COUPLE AND FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: COUPLE AND FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS: The Family Institute at Northwestern University is accepting applications for our postdoctoral fellowship programs, which is one of the premiere couple and family training centers in the country. The goal of the program is to develop the next generation of leaders and innovators in couple and family psychology. The fellowships are two years in duration, and there are two available tracks. We accept three fellows in the clinical scholar track and one fellow in the research track each year. Applicants apply to one of the two tracks. Fellowship positions start on September 1, 2015. The fellowship will prepare doctoral level clinical or counseling psychologists from APA-accredited graduate programs and internships for professional careers in academic health science centers. Educational opportunities are varied and include grand rounds, journal club, clinical consultation groups, didactic seminars, and a professional development seminar. Fellows also receive funding for presenting at national conferences. At the conclusion of the fellowship, many fellows stay on to join The Family Institute at Northwestern University as full time staff and faculty members.

 

This fellowship endorses an integrative, scientist-practitioner orientation. Although therapy will always be a blend of science and art, our approach to therapy is based on the 21st century trend to ground practice in scientifically proven methods. To prepare our fellows for this growing trend, we teach them to be consumers of research and to know how to access and use this research with their own cases. Moreover, with the use of ipads and computers, we have developed a systemically informed, internet based system that provides therapists with real time, empirical data on how their patient system (individual, couple, or family) is progressing throughout treatment. Fellows receive specialized training and ongoing supervision in this model.

 

Clinical Scholar Track: The two-year general Clinical Scholar track includes advanced clinical training, education, and scholarly activities with opportunities for additional specialization in areas within child, couple, and family psychology. The ideal applicant will have a Ph.D. or Psy.D. in Clinical or Counseling Psychology as well as completed an APA approved internship. The candidate will also have an interest in children, couples, and/or families and is committed to a career that includes maintaining a clinical practice while also engaging in other professional activities such as scholarly writing, teaching, or administration. The Fellow will maintain a clinical practice including individual, couple and family modalities of therapy with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. Hours accumulated during the fellowship can be used toward licensure. The fellow also receives weekly individual and group supervision. Although receiving excellent, advanced clinical training is at the heart of the Clinical fellowship, each fellow is able to customize their fellowship with opportunities to publish, present at conferences, receive mentorship on writing reviews for academic journals, teach, provide clinical supervision to our Masters students in Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Psychology, engage in research, and receive mentorship in leadership and administration. Fellows are not required to engage in all of those activities, but rather are mentored on selecting activities consistent with their professional goals. 

 

Clinical Research Track: The Fellow will be part of the research program of the Institute’s Epstein Center for Psychotherapy Change. The fellow will work closely with Dr. Pinsof and Dr. Richard Zinbarg (the Chief Scientist of the Epstein Center and the Patricia Nielsen Research Chair at the Family Institute) in exploring and analyzing data from ongoing studies with the Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change—STIC®. The STIC, a multi-systemic and multi-dimensional online measurement and feedback system, assesses and tracks change in client systems and feeds these data back to therapists in real time throughout the course of therapy. Therapists share STIC data with clients to facilitate collaborative assessment, treatment planning and progress evaluation.  This Fellowship trains Fellows to become clinical and scientific leaders in family psychology/therapy and integrative, empirically informed and multi-systemic therapy.

Preferred applicants will have completed a Ph.D. (or Psy.D.) in clinical/counseling psychology, as well as an APA approved internship. We also accept applicants who have completed a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy. The applicant should have strong interests in psychotherapy research and family systems theory and therapy. Experience with feedback research and statistics (particularly multi-level longitudinal data analysis and/or item response theory and computer adaptive testing) is desirable. 

Application process and stipend: The fellow’s initial stipend for both fellowships is $42,000 plus benefits, which include access to Northwestern University’s library system, health insurance, and reimbursement for presenting at conferences.  For additional information about the application process both fellowships, please visit our website at: http://www.family-institute.org/academics-alumni/postgrad-fellowships. If you have any questions about either fellowship, please contact Anthony Chambers, Ph.D., ABPP, who is the Director of the Fellowship Program. Dr. Chambers can be reached at a-chambers@northwestern.edu.