Right Column

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology

The Patton State Hospital Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology is an advanced training program for fellows with experience working with the severely mentally ill, who seek advanced therapy and clinical assessment opportunities in challenging and complex cases. Fellows also should desire some training and education about the legal issues involved in providing therapy and assessment services to forensically-committed individuals.

Due to the size, breadth, and setting of the facility as a large, state forensic hospital, the Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology provides a unique, advanced training experience for competent young psychologists to gain expertise working with this challenging population. Please note that the program is not intended to be a follow-up training year for young psychologists unsure of their skills after completing their internship year; rather it is designed to build upon a foundation of competent skill and experience working with the severely mentally ill to allow the fellow to gain expertise in the assessment and treatment of the criminally-committed, severely mentally ill.

Most fellows enter the fellowship upon completion of the pre-doctoral internship training year and conferral of the doctorate degree; in such cases the fellowship year would then satisfy the second year of two year experience requirement for licensure in many states. The fellowship is an intensive training experience, with the fellow typically dividing time between didactic seminars, supervision, consultation, and the provision of direct services to the population served.

Seminars:

• Advanced Clinical Seminar – This weekly seminar meets for the first half of the training year and is designed to provide theoretical and empirical underpinnings for advanced training in clinical psychology with the severely mentally ill. Fellows complete reading assignments and participate in discussion of the topics with the seminar leader.
  
• Advanced Psychotherapy Seminar – This weekly seminar meets for the second half of the training year. Topics generally involve theoretical psychotherapy approaches for working with persons with challenging mental illnesses and personality disorders.
  
• Case Conference Seminar – This weekly seminar is attended by the postdoctoral fellows from all three fellowship tracks. Cases are presented from the institutional and private practices of the seminar leaders, as well as from the work of the fellows themselves, in a forum where participants can critically analyze the procedures and conclusions from multiple perspectives. The types of cases presented vary to provide a broad-based experience for the seminar participants.
• Landmark Cases in Mental Health Law – While designed to be a seminar for fellows in forensic psychology, this seminar is available to the clinical fellows as well. This intensive seminar exposes fellows to the most important cases in mental health law. Fellows are expected to “brief” a pro rata share of the cases assigned and to teach those cases to their colleagues, under the guidance and supervision of the seminar leader. Through this seminar, fellows not only learn how to read and analyze legal opinions, but also to come understand the legal foundations for the commitments and issues of the legally-involved patients they will encounter throughout their careers.
  

Clinical Assessment:

Types of clinical evaluations typically include:

• Intellectual Assessment
• Personality Assessment
  • Objective Assessment
  • Projective Assessment
• Specialized Focused Assessment (e.g., trauma, basic cognitive functioning)
• Complex Behavioral Assessment

Psychotherapy:

A core aspect of the clinical psychology fellowship is the development of advanced psychotherapeutic skills and techniques. The fellows will provide individual psychotherapy to persons with complex presenting problems and generally have been resistant to prior psychotherapeutic interventions. Some of these cases will involve multiple sessions per week, while others will involve use of complex therapeutic techniques. The fellows will be supervised to the degree necessary to develop these skills while providing competent services to the individuals served. Group psychotherapy skills also are a focus of training, and the fellows will have opportunities to provide group therapy in various process groups involving a host of different topics.

Clinical Consultation:

The fellows will gain experience in providing consultative feedback to the treatment teams for the individuals evaluated and with whom they have worked. Usually this feedback will be directed to the psychologists and psychiatrists who requested the evaluations, but also the fellow may participate in the treatment team conferences of the individuals evaluated, to provide useful information for disposition decisions and treatment planning

More detailed information about the Postdoctoral Fellowship in Forensic Psychology is available in the brochure for the fellowship, which is included in the application materials.