This training experience will NOT follow the APPIC Selection Standards with Common Hold Date (CHD) and may not allow applicants to hold offers until the CHD. Applicants may need to respond to an offer for this position prior to completing interviews or knowing their standing with other positions.
Stuart House, a program of the Rape Treatment Center (RTC), is internationally recognized as the model for treatment of sexually abused children. Stuart House was established in 1988 to remedy serious problems in the traditional child protection system and to enhance the treatment of child victims.
Stuart House was created through an exemplary public/private partnership that makes it possible to co-locate in a child-friendly setting, and onsite, multi-agency child protection team (law enforcement, prosecutors, DCFS workers, Child advocates, and forensic interview specialists) to respond immediately to children who report sexual abuse and to expedite investigations and child protection actions.
Stuart House fosters healing and resilience through comprehensive, evidence-based, psychotherapy services for child victims and their families to help them cope with the traumatic effects of sexual abuse and to prevent the well-documented, potentially long-term deleterious effects of untreated childhood victimization on a child's physical health, psychological health, and their development.
Stuart House serves individual of all cultural, ethnic, gender, and religious identities and orientations, and is committed to providing culturally appropriate, sensitive and respectful services.
Stuart House offers a one-year postdoctoral training program beginning September 14, 2026 and concluding September 13, 2027. This one-year fellowship is a full-time appointment in the clinical emphasis track and offers an anticipated salary of at least $74,880, plus a comprehensive package of benefits, including health insurance (which includes medical and vision care; see https://medschool.ucla.edu/gme/benefits-at-a-glance). Travel stipends will be considered and reviewed individually when fellows are presenting and representing Stuart House, at conferences. Additional training expenses will also be considered. Fellows receive 24 days of vacation, 14 University Holidays, and 12 days of sick leave per year.
During the fellowship year, postdoctoral fellows engage in the following clinical activities:
-Provide individual psychotherapy to children who are alleged victims of sexual abuse, and their family members, utilizing evidence-based approaches (e.g., Child Parent Psychotherapy, Attachment Regulation and Competency, Child Parent Psychotherapy, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).
-Conduct and supervise—child-focused, comprehensive, psychological evaluations/psycho-educational assessments at Stuart House, and complete corresponding integrated reports.
-Complete the 40-hour California certified sexual victim counselor training.
- Serve as a certified sexual assault victim counselor in the Rape Treatment Center’s 24-hour emergency clinic as part of their training, including telephone and in-person crisis intervention; and may include overnight or weekend shifts up to twice per month.
-Community outreach and program development, including a postdoctoral project aimed at broadening the scope of clinical services, research efforts, or community partnerships.
The postdoctoral program at Stuart House consists of professionally supervised, comprehensive clinical training experiences that include Fellows to carry a caseload of children, teens, adults, and families with weekly individual (at least 2 hours) and weekly group (approximately 3 hours) of supervision, to cover treatment planning, psychological testing, psychodiagnostic assessment, consultation, and professional development is also required. Fellows can expect that at least 65% of their time will be providing professional psychological services.
Fellows will be required to attend weekly 60-minute “Team” meetings to discuss cases and complex clinical issues that arise. Fellows will provide psychological assessment and will develop proficiency at administration, scoring, interpretation, integration, and write up of assessments. Fellows may also have the opportunity to conduct group interventions with either children or caregivers. Postdoctoral fellows will be officed at Stuart House, part of UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center. There is a free shuttle service that can be used for transportation to occasional meetings on the main campus of UCLA. Stuart House team members include licensed psychologists, child psychiatrists, social workers, and licensed marriage and family therapists. Fellows participate in consultation activities and may have the opportunity to attend IEP meetings at schools, or conduct school observations as appropriate for particular cases. Fellows have a primary supervisor who serves as a mentor. Fellows will have the responsibility of supervising psychology graduate students in clinical activities and psychological assessments, will receive supervision of their supervision, will have opportunities to present both to staff and to the community and may develop a small clinical program to coordinate and administer. Training on documentation and mental health service delivery regulations and guidelines is included as part of the fellowship. Fellows also attend monthly all-staff meetings, as well as in-service trainings at Stuart House. Fellows may have the opportunity to attend weekly UCLA Psychiatry and monthly UCLA Child Psychiatry Grand Rounds, biweekly lectures through the UCLA Stress Trauma and Resiliency program, and lectures at the Semel Institute and other related UCLA schools and departments. Clinical experiences at Stuart House are structured to build on the fellow’s existing skills and competencies preparing them for the independent practice of psychology upon licensure. In supervision fellows are introduced to literature and evidence-based treatment, which include theories of child development, attachment theory, and outcome studies. Fellows receive training in the legal processes and are involved in discussions about legal issues, and ethical dilemmas that may present when providing care to victims with complex presentations.
TRAINING GOALS AND OBJECTIVVES FOR THE POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP
The training goals of the postdoctoral fellowship at Stuart House include the following proficiencies being met by the completion of the training year.
- Competency in a range of child and family therapy interventions including trauma-specific clinical interventions, in addition to exposure to a variety of evidence-based intervention models.
- Facilitation of groups for children and/or caregivers on topics such as social skills, trauma, and other developmentally appropriate topics.
- Advanced level in Psycho-educational assessment (e.g., competency in a wide variety of children’s psychological assessments, academic achievement, learning and memory, adaptive skills, stress and coping skills, intellectual, and neuropsychological functioning).
-Professional collaborative work with the RTC and Stuart House staff.
-Advanced level of understanding pertaining to issues resulting from the complex trauma and subsequent needs of the children and families served by Stuart House.
- Advanced level of cultural humility, sensitivity, and responsiveness, in community mental health and work with children survivors of child sexual abuse.
- A comprehensive and advanced understanding of procedural and legal issues associated with child victims of sexual abuse and their families.
- Competence in the area of Supervision of externs in the performance of psychotherapy and psychological assessment.
- Research related to CSA (e.g., Postdoctoral project that may include chart review or new data collection efforts to inform presentations and/or publications).
More personalized goals may be developed with the postdoctoral fellow upon initiation of supervisory sessions depending on specific training interests, available resources, and career goals.