January 14, 2014

Two Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship positions in PTSD-SUD-Pain at the Jesse Brown VAMC

The Jesse Brown VA Medical Center Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is pleased to announce recruitment for two postdoctoral fellowship positions for the 2014-2015 training year.

Program Overview:
The Jesse Brown VAMC is recruiting two fellows for our 1-year postdoctoral program in psychology aimed at providing interprofessional education (IPE) in the treatment and assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder, pain, and substance use. Fellows develop competencies in clinically addressing these diagnoses individually, with reliance on empirically based practices (EBPs), with comorbidity among them being a particular emphasis. Multiple healthcare disciplines are leveraged to provide the fellows consultation and didactic experiences on these topics, and collaboration with non-psychologist healthcare providers is a focus of the training year. The goal of this program is to prepare fellows to emerge from the program fully prepared to independently practice in an interdisciplinary, collaborative care setting in the VA, with competencies of delivering services using a patient-centered approach.

Rotation Schedule:
Fellows are assigned to half-time clinical training within a PTSD-focused clinic across the training year. Moreover, fellows are expected to dedicate at least 4 hours per week throughout the year to delivering telehealth care to our affiliated community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) as part of this PTSD-focused training experience. The remainder of the fellows’ clinical activities are derived from experiences in the Pain Clinic and clinics focused on substance use disorders—viz., the Addictions Treatment Program (ATP), Drug Dependence Treatment Program (DDTC), and Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (SARRTP). Each of these two groups of rotations (pain and SUD) serves as a half-time rotation for a six-month period. However, given the extensive overlap between PTSD, SUD, and pain that exists at our facility, fellows will likely be assigned cases throughout the year that substantially reflect these comorbidities and require
 collaboration in all three types of clinics simultaneously. The rotation divisions are established to ensure that minimum amounts of time are reserved in each clinic for specialty-focused activities (e.g., training in Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure therapy in PTSD Clinic, pain assessments in Pain Clinic, and SUD-specific training experiences in SUD-related clinics), as well as to ensure that time is appropriately reserved for formal administrative activities on the official rotation.

Setting:
The Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center (JBVAMC) is located two miles west of the Loop, Chicago's central downtown district. It is part of Chicago's large Illinois Medical District, which also includes Cook County Hospital, Rush University Medical Center and the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center. JBVAMC serves the almost one million veterans who reside in its catchment area. Many veterans are eligible for VA health care because they are disabled or economically disadvantaged. JBVAMC is affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Approximately 250 medical residents and 300 medical students rotate through the medical center each year, receiving training in medicine, surgery, psychiatry, neurology, dentistry, radiology, orthopedics, and more. Additionally, students from nearby academic institutions receive training at the medical center in
 disciplines such as psychology, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and audiology.

Staff:
The Jesse Brown VAMC has 35 psychologists on staff with various areas of specialty. The director of training is Kenneth A. Lehman, Ph.D., and the Chief of Psychology is Mark J. Zerwic, Ph.D.

Start Date:
On or about September 1, 2014.

Stipend:
$46,287 (estimated)

Benefits:
Health insurance, 13 days paid vacation, all federal holidays, and up to 13 days of sick leave.

Application Procedure:
Applicants must be U.S. citizens who are candidates in (or have completed) an APA-accredited doctoral program in clinical or counseling psychology. They must have completed an APA-accredited internship program and earned their Ph.D. or Psy.D. prior to the start date of the fellowship.

To apply, please complete the following:
1. Cover letter outlining career goals and goodness of fit of our program.
2. A current curriculum vitae
3. Copies of official graduate transcripts to date—please note that if the doctoral degree has not yet been awarded, we will require an official transcript with awarding date before admission to the fellowship program
4. Three letters of recommendation, one of which must be from an internship supervisor, sent directly from the letter writers via electronic attachment
5. Letter from the internship director of training verifying that the applicant is in good standing with his or her program along with the applicant’s anticipated completion date of the internship

Applicants should send items 1-3 above as a single PDF to the director of training at kenneth.lehman@va.gov using the subject line “Fellowship Submission for [First and last name of applicant].” Applicants should have their letters (items 4-5) sent by their letter writers to the same email address using the subject line “Fellowship Letter for [First and last name of applicant].”

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. For full consideration, applicants should submit all of their materials by 1/26/14.

No comments:

Post a Comment