Universal Psychology Postdoctoral Directory

Elements of quality clinically focused postdoctoral training

Adult Program Leadership

Program Director: Norah Simpson, PHD 

Associate Director: Janie Hong, PhD

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is a vibrant, multidisciplinary department dedicated to advancing science and integrating this foremost mission with those of clinical innovation, educational excellence, community engagement and commitment, and professionalism and leadership development. 

The Clinical Psychology Fellowship at Stanford serves as the culmination of training in psychology and is guided by the scientist-practitioner model. Residents are offered diverse clinical experiences in assessment and treatment utilizing evidence-based treatments, rich didactics based on current empirical literature, opportunities for scholarly inquiry, and supervision by Stanford faculty.

The mission of the Fellowship Program is to train highly skilled, ethical psychologists who contribute to the field of psychology through clinical work, research and/or education. 

For more detailed information: http://psychiatry.stanford.edu/education/post-doc-fellow/AdultPostdoc.html

Program Goals and Competencies

The primary goal of the program is to provide advanced training in the areas of clinical service, scholarly inquiry, professionalism, and ethical decision-making. The program design is based on seven core competencies, including: 

• Integration of Science and Practice
• Individual and Cultural Diversity
• Ethics and Legal Matters
• Theories and Methods of Diagnosis and Assessment
• Theories and Methods of Effective Psychotherapeutic Intervention
• Professional Conduct and Interpersonal Relationships
• Dissemination Beyond Clinical Care (research, supervision, teaching)

Clinical Training
The Clinical Psychology Fellowship Adult Program is designed to provide both breadth and depth of training, with opportunities for postdoctoral fellows to gain supervised training in the assessment and treatment of adults presenting with a wide variety of psychological disorders, while also allowing for focused training in specific areas of interest. 

The training offered within the Clinical Psychology program emphasizes evidence-based practice (EBP), focusing on research that informs and supports clinical interventions in our patient population. Postdoctoral fellows gain experience and receive supervision in case formulation and EBP, including, but not limited to: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure, Exposure and Response Prevention, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Couples and Family interventions. 

The fellowship is structured to provide fellows with a balance of direct clinical training, supervision, educational programming, and professional development opportunities; postdoctoral fellows spend 50% of their time, or 20 hours, in the provision of direct clinical service, with the remaining time comprised of supervision, didactics and non-direct clinical service. The training year is individually tailored to provide supervised training in general adult psychology, as well as in chosen areas of emphasis. Postdoctoral fellows receive intensive supervision, including a minimum of two hours of individual supervision per week, with many postdoctoral fellows receiving additional supervision. Postdoctoral fellows spend a minimum of six to eight hours a week in didactics and supervision. The balance of training activities allows postdoctoral fellows to gain supervised training in evidence-based practice and prepare them for autonomous practice. 

Didactics

Stanford University is a rich learning environment and, as such, fellows participate in many didactic opportunities throughout the year. Below is a list of general didactics offered through the fellowship: 

• Professional Development Seminar
• Ethics, Legal and Professional Issues
• Supervision Seminar
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Seminar 

Supervision

Fellows receive a minimum of four hours of structured learning activities each week, with a minimum of two hours of individual supervision. Supervision is primarily conducted by attending psychologists in the clinic or unit in which the fellow is seeing patients, and each fellow has a minimum of two different supervisors. 

Fellowship Duration

The Clinical Psychology Fellowship is a one-year position. It starts at the beginning of September and ends on August 31st the following year.

Adult Subspecialty Psychotherapy Track

The fellowships offered within the Adult Subspecialty Psychotherapy track within the Clinical Psychology Fellowship Adult program provide the opportunity for advanced, individualized clinical training in clinical psychology. During the year-long fellowship, fellows gain in-depth training in evidence-based assessments and treatments. Treatment may include individual, group, couples and family therapy. 

The Adult Subspecialty Psychotherapy track encompasses a range of specialty clinics that treat a wide spectrum of diagnoses and difficulties. Problems can include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and OCD related disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, substance use disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, borderline and other personality disorders, psychotic disorders and/or eating disorders. Fellows can also train in clinics that provide specialized clinical care for specific populations; these include high performance athletes and patients with diverse and marginalized identities. Fellows typically divide their time between two rotations. In each rotation, receive in-depth training within one subspecialty clinic. Approximately 50% of fellows’ patients are from their primary rotation clinic and 25% of their patients from their secondary rotation clinic. The remaining clinical time is devoted to generalist training. 

The Adult Subspecialty Psychotherapy track offers specialized psychotherapy training in the following clinics:  

• ADAPT Clinic: Mood and Anxiety Disorders
• ADAPT Clinic: OCD and OCD-related Disorders
• Stanford Sport Psychiatry and Psychology Program
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Clinic 
• Eating Disorders Clinic 
• INSPIRE Clinic: CBT for Psychosis 
• PTSD Clinic
• Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic 
• La Clinica Latina: focusing on treating Latin American and Hispanic identifying individuals
• SMHART Clinic: focusing on treatment of Asian-identifying individuals 
• THRIVE Clinic: focusing on treatment of LGBTQ+ identifying individuals 
• Couples and family therapy (limited opportunities) 

Fellows in the Adult Subspecialty Psychotherapy track will receive supervision from two departmental faculty, with one faculty member overseeing supervision of the fellow's primary or major emphasis area and a second faculty member overseeing secondary or minor area of emphasis and the generalist training. 

Additional Training: Research, Teaching, or Supervision

Postdoctoral fellows spend a half-day engaged in one of the following activities:

• Research under faculty mentorship
• Clinical teaching
• Supervision of clinical psychology graduate students at the Menlo Park VA under the supervision of licensed psychologists.