The fellowship program has two tracks with one fellow position in each track. One track focuses on Adult Intensive Services (SPMI) and the other track focused on International Immigrant and Refugee populations. Please see the brochure for full track and program descriptions.
The Adult Intensive Track consists of two programs: CLP and AICC-A. The fellow's time is split between each program 50/50.
Community Living Program (CLP). Clients receiving services in this program tend to carry a diagnosis of a major mental illness, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and borderline personality disorder. The CLP serves clients who are at high risk of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and through intensive services supports clients to stabilize within the community and to engage in outpatient therapy for their recovery. This intensive outpatient program is available for clients needing several hours of group therapy per week, as well as frequent individual therapy. The Fellow works within a multidisciplinary team that includes behavioral health therapists, medication management, a peer support specialist, a representative payee, recreation therapy. Interested Fellows may have the opportunity to be trained in a competency restoration model and receive supervision in implementation of this model with clients who meet program criteria.
Autism & I/DD Counseling Center - Adults (AICC-A). This program provides outpatient-level mental health treatment to adult clients with a developmental disability, such as an intellectual disability, autism diagnosis, or Down syndrome, who also have a co-morbid mental illness. Treatment is specialized and adapted to meet the needs of individuals with a developmental disability to assist with managing mental health symptoms. AICC-A is a multidisciplinary program that incorporates case management, vocational support, recreational therapy, socialization support, crisis drop-in and intervention, individual and group therapy services, payeeship to manage finances, psychoeducation, and medication management. All the aspects of care may be used to support recovery and strengthen independent living skills and overall functioning. The Fellow will have the opportunity to provide individual and group therapy while learning how to modify and adapt interventions to this specialized population.
The International Immigrant and Refugee Track fellow will be placed within the Cultural Development and Wellness Center (CDWC) which is comprised of two previously separate clinics, the Asian Pacific Clinic (APC) and the Immigrant and Refugee Clinic.
This CDWC is focused on providing accessible, trauma-informed, person-centered, culturally responsive care to immigrants and refugees in Colorado. There is opportunity to serve adult, teen, and child clients from around the world. The CDWC is currently split between two separate locations, with hopes of combining into one building location in the future. The CDWC uses a holistic approach to address the total wellbeing and empowerment of individuals, families, and communities. Fellows have the opportunity to be part of multidisciplinary teams that include psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, case managers, health navigators, and community outreach workers. Health navigators are from the primary countries of origin of the clients served and are central to providing linguistically and culturally tailored client care. These teams are committed to inclusivity across refugee and immigrant populations and seek to be responsive to changing migration landscapes, as impacted by world events. Over 23 different languages are spoken by COE staff and several of these include Spanish, Dari, Farsi, Swahili, Arabic, Burmese, Karen, Nepali, Urdu, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, and Pashto.
Fellows provide a variety of services to clients who present with a wide range of mental health issues from brief, transitory conditions to more acute and chronic psychiatric symptoms and disorders. Fellows learn how to tailor their interventions to address the needs of refugee and immigrant status clients. Issues involving cultural adjustment, such as language, values, customs and behavioral differences, are often intimately associated with the client’s presenting problem. Services that Fellows provide at the CDWC include intake evaluations, psychotherapy (individual, group, family and couples) across the lifespan, case management, psychosocial skills training/wellness groups, home visits, community outreach/education, and refugee mental health screenings. There are opportunities for screening or evaluating clients using culturally and language sensitive assessment instruments, and for performing evaluations specific to refugees seeking citizenship.
