Postdoctoral Fellowship Training Rotations

Fellows will elect foci for their year of training.  Rotations are for 6 months, and each fellow will select a single major and minor rotation for each half-year.  While the rotations are designed as emphases for each 6-month period, it is not the intention that they be rigid.  Thus, a fellow who elects to spend her first major rotation in an adult individual psychotherapy with a minor rotation in older adult services could see some youth therapy clients during that half-year, as an example.

  • Adult Individual Psychotherapy rotations, available as a major or minor rotation, emphasize practice and skill acquisition for adults 18-64 with a variety of presenting concerns.  It is anticipated that the fellow would have a mix of demographic variables, with some cases potentially continuing throughout the training year.

 

  • Youth Individual Psychotherapy rotations, available as a major or minor rotation, emphasize practice and skill acquisition for children and adolescents, with the specific age range depending on the interests of the fellow and the comfort of the supervisor.  In this rotation, the fellow can expect a variety of presenting concerns, exposure to expressive arts and play therapy techniques, and a reasonable number of Medicaid cases.  It is anticipated that the fellow would have a mix of demographic variables, with some cases potentially continuing throughout the training year.

 

  • The Older Adult Services minor rotation emphasizes practice and skill acquisition for adults 65+ with a variety of presenting concerns.  It is anticipated that the fellow would have a mix of demographic variables, with some cases potentially continuing throughout the training year.  This rotation is only offered as a minor rotation due to inability to bill Medicare for the services provided by fellows.  The fellow can expect this minor rotation to include some individual psychotherapy cases of their own, some shared cases done through co-therapy with another provider, and some geriatric and neuropsychological assessment cases.

 

  • Psychological Assessment rotations, available as a major or minor rotation, allow the fellow to cultivate skill and experience with one of the aspects of a psychologist’s identity that make us unique amongst mental health providers.  The fellow should expect to complete testing cases with clients across the lifespan and with a variety of referral questions.  Within the major rotation, it may be possible for the fellow to focus somewhat on a particular kind of assessment (e.g., ADHD evaluations, clergy evaluations, DDS evaluations, etc.), though the fellow should be prepared for an assortment of cases.

 

  • The Couples and Families Therapy minor rotation offers the fellow an opportunity to gain experience working with relationship dynamics in a variety of family configurations.  Fellows are likely to gain appreciation for the variety of reasons couples seek counseling, and also will have opportunity to learn more about theoretical practice models focused on couples and marital work (e.g., Gottman, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, CBT for couples, etc.).  Fellows may also see families consisting of children and adults, all adult families, and individual therapy clients focused on family issues (e.g., caregiving, parenting concerns, adjusting to life after children, etc.).

 

  • The Health and Prescribing Medical Psychology minor rotation is an opportunity for the fellow to learn more about a developing specialty area for psychologists.  This rotation will blend health and behavioral assessments/interventions (e.g., bariatric surgery evaluations, smoking cessation, chronic pain management, spinal cord stimulator evaluations, medication compliance issues, etc.) with some training and exposure to psychopharmacology.  Iowa is one of only a handful of states to allow psychologists to acquire additional training in psychopharmacology in order to add pharmacotherapy to their treatment repertoire, and this component (psychiatric and psychopharmacology practice) of the minor rotation is not known to be available at any other postdoc in the state.  The psychopharmacology component will include some didactic and observational experiences, and will help prepare the fellow to be a more active participant in their client’s pharmacotherapy.

 

  • The Spiritually-Informed Psychological Services major or minor rotation is another unique offering of the Center.  As a pastoral counseling center with a rich mind-body-spirit model of care, this rotation will allow fellows to learn more about how to integrate spiritual and religious practices and beliefs into their clinical work.  The rotation will include some psychotherapy and counseling cases with clients explicitly dealing with spiritual and psychological problems, and with clients who are seeking traditional psychotherapy but for whom a religious or spiritual identity is an important cultural identity and value.  Fellows will also have the opportunity to learn and conduct clergy psychological evaluations for denominations with which the Center works.  Additionally, there will be ample opportunities for the fellow to be involved in consultation, teaching, coaching, and outreach through the Center’s Leadership and Spiritual Life (LSL) Program.  Some examples of possible experiences the fellow might have partnering with LSL include:  teaching a pastoral care specialist program class, community outreach presentations on mental health topics, developing training and resources to help clergy with referrals for their parishioner’s mental healthcare, mental health consultation services for clergy, etc.

 

Contact Scott Young, Ph.D., M.S.C.P., Director of Psychological Services at syoung@mindspiritcenter.org or (515) 251-6673 for more information.