologist on the team holds a minimum postgraduate qualification in clinical psychology and completed over 800 supervised clinical hours before joining, which is worth knowing for a reason beyond reassurance: it is the standard you would be working towards, and it is the standard the people around you already meet. You can read every psychologist's credentials on the team page.
Questions people ask first
I am a BS student. Am I too early?
No. BS students are explicitly part of who the programme is open to. What matters more than the year you are in is whether you are prepared to work to professional standards while you are there.
Is placement guaranteed if I apply?
No, and we would rather say so on the page than in a rejection email. Placement is competitive, and PHC's own description says the programme is not offered as a formality.
Will I see clients?
Interns are involved in real casework, assessments and therapeutic support, under supervision. What that looks like week to week depends on the placement and on where you are in your training, and it is a conversation to have with us rather than a promise to make on a website.
Can I do a placement from outside Karachi?
Ask us. PHC runs clinical work online across Pakistan and internationally, but a clinical placement is largely about being in the building, so this is a real question rather than a formality — write to us with where you are and what your programme requires.
Where it runs
PHC PECHS. Plot 59A, Street 1 Rd, Shaheed-e-Millat Rohail Khand Society, Karachi 74800. Monday to Saturday, 10am to 8pm PKT. More about the branch → PHC's PECHS clinic.
Starting a conversation
Write to us at [email protected], or call or WhatsApp 0333 3736938, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 8pm PKT. A real person answers.
Tell us four things and we can answer properly
- Who you are and where you are studying
- What you are studying and which year you are in
- What your programme requires of a placement, if anything
- When you would be available
If what you need is supervised hours signed off against a postgraduate requirement rather than a placement, clinical supervision is the other page.
Students and practising professionals
Enquiries about clinical supervision or about an internship placement go to our contact page rather than to the booking page — you are not booking a session. Tell us your degree, your stage and what you are looking for.
If you are looking for an appointment rather than a placement or supervision, booking an appointment is the page you want.