POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN CHILD PSYCHOLOGY
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Evaluation Team
•
Psychological Testing
•
Treatment •
Elective Rotations •
Supervision
•
•
Didactics
•
Application Procedures
and Deadline
•
The goal of the postdoctoral fellowship in child psychology
is to provide an intensive supervised clinical experience in the evaluation
and treatment of children and adolescents with a wide range of psychiatric
disorders. The intern's responsibilities include both initial intake evaluations,
psychotherapy as well as psychological testing. Specifically the
training experience includes the following:
1.
Evaluation Team:
The fellow spends six months on the child evaluation team that meets weekly
for approximately two hours during which time the intern interviews new
patients. The fellow' s supervisor sits in with the intern during the
initial session of the evaluation. The supervisor addresses issues of
interview techniques, clinical diagnosis and disposition planning.
2.
Psychological Testing: The postdoctoral
fellow is encouraged to participate in the psychological testing practicum.
This includes testing outpatients as well as child and adolescents who
are inpatients in the Children’s Day Hospital and small adolescent
unit at New York State Psychiatric Institute. The test batteries generally
include projective tests, tests of intellectual functioning and achievement,
as well as neuropsychological tests as warranted.
3.
Treatment: The fellow gains experience
in individual, group, parent training, and family therapy. Supervision
is provided from various orientations including psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral,
interpersonal and family systems. The fellow gains experience in long-term
and brief psychotherapy as well as crisis intervention. Medical back-up
is provided for those patients needing medication.
4.
Elective
Rotations: The psychotherapy
treatment experience is acquired through elective rotations and general
clinic rotations. The fellow selects 2-3 subspecialty clinics in which
to spend the year in addition to carrying 4 long-term psychotherapy cases.
Current elective rotations/clinics are as follows:
-
- - Disruptive
Disorders Clinic: The clinic offers specialized training in
the treatment of children and adolescents with attention deficit
disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder. The
fellow gains experience in behavioral treatments, parent training, and
the integration of psychopharmacology and psychosocial treatments.
-
- - Crisis
Intervention Service: This clinic serves children and adolescents
in two capacities: 1) as a crisis service for patients who are seen and
evaluated regarding suicidality, homicidality and need for hospitalization
and 2) a short-term crisis/brief therapy service which provides intensive
short-term therapy to suicidal. The fellow learns crisis intervention,
and brief cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques.
-
- - Children's
Anxiety and Depression Clinic : This clinic offers individual,
family and group psychotherapy for children and adolescents suffering
from an affective and/or anxiety disorder. The fellow would gain
exposure to brief treatments such as interpersonal psychotherapy
as well as psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral interventions.
-
- - Special
Needs Clinic : This clinic serves families in which the child
or adolescent is HIV seropositive or the offspring of a parent who
is HIV seropositive. The fellow has the opportunity to conduct individual,
group and family therapy in addition to psychological testing with the
children.
-
- - Pediatric Consultation/Liaison
: This hospital service addresses the psychiatric/ psychological
needs of chronically medically ill children and adolescents. The fellow
learns to consult on medical cases, provide individual and family therapy,
and work as part of a multidisciplinary team whose goal is to improve
the management and quality of life for children with complex medical illnesses.
-
- - School-based
Mental Health Clinic - This service occurs off-site in a local
elementary school serving kindergarten through 5 th grade children. The
mental health clinic is sponsored by Department of Child Psychiatry. Postdoctoral
fellows working on this service will spend one morning a week actually
working in the school. They will provide individual, family or group therapy
to children who have been identified as having difficulties in school
and at risk for more serious difficulties in the future. The postdoctoral
fellow also will provide consultation to the teaching staff on classroom
management of behavioral problems and the effects of emotional problems
on school performance.
5.
Supervision: Psychotherapy,
psychological testing, and evaluation supervision is provided by
the Department's senior psychology staff. The fellow receives approximately
6-8 hours of supervision per week.
6.
Didactics: The Fellow is invited
to attend any of the curriculum planned for the child psychology interns
and the child psychiatry clinical fellows (M.D.’s). In addition,
the fellow attends weekly Grand Rounds in Child Psychiatry, a weekly
case conference in Pediatric Psychiatry, and a six month course of techniques
of child psychotherapy.
7.
Application
Procedures and Deadline:
The Fellowship generally runs from July 1 to July
1. Only 1 position is available per year.
To apply, please send a current curriculum
vitae, three letters of recommendation, and a statement of interest in
doing the fellowship to:
Laura Mufson, Ph.D.
Director of Training in Child Psychology
New York State Psychiatric Institute
1051 Riverside Drive
Unit 24
New York, New York 10032
Deadline: Applications must be postmarked by
January 10, 2008
OPPORTUNITIES
