Description
Integrated Care Family Health Service Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship:
FAMILY AND INTERNAL MEDICINE CONCENTRATION
Including training in
Integrated Primary/Specialty Care
Teaching Medical Students and Residents
Intensive training in Communication Coaching of Physicians
In a stimulating, interprofessional environment that is supportive of psychologists.
Join us in beautiful Rochester New York, the Home of the Biopsychosocial Approach to Medicine, and a Family/Relational Approach to Psychotherapy and Healthcare.
A Health Service Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship position is available in our Integrated Care Family (ICF) Track with a concentration in Family and Internal Medicine (FIM). This position is available within the Department of Psychiatry’s Division of Collaborative Care and Wellness. Our program is a one-year APA accredited program. Some trainees may wish to have additional training and with faculty agreement, remain for a second year.
ICF fellows can expect to receive specialized training in integrated care and family systems psychology, including medical family therapy, and medical education.
ICF fellows maintain a supervised clinical practice with emphasis on integrated primary care and family systems. The FIM fellow's time is divided between Highland Family Medicine (40%) and Highland Hospital (60%).
Highland Family Medicine is an off-site, urban, primary care clinic providing care to individuals from birth to late life. Here the FIM fellow provides behavioral health consultation and short-term (6-12 months) therapy to family medicine patients and families, many of whom are economically disadvantaged and/or from historically underserved populations with medical comorbidities. The FIM fellow works with patients presenting with common mental health disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, complex trauma) as well as those adjusting to acute or chronic illness, preparing them for generalist work in a primary care context. The FIM fellow engages in regular collaboration and consultation with medical professionals and serves a critical role in interdisciplinary team-based care. The FIM fellow also participates in interprofessional education and psychosocial teaching with Family Medicine residents.
Highland Hospital is a community-based hospital affiliated with the University of Rochester Medical Center. Here the FIM fellow serves as an educator to Internal Medicine residents and medical students, providing 1:1 coaching on general communication skills with focused attention to involving family members, integrating patient preferences into care, and building biopsychosocial conceptualizations of health and illness. The fellow engages in direct observation of patient encounters in the hospital and provides individualized feedback to each learner. The FIM fellow also facilitates group-based didactics focused on best practices in communication, wellness, and management of ethical dilemmas and participates in the planning committee for the hospital-wide ICARE Rounds on best practices navigating changes in the healthcare field and difficult patient experiences. There are additional opportunities for assessment, consultation, and brief family and individual treatment of acute stress reactions to illness or injury, depression and other mood disorders, and cognitive decline in primary care and inpatient settings.
Fellows in the IFC Track are also uniquely trained in the URMC Physician Communication Coaching model, preparing them to serve as consultants to medical clinicians to enhance the patient-family-physician relationship in inpatient hospital medicine and outpatient primary care settings. Coaches serve in interdisciplinary learning environments, providing direct observation and feedback to medical residents and students. This novel opportunity enhances ICF fellows' preparedness to work on integrated care teams. Specifically, ICF fellows will develop skills focused on: behavior change, medical education, best practices of feedback and supervision, difficult conversations, and the culture of various clinical learning environments. Through this work there is direct opportunity to explore the variety of educational, consultative and leadership roles psychologists have in interdisciplinary systems.
ICF fellows participate in coursework and professional seminars dedicated to expanding knowledge base and skill development for primary/specialty care psychology and medical family therapy principles. They may also have opportunity for supervised teaching and supervision experiences and often partner with Fellowship faculty working on ongoing scholarly projects, clinical quality improvements, and research.
The core values that guide our training program reflect our dedication to academic excellence, community connection, and appreciation of the unique contributions and lived experiences of every individual. Faculty and trainees are deeply committed to developing and maintaining awareness of their cultural lenses, and understanding the perceptions and perspectives of colleagues, trainees, and patients.
Our fellowship launches psychologists who are highly qualified for careers in patient care, medical education, and administration. Competitive candidates have interests and/or experience with health psychology, chronic and acute illness, integrated care, interprofessional teaching and medical education, and systems theory.
Requirements
REQUIRED: Successful completion of an APA accredited doctorate and APA accredited internship program in clinical, counseling, or school psychology.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Applications preferred by December 15th but will be accepted on a rolling basis until the positions are filled. Our program follows the APPIC guidelines and is accepting applications through APPACAS. Visit our “How to Apply” page on our website for more information:
