We will have 2 Postdoctoral fellowship positions for the 2026-2027 training year with a start date of 8/2/27. Please note this start date can be flexible if needed. One will be focused in health psychology and primary care integration (HP/PCMHI) while the other will be focused in PTSD. The fellow in HP/PCMHI will be involved in four primary areas of emphasis consisting of the Primary Mental Health Integration Clinic (PCMHI), primary care integration programs (smoking cessation, pain management, insomnia, weight management), specialty care integration (Palliative care, Hem-Onc Service, diabetes care), and specialty mental health care (outpatient psychotherapy, BHIP) while the fellow in PTSD will engage in intensive training in evidence-based assessment and treatment for Veterans diagnosed with PTSD related to any type of trauma. The PTSD fellow will also have the option to engage in clinical duties in another setting in our department depending upon clinical interest and training goals. These optional settings include general mental health (BHIP), PCMHI, Health Psychology, Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program for substance use disorders, and our inpatient psychiatry unit. Both fellows will complete a program development or quality improvement project. A more detailed description of these opportunities are described below. Those that are starred are required for the fellow in HP/PCMHI.
*PCMHI: Fellows provide assessment and short-term psychotherapy in the PCMHI Clinic which is located in the Primary Care Service. In this year-long rotation fellows learn to conduct brief, problem-focused assessments and brief psychotherapy. Patients come to this walk-in mental health clinic from primary and specialty care medicine for drop-in access to mental health services. Patients are seen by both a therapist, who conducts a brief psychosocial assessment and a medication provider who conducts a brief, biopsychosocial assessment. Therapists and medication providers consult with each other and the patient and make treatment recommendations including referrals for psychotherapy, trials of medication, hospitalization, and referral to support groups. In this setting postdoctoral fellows learn to consult with both psychiatric medication providers as well as primary care physicians about each patient seen in the clinic. If a fellow has an interest in working specifically with women veterans, it is possible to have a PCMHI shift in the women's primary care clinic. Fellows will also have an opportunity to supervise a practicum student training in the PCMHI clinic and will receive tiered supervision with their PCMHI supervisor.
*Primary Care Integration: Fellows work closely with the mental health team in primary care to implement and expand mental health programs in the primary care service. Fellows provide behavioral health care (health promotion and disease management strategies) as well as providing care through an open access clinic for primary care patients as well as consultation to medical providers. These programs include evidenced-based individual and group interventions for hypertension, and lifestyle change/weight loss, smoking cessation, pain management and insomnia programs.
*Specialty Care Integration: Fellows work with the Palliative Care and Hemotology-Oncology Service to provide care to patients with a serious and terminal illness and cancer diagnoses and with the team providing diabetes shared medical visits. When working with the palliative care, oncology or diabetes teams the fellow provides consultation, short-term psychotherapy, co-facilitates support groups and participate in multidisciplinary treatment team meetings.
*Specialty Mental Health Care Outpatient Psychotherapy: Fellows work in the general outpatient mental health clinic or Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program Team-Based Care (BHIP) and carry a caseload of outpatients seen weekly in either short-term or long-term psychotherapy. Fellows are supervised in the practice of short-term and long-term psychotherapy from a theoretically integrated perspective utilizing EBP’s where appropriate. In this clinic a holistic, recovery-oriented approach to care is taken so fellows work closely with medication providers (nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, and psychiatrists), social workers (homeless veteran coordinator, RRC, case management) as well as collaborating with primary and specialty care physicians.
*Health Psychology: Fellows work with the health psychology team utilizing short-term, evidence-based treatment approaches for referrals such as coping with chronic disease, chronic pain and insomnia. Fellows will be trained in and utilize CBT-CP, CBT-I, ACT-CP and others. Fellows can also attend weekly team huddles, conduct behavioral health evaluations for organ transplant and other surgical procedures such as bariatric surgery, spinal cord stimulators, and cochlear implants, run health-focused groups like Sleep 101 and Pain 101/Rehab, participate in MOVE! weight management groups, and facilitate groups such as PST, CBT-CP and ACT in the RRC or our inpatient mental health unit. Fellows often co-facilitate these groups with practicum students and provides an opportunity for a tiered supervision experience.
PTSD Clinical Team: (Required for PTSD fellow) Fellows work in the PCT which prioritizes the use of evidence-based psychotherapies to target and reduce symptoms of PTSD. Among these gold-standard treatments are Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), and Written Exposure Therapy (WET). Fellows will have an opportunity conduct assessments such as the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5) and to learn/advance skill in evidence-based treatments with patients with PTSD. They will also co-facilitate the Seeking Safety Group with a psychology intern in a tiered supervision experience and may have opportunities to provide tiered supervision to a practicum student through other groups in the RRC or our inpatient unit or the practicum student's BHIP individual clinic.
Program Development/Quality Improvement Project: All fellows design a program development or quality improvement project in one of their practice areas. Fellows use this method to evaluate the quality of improvements to treatment as usual. In addition to developing research skills, this project reinforces an empirical approach to the delivery of services.
Seminars and Case Conferences: Fellows attend their respective team meetings, PCT or PCMHI/Health Psychology which focus on clinical issues, referrals, and clinic flow. Fellows may also participate in the Trainee Didactic Seminar Series which focuses on clinical topics and the HP Fellow will attend the HP Didactic Series. Fellows attend the Department Grand Rounds weekly. Staff members, psychiatry residents, and interns present and lead a discussion. There is also a journal club presented by the National Center for PTSD which meets weekly. The PTSD fellow is required to present in this journal club at least once during the training year. This journal club is optional for the HP/PCMHI fellow.
