***Psychology Training Program***

**2009 - 2010**

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| ![](media/image1.png)       | VA Palo Alto Health Care System        |
|                             |                                        |
|                             | 3801 Miranda Avenue                    |
|                             |                                        |
|                             | Palo Alto, California 94304            |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------+

Introduction

[Selecting a Psychology Internship
2](#selecting-a-psychology-internship)

[Psychology Training Model and Philosophy
3](#psychology-training-model-and-philosophy)

[VA Palo Alto Health Care System Facilities
4](#va-palo-alto-health-care-system-facilities)

[Psychology Internship Program Funding, Benefits, and Eligibility
4](#psychology-internship-program-funding-benefits-and-eligibility)

[Psychology Internship Structure at VA Palo Alto
5](#psychology-internship-structure-at-va-palo-alto)

[Intern Seminars and Meetings 6](#intern-seminars-and-meetings)

[Intern Group 7](#intern-group)

[Research 8](#research)

[Internship Training Goals and Objectives
8](#internship-training-goals-and-objectives)

[General Training Objectives 9](#general-training-objectives)

[Competency Area Objectives 10](#competency-area-objectives)

[Opportunities for Working with Diverse Patient Populations and for
Developing Multicultural Competence
12](#opportunities-for-working-with-diverse-patient-populations-and-for-developing-multicultural-competence)

[Trainee Self-Disclosure in Training and Supervision
13](#trainee-self-disclosure-in-training-and-supervision)

[Application Procedure and Selection Process
14](#application-procedure-and-selection-process)

[Selection Committee and Criteria 15](#selection-committee-and-criteria)

[Graduate Programs of Current and Former Interns (2002-2009)
16](#graduate-programs-of-current-and-former-interns-2002-2009)

[Psychology Postdoctoral Training 17](#psychology-postdoctoral-training)

[Living in the San Francisco Bay Area
19](#living-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area)

[Contacting Psychology Service 21](#contacting-psychology-service)

######### Selecting a Psychology Internship

An internship is only a year long, but it plays a major role in
professional development. Every year, graduate students spend large
amounts of time and money to examine internship sites, and many move
long distances for what may be a single year of training. There are
spirited debates across the country about the necessity of this system
and the way it functions. Yet the internship has been an integral part
of training since the Boulder conference in 1947, which established the
scientist-practitioner model as the basis for professional
self-definition of Clinical and Counseling Psychologists. Internship is
a year when you can work in a setting primarily designed to provide
direct health care services to patients, rather than primarily designed
to provide training. On internship you can use empirically supported
approaches, and you can work with problems for which there currently are
no empirically supported treatments. You can sharpen clinical and
counseling skills, generate research ideas, and, if you choose, conduct
clinically relevant research. You will function at a new level of
professional responsibility on internship, making a major transitional
step in your journey from student to independent professional.

The purpose of this brochure is to describe the internship program at
the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and the training experiences
offered. Our program has been continually and fully accredited by the
[American Psychological
Association](http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/) (APA) since 1977 (the
next accreditation site visit will occur in 2009). We have a complex,
multi-faceted program, which can provide many kinds of training
experiences. We believe it is one of the strongest internships in the
country. At the same time, no internship program is perfect for
everyone; you will be seeking the best match for your own interests and
needs, just as we will be seeking the best matches for our program. We
hope this brochure can help you decide whether you want to learn more
about Palo Alto by being in more direct, personal contact with us.

You might wonder why the [Department of Veterans
Affairs](http://www.psychologytraining.va.gov/index.asp) would pay
several million dollars a year across the country to fund psychology
internship positions. Part of the answer is that training prepares staff
who might work for the VA system. It gives VA an opportunity to develop
a pool of psychologists experienced with the system and with the kinds
of patients and problems that are common in VA. However, the training
mission of VA is broader, and VA is explicitly committed to training for
the nation, as well as for the VA system. We train interns who go on to
VA jobs, and we train interns who go on to work in academia, other
medical centers, the private sector, etc. The whole profession of
Psychology and the whole health care system in this country are served
by having well-trained, enthusiastic, creative professionals. We strive
to support VA\'s training mission, for VA\'s specific goals and for the
nation.

It is important that you think carefully about where you apply for
internship. Does this institution give you the kind of training you need
for the career you want? Would you consider working for, or consulting
at, this institution? Would your knowledge generalize to other
institutions or public service settings where you may want to work? Do
your interests fit the training philosophy and strengths of the
internship?

######### Psychology Training Model and Philosophy

The VA Palo Alto Health Care System provides a particular kind of
training, based on our view of the role of Psychology in the VA system.
Specifically, we are committed to the scientist-practitioner model of
psychology, and the internship training experience is organized
accordingly. The internship program at VA Palo Alto is a member of the
[Academy of Psychological Clinical
Science](http://psych.arizona.edu/apcs/index.php), which is a coalition
of doctoral training programs and internship sites that share a common
goal of producing and applying scientific knowledge to the assessment,
understanding, and amelioration of human problems. Our membership in the
Academy indicates that the Internship Program at VA Palo Alto is
committed to excellence in scientific training and to using clinical
science as the foundation for designing, implementing, and evaluating
assessment and intervention procedures.

Palo Alto has broad strengths in training. There are opportunities for
training in psychological and neuropsychological assessment, and for
training in interventions with adults and families in geriatric
settings, medically based settings including primary care, inpatient and
outpatient mental health settings, and substance abuse settings. There
are opportunities to do clinical research, either as part of rotations
that are primarily clinically-focused, or in a rotation that
particularly emphasizes health services research. There are
opportunities to get training and experience in administrative roles, an
increasingly common career path for psychologists in health care
settings. These experiences are intended to supplement and complement
training experiences obtained in your graduate program. Our limitations
include few clinical opportunities to see children, except as part of
family treatment, or to work with developmentally disabled adults. In
addition, although women veterans increasingly use the VA system for
their health care and behavioral health needs, there is clearly more
work with men than with women in any VA internship.

Our program is committed to general clinical training in the internship
year, but within that model there are opportunities for special emphasis
areas: clinical neuropsychology, geropsychology, psychosocial
rehabilitation in mental health settings, and behavioral
medicine/primary care for psychological work with medical patients. All
of the programs are described more fully in this brochure.

In this introduction we describe the Training Program procedures such as
application, selection, and how the program is organized. We also
discuss our philosophy of training and expectancies about competencies
that interns will acquire. The next sections describe the training
sites, including specific details on program structure, patient
population, theoretical orientation of the supervisor, and the nature of
supervision for each training site. Appendices include a listing of all
the psychologists in the training program, with brief biographical
sketches, and a summary table of all the training sites.

This brochure also contains a brief section on Psychology Postdoctoral
Training within Psychology Service, the Mental Illness Research,
Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) postdoctoral fellowship, and the
Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Center for Health Care
Evaluation. We also have a complete Postdoctoral Training Manual, which
can be found on the Psychology Training website; some information is
included here because we know that the availability of postdoctoral
options is often important information for intern applicants when
considering ranking decisions.

#### VA Palo Alto Health Care System Facilities

VA Palo Alto is part of a national network of hospitals and clinics
operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide comprehensive
health care to men and women who have served in the armed forces. This
health care system is responding to many national changes in the health
care field; our training program changes in concert with the changing
organization and emphases of health care.

The Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System
([VAPAHCS](http://www.palo-alto.med.va.gov/about.asp)) is a teaching
hospital, providing a full range of patient care services, with
state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research, with
internship. Internship training sites are available in five of these
locations (Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Monterey, San Jose, and Livermore),
with the great majority concentrated in the Palo Alto Division and the
Menlo Park Division. As of July 2007, this health care system has nearly
2,800 employees, is located on more than 300 acres, and operates on an
annual budget of more than \$580 million. Our health care facilities
operate 897 inpatient beds, including three nursing homes and a 100-bed
homeless domiciliary, and over 50 primary care and specialty outpatient
clinics, with over 700,000 outpatient visits per year.

The VAPAHCS is affiliated with the [Stanford University School of
Medicine](http://med.stanford.edu/) and shares training programs for
medical residents in psychiatry, medicine, surgery, rehabilitative
medicine, and other medical specialties. In addition to these and the
psychology training program, VAPAHCS also has training programs for
audiology/ speech pathology, dentistry, dietetics, hospital management,
nursing, pharmacy, social work, recreation therapy, occupational
therapy, and optometry. Psychology operates in an interprofessional,
collegial fashion with other disciplines, and interns obtain training
and clinical experience in interprofessional work. The Psychology
Internship Program is operated by Psychology Service, which reports to
the Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health Services. Psychology
Service is a voting member of the Executive Review Board, and Psychology
Service professional staff members have medical center privileges.

In addition to basic medical and mental health care programs, this VA
has a variety of specialized regional programs, including a Polytrauma
Rehabilitation Center, a Spinal Cord Injury Center, a Comprehensive
Rehabilitation Center, the Western Region Blind Rehabilitation Center,
the National Center for PTSD, a Women's Trauma Recovery program,
Homeless Veterans Rehabilitation program, a Geriatric Research,
Educational, and Clinical Center (GRECC), and a Mental Illness Research,
Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC). Special psychological programs
are available in health psychology, geropsychology, inpatient and
outpatient psychiatric care, drug and alcohol treatment, and brain
injury rehabilitation. Training opportunities are available in all of
these programs.

VAPAHCS maintains one of the largest research programs in VA with
extensive research centers in geriatrics (GRECC), mental health
(MIRECC), Alzheimer\'s disease, spinal cord regeneration, schizophrenia,
Rehabilitation Research and Development Center (RRDC), HIV research, and
a Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Center of Excellence,
and the HSR&D Health Economics Resource Center (HERC). Training
resources are available for research or consultation at these and other
programs.

#### Psychology Internship Program Funding, Benefits, and Eligibility

The Psychology Internship Program is funded by the Office of Academic
Affiliations of the Department of Veterans Affairs Central Office as an
annual, earmarked allocation to the medical center. The current annual
internship stipend at VA Palo Alto is \$26,186. This stipend requires a
full calendar year of training; our start date is September 1 each year.
VA provides health care benefits for interns and postdoctoral fellows as
for any other VA employee. Insurance programs can be selected from a
wide array of options. More information about stipends and benefits are
available at
[www.psychologytraining.va.gov/benefits.asp](http://www.psychologytraining.va.gov/benefits.asp).

Our training is geared to advanced level predoctoral students or to
students who previously obtained psychology doctoral degrees and are now
obtaining training for re-specialization in clinical or counseling
psychology. Eligibility requirements for VA internships are determined
nationally and we have no authority to over-ride these requirements
locally. All information about eligibility requirements is available at
[www.psychologytraining.va.gov/eligibility.asp](http://www.psychologytraining.va.gov/eligibility.asp).
The number of internship positions at VA Palo Alto has varied in the
past, but has been stable at 14 for several years.

For the coming year (2009-2010), seven of the 14 funded slots are
labeled \"general\" slots and provide broad training, usually with
considerable emphasis on serious mental illness. At least one of those
seven slots will be used for a specialty in Clinical Neuropsychology. In
some years, we use two of the General slots for Neuropsychology
training. Three other positions are specifically funded for
geropsychology. Finally, four of the 14 positions emphasize behavioral
medicine experience, including work in the primary care setting with the
Palo Alto Care Teams (PACTs). Each of these programs has a unique APPIC
Match Number:

> **114711 General**
>
> **114713 Geropsychology**
>
> **114714 Behavioral Medicine/PACTs**
>
> **114715 Neuropsychology**

Interns specializing in neuropsychology, geropsychology, or behavioral
medicine spend fifty percent of their training time (2 of 4 rotations)
throughout the year with the relevant specialty area. All interns in the
general training track spend at least 25% of their training time
emphasizing work with older adults or work in a medically-based setting.
Typically, general track interns meet this expectation by selecting one
half-time, six-month rotation in a site emphasizing primary care and/or
geropsychology. Outside of these requirements, interns can choose from
rotations in any area (e.g., a neuropsychology intern can choose to work
in Outpatient Mental Health, a behavioral medicine intern can choose to
work in a geropsychology rotation, a geropsychology intern can work in
Addiction Treatment). Thus, all interns get broad-based, generalist
training. There can be considerable overlap in the rotation schedules of
each member of the intern class, regardless of training track.

######### Psychology Internship Structure at VA Palo Alto

The internship consists of a calendar year of full-time, supervised
training, beginning on September 1 each year. Training is based on a
40-hour work week, so the total hours over a year come to 2,080. Out of
those 2,080 hours, there is time off for vacation (13 days), illness (up
to 13 days), Federal holidays (10 days), and authorized absence for
professional activities (up to 10 days).

The internship year is divided into two six-month periods. Within each
six-month block, interns spend half time at each of two sites (e.g.,
half time in the Mental Health Clinic and half time at the Hospice
program). In rare circumstances, interns may be assigned full time to
one training site (e.g., full time at PTSD, doing both clinical work and
research) or do two full-time three-month rotations during a six-month
period (e.g., 3 months at Outpatient Addiction Treatment Services and 3
months at the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center). Interns typically
spend 25% to 37% of their time in direct service throughout the year
(10-15 hours weekly) and receive at least 4 hours per week of
supervision from psychology supervisors, at least 2 hours of which are
individual, face-to-face supervision.

There also are mini-rotations that require 3 to 6 hours per week.
Electing mini-rotations generally requires adding extra hours to the 40
hour work week, because the half time rotations are already full
training experiences. Most mini-rotations are not laid out in this
brochure, since they are often individually tailored to meet specific
intern training interests and needs. Examples of mini-rotations in
recent years include doing research on utilization of psychiatric
inpatient services or carrying a long term psychotherapy case. If you
have an idea about a mini-rotation that you might be interested in
doing, raise it with the Training Director if you are invited for an
interview.

In addition to training assignments, interns have Wednesday afternoons
set aside for an intern seminar series throughout the year. That takes 4
hours each week, so each \"half time\" rotation is actually 18 hours. In
addition, many interns are involved in research projects at their
rotation sites that require time and effort. Thus, it is usually
difficult to work everything into the time allotted. Like staff, you get
paid for 40 hours, no matter how much time you put in. Most staff do not
get their work done in the allotted 40 hours, and we suspect you will
not either. A key notion in the VA is that we are a \"Service,\" not a
department. To serve patients we must be available, and you will see
considerable emphasis on being available, even if that means staying
beyond your usual ending time occasionally.

On the other hand, this is not a 60-hour per week or more internship.
You will work at least 40 hours intensively each week. How much more
than that you work depends on many factors, including your interest in
additional training experiences, your research involvement, how
time-effective you are in completing clinical documentation, etc. The
Training Director will help you plan a realistic program that balances
taking advantage of training opportunities with time for a full, rich
life outside of work.

You will have a chance to participate in the assignment of your
rotations. We do not have a pre-set pattern of rotations. Each intern's
year is designed, in collaboration with the Training Director, to fit
the intern's training needs and interests, as balanced with the
expectations and resources of the program. Discussion of this process
will be emphasized during your visit or in phone interviews, if you are
invited for an interview, and final rotation assignments will be
determined after the intern Match, sometime in the spring before
internship begins.

#### Intern Seminars and Meetings

Intern seminars are scheduled Wednesday afternoons. Early in the
training year, seminars are scheduled by the Training Director and staff
on the Seminar Committee. Each intern class selects representatives to
the committee. As the year proceeds, interns have opportunities to
decide on seminar topics and speakers. Interns evaluate each seminar
speaker and topic, so the Committee has considerable data on who is
available to speak and whether previous audiences have found their
presentations valuable. The overarching goal in Seminar is to obtain
training on topics essential to practice as a Psychologist, such as
legal and ethical issues, handling patients in crisis, multicultural
competence, and the interaction between research and clinical practice.
We emphasize continual examination of what current research findings are
relevant to clinical practice and what experiences in clinical practice
might prompt valuable research questions. We also emphasize topics that
support and promote interns' professional development during this year
of transition from student to professional, and topics which may broaden
interns' knowledge base of different clinical models and applications.
Please see below for a selected list of seminar topics from a typical
training year.

+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| ***Basic Issues in Clinical          | ***Professional               |
| Management***                        | Development***                |
|                                      |                               |
| -   Legal Issues -- Tarasoff/risk    | -   Postdoctoral              |
|     management, child and elder      |     decision-making           |
|     abuse reporting, competency      |                               |
|     evaluations                      | -   Postdoctoral panels --    |
|                                      |     clinical, research        |
| -   Psychopharmacology               |                               |
|                                      | -   Preparing vitas and       |
| -   Prevention and management of     |     interviewing process      |
|     violence                         |                               |
|                                      | -   Licensing information and |
| -   Brief neuropsychological         |     process                   |
|     Screening                        |                               |
|                                      | -   Balancing personal and    |
| -   Suicide assessment and           |     professional lives        |
|     prevention                       |                               |
|                                      | -   Becoming a supervisor     |
|                                      |                               |
|                                      | -   Policy and advocacy in    |
|                                      |     psychology                |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| ***Multicultural Competence --       | ***Clinical Models and        |
| Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills***  | Applications***               |
|                                      |                               |
| -   Overview of Multicultural        | -   Introduction to           |
|     Psychology                       |     Motivational Interviewing |
|                                      |                               |
|     -   Multidimensional assessment  | -   Overview of Group Therapy |
|                                      |                               |
|     -   Clinical applications        | -   Brief dynamic             |
|                                      |     psychotherapy             |
|     -   Expert/consultant panel      |                               |
|                                      | -   Mindfulness approaches    |
| -   Psychology and disability        |                               |
|                                      | -   Dialectical Behavioral    |
| -   Sexual identity and orientation  |     Therapy                   |
|                                      |                               |
| -   Religious and spiritual          | -   Acceptance and Commitment |
|     orientations                     |     Therapy                   |
|                                      |                               |
| -   Overview of military culture     | -   Cognitive Processing      |
|                                      |     Therapy                   |
| ***Careers in Psychology***          |                               |
|                                      | -   Functional Analytic       |
| -   Academic job panel               |     Psychotherapy             |
|                                      |                               |
| -   Job panel -- clinical positions  | -   Integrative approaches    |
|     and private practice             |     and treatments            |
|                                      |                               |
| -   Job panel --                     |                               |
|     academically-affiliated medical  |                               |
|     centers                          |                               |
|                                      |                               |
| -   Non-traditional careers in       |                               |
|     psychology                       |                               |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------+

California Psychology licensing law requires that psychologists have
specific training in Human Sexuality, Child Abuse, Partner/Spousal
Abuse, and Substance Dependence; we provide each of these classes during
the year for you to attend. More information about licensure in
California can be found at
[www.psychboard.ca.gov](http://www.psychboard.ca.gov/). Licensed
psychologists in California are required to have continuing education;
we are accredited by APA to provide that training, and most CE training
for staff is open to interns and postdoctoral fellows. In addition, each
year there are full-day conferences at the VA Palo Alto Health Care
System attended by interdisciplinary staff and open to interns and
postdoctoral fellows; topics vary from year to year though typically
include topics such as supervision and legal and ethical issues in the
practice of psychology.

Many rotations have didactic seminars as part of their clinical
training. Please reference descriptions of individual training sites for
specific types of didactic opportunities offered.

#### Intern Group

The training program hires a clinical psychologist from outside the VA
system to run a weekly group for the interns. A main purpose is to be a
support group for interns, most of whom are new to the area as well as
to each other. In addition, the group provides an opportunity to learn
more about group process by being a participant. Beyond funding this
group and reviewing anonymous evaluations at the end of the year, to
ensure that we are providing a valuable experience, no VA staff member,
including the Director of Training, has anything to do with or say about
the operation of this group. This is an optional training experience
which takes place in additional time outside the basic 40-hour week, for
interns who choose to be involved.

#### Research

There are many research opportunities here, and interns who have
completed their dissertations are in an especially good position to take
advantage of them. A number of training sites are excellent models of
scientist-practitioner functioning, in which clinical work continually
guides ongoing research, and in turn the research findings inform the
clinical work. Interns can get involved in research in these treatment
settings; decisions about whether the intern will be involved in
research and, if so, the level of research involvement will be
determined by the intern with the primary supervisor in the setting.
Since our internship requires interns to attain numerous clinical
competencies to complete the internship, interns who request a primarily
clinical research rotation typically participate in only one such
rotation (such as in health services research) out of the 4 total
6-month rotations. In these latter cases, the Training Director works
with interns to determine a combination of rotations that will provide
optimal opportunities for clinical immersion and clinical research
consistent with the internship program's overall goal of broad-based,
generalist training.

It is possible to conduct dissertation research here, but this is
usually very difficult during internship year. We strongly prefer that
you come to internship with the dissertation completed. You will find
internship more enjoyable and be able to concentrate better on training
and other opportunities here. If you are considering collecting
dissertation data (or other research data) here, that can be considered,
but you must find a staff member who will sponsor the research and
submit your proposal through the Psychology Research Committee to the
Medical Center Research Committee and the Stanford Human Subjects
Committee. This means your protocol must be rewritten to adapt to the VA
and Stanford forms. Typically this will take two months to complete the
writing and review process and receive permission to proceed. The
Psychology staff member you identify to sponsor you will help obtain the
approvals of the Chiefs of Service responsible for the settings where
you want to gather data. You also will need to plan with the Training
Director when you will collect data, since that time cannot be taken out
of clinical rotations.

######### Internship Training Goals and Objectives

Embodied in our training philosophy and policy is experience distilled
from over fifty years of working with successive classes of interns. We
believe that interns should receive well-rounded clinical experience
that includes work with mental health and medical populations, and we
expect all interns to obtain training on internship with geriatric
patients or in a medical setting as well as in mental-health settings.
Further, psychologists should be able to assess and provide at least
initial clinical care to patients across the spectrum of severity;
interns who have not had intensive doctoral-level training experiences
prior to internship with assessment and/or patients with serious mental
illness will be expected to do rotations that provide such experience
here. We believe that psychologists should be prepared to work as
members of interprofessional health care teams, interacting
collaboratively with the full range of disciplines that provide health
care services. Most of our care settings are interprofessional, because
of the nature of service provision in a complex health care system like
ours; thus, interns will have at least one rotation during which they
work with an interprofessional team. Within these requirements,
assignment to rotations and selection of supervisors primarily is based
on the intern\'s training needs and interests.

Development of professional responsibility and a professional identity
as a psychologist are major themes of our training. We affirm
collaborative decision-making between interns and training staff
regarding each intern\'s development. Formal, written evaluation takes
place every 3 months, though we view evaluation as a mutual and ongoing
process among interns, supervisors, and the training program as a whole.
We believe this is necessary to insure continued growth for each intern
and for the training program. For a copy of our complete evaluation and
due process guidelines, please email the Training Director at
<Jeanette.Hsu@va.gov>.

#### General Training Objectives

To capture and expand the principles described above, we define the
following core training objectives. In addition to meeting these general
objectives, by the completion of internship all interns should
demonstrate basic competence in at least four of five training areas:
assessment, outpatient mental health, serious mental illness, behavioral
medicine and/or geropsychology. Some key competencies within each of
those areas are outlined following the core competencies below that we
expect all interns to demonstrate in order to successfully complete the
internship:

####### General clinical skills:

-   Demonstrates appropriate empathy and elicits cooperation from
    patients

-   Attends to the process and content of patients' interpersonal
    interactions

-   Attends to and responds effectively to patients' thoughts, actions,
    and feelings

-   Understands problems and/or diagnostic categories within an
    evidence-based theoretical/conceptual framework that guides
    hypothesis generation regarding appropriate assessment and/or
    treatment strategies

-   Considers what additional information should be gathered after
    initial contact

-   Suggests relevant treatment possibilities from a number of
    modalities (e.g., individual, group, family milieu), based on the
    formulation of problems and goals

-   Develops treatment plans and establishes expectations for treatment

-   Communicates effectively with patients, their families, and other
    care providers, covering a range of topics from simple information
    sharing to more complex clinical conceptualization

# 

####### Sensitivity to diversity:

-   Has knowledge of cultural and other diversity issues and of how
    these affect needs in a clinical setting

-   Incorporates such knowledge into the theoretical/conceptual
    framework guiding assessment and/or treatment planning

-   Implements effective clinical strategies with patients different
    from self in diverse ways

####### Diagnosis:

-   Understands differential diagnosis using a system appropriate to the
    setting

-   Modifies diagnosis as necessary when new information is available

-   Uses diagnosis to guide treatment planning

####### Crisis management:

-   Can conduct a lethality assessment and knows actions to take when
    confronted with a patient who is a danger to self or others

####### Ethical/legal:

-   Shows sensitivity to ethical issues in clinical practice and seeks
    consultation as needed

-   Knows and, if necessary, acts according to specific procedures for
    reporting child, elder, and/or spousal abuse and in Tarasoff
    situations

-   Shows familiarity with California laws regarding the practice of
    psychology

####### Team functioning and consultation:

-   Understands the structure of teams to which intern belongs or with
    which intern consults at assigned training sites

-   Can identify different team members' roles, including the psychology
    intern's role and function

-   Becomes an active member of an interprofessional team in at least
    one site, forming professional relationships and presenting
    psychological issues to non-psychologist team members

-   Participates in interprofessional treatment planning and coordinates
    the team\'s goals and strategies with the psychological treatment
    plan, in at least one site

-   Contributes to the team in each relevant training site, such as
    using psychological skills to facilitate team functioning,
    communicating psychological information about patients, being
    sensitive to needs of team members and responding appropriately

####### 

####### Research integration:

-   Uses knowledge of current theoretical and empirical literature to
    inform decisions regarding assessment and treatment planning and
    delivery

-   Articulates a personal theoretical or conceptual perspective, or the
    components of a developing conceptual perspective, and demonstrates
    understanding of a scientist-practitioner approach within that
    perspective

-   Recognizes clinical situations in which the research evidence is not
    clear in guiding assessment and/or treatment and in such situations
    can both 1) use theoretical/conceptual perspective to guide clinical
    activity and 2) identify hypotheses and/or research approaches that
    could enrich clinical knowledge

####### Professionalism:

-   Demonstrates professional responsibility, e.g., is on time for
    appointments, documents clinical work in a timely and informative
    way, is prepared for supervision, has learned and follows program
    procedures, is self-directed and able to function independently
    within scope of competence

-   Shows emotional maturity in professional concepts, e.g., tolerates
    ambiguity and anxiety, and considers the views of others even in
    charged situations

-   Accurately evaluates level of competency and considers own
    limitations when working with patients; knows when his/her level of
    expertise is exceeded and seeks appropriate consultation when needed

-   Demonstrates professional maturity, e.g., deals effectively with
    authority figures, shows willingness to challenge self and others
    for the sake of improving services provided, develops a professional
    working model that is comprehensive and flexible

-   Develops a sense of professional identity as a psychologist

-   Demonstrates knowledge of self and the impact of self on the conduct
    of clinical services, within the framework of the theoretical
    perspective being utilized

-   Views supervision as professionally enriching rather than primarily
    evaluative and uses supervision to expand awareness and
    understanding of personal strengths and limitations

#### Competency Area Objectives

In addition to these general objectives, all interns are expected to
develop basic competence in at least four of the following areas by the
completion of internship: assessment, outpatient mental health, serious
mental illness, behavioral medicine, and/or geropsychology. An overview
of key competencies in each of these areas is provided below; thorough
documentation of the specific exit competencies for rotations in
settings of each type are available and are provided to interns as they
begin rotations (or, by request, when defining rotation priorities).
Evaluation in each rotation is based on attainment of the site-specific
competencies, as well as adherence to professional standards of ethics
and responsibility and demonstration of the general competencies
outlined above.

**Assessment**

-   Specify referral questions

-   Administer, score, and interpret neuropsychological and
    psychodiagnostic screening tests

-   Know limits as an assessor and when to ask for consultation or make
    a referral

-   Communicate the results of assessments both verbally and in writing
    to professionals, patients, and families

-   Know how to provide specific suggestions, based on assessment that
    will improve treatment planning and quality of care for the patient

**Outpatient Mental Health**

-   Assess the risk a patient poses to self or others

-   Evaluate a patient\'s need and appropriateness for different types
    (individual, group, or family) and durations (crisis management,
    brief, long term) of therapy

-   Utilize psychoeducational interventions

-   Determine when brief therapy can be used to accomplish the patient's
    goals and provide brief therapy when appropriate

-   Provide long term therapy to complex patients using a conceptual
    rationale and defining goals that can be evaluated over time

-   Guide patient in integration of skills presented in psychotherapy
    into daily life

-   Provide consultation to outpatient service providers from other
    disciplines

**Serious Mental Illness**

-   Understand the course of acute disorder and its treatment

-   Accurately diagnose acutely disordered patients

-   Provide interventions, in conjunction with the interprofessional
    team, for violent, extremely agitated, and self-destructive patients

-   Increase comfort in dealing with acutely disordered patients

-   Provide treatment in an intensive treatment environment, such as
    inpatient full-time treatment, where the impact and consequence of
    the treatment process can be immediately observed and discussed

-   Develop entry-level skills regarding psychology\'s role in forensic
    issues

**Medically-based Settings/Behavioral Medicine**

-   Understand the role of psychology in the primary care setting and
    work collegially with other health professionals in the primary care
    setting.

-   Utilize health psychology principles and strategies to provide
    psychoeducational and/or psychotherapeutic interventions for
    promoting health and wellness

-   Provide intervention for stress reduction, pain management,
    adjustment to physical injury or disease, and rehabilitation.

-   Work with terminally ill patients and support dying patients and
    their families and loved ones.

**Geropsychology**

-   Understand the continuum of care for older adult patients and the
    appropriate utilization of programs and strategies at various points
    along that continuum

-   Learn similarities and differences in the experience and expression
    of psychopathology in older, as compared to younger, adults

-   Implement diagnostic and psychotherapeutic adaptations to make
    assessment and treatment more appropriate for older adults

-   Understand the role of the family in providing care for frail or
    demented older adults and provide interventions to improve
    caregivers\' skills and/or quality of life

-   Work with terminally ill patients and support the dying patient and
    family/loved ones

######### Opportunities for Working with Diverse Patient Populations and for Developing Multicultural Competence

VA Palo Alto serves an ethnically diverse population of veterans and
active-duty personnel ranging in age from 19-90+, with more and more
younger ages represented due to our nation's current military conflicts.
While most of the patients are male, VA Palo Alto has specific women's
mental health programs drawing female veterans and active-duty personnel
from around the nation. Female patients now account for 15% of the VA
Palo Alto patient population. Patients also range in socio-economic
status, from high-income employees of local technology companies to
low-income and/or homeless veterans. The overall VA Palo Alto patient
population reflects the distribution of self-reported ethnic backgrounds
in the pie chart below. However, there are many rotations which serve an
even larger proportion of patients from ethnic minority backgrounds.

![](media/image2.wmf)

The intern seminar devotes a significant section of the seminar series
to directly addressing multicultural competence and diversity issues, as
well as encouraging presenters for all topics to model critical thinking
about diversity issues throughout the seminar series. Furthermore,
supervisors address multicultural competence and diversity issues in
each rotation and during the course of supervision. The internship
program also takes seriously the support of interns' professional
development with regard to ethnic identity, sexual orientation, gender,
disability, and other significant identifications. Towards this goal,
our diverse supervisory staff is available for mentoring of interns from
a wide range of backgrounds. Multicultural competence is valuable to us
and something we consider essential to ongoing professional development.

#########  

######### Trainee Self-Disclosure in Training and Supervision

The latest version of the APA Code of Ethics introduced a clause (7.04-
Student Disclosure of Personal Information) describing what a program
can reasonably expect of students in training regarding personal
disclosure. Because this clause is particularly relevant for clinical
training programs, such as our internship and postdoctoral programs, we
have reproduced this ethics clause and discuss how we approach this
issue in our training program:

*7.04 Psychologists do not require students or supervisees to disclose
personal information in course- or program-related activities, either
orally or in writing, regarding sexual history, history of abuse and
neglect, psychological treatment, and relationships with parents, peers,
and spouses or significant others except if (1) the program or training
facility has clearly identified this requirement in its admissions and
program materials or (2) the information is necessary to evaluate or
obtain assistance for students whose personal problems could reasonably
be judged to be preventing them from performing their training- or
professionally related activities in a competent manner or posing a
threat to the students or others.*

We fully endorse the spirit of the clause, believing that trainees
should not be forced to reveal more personal information than they feel
ready to process, until they feel some comfort with the supervisory
situation, and feel safety regarding how shared information will be
handled. At the same time, self-disclosure is an important part of the
training experience and serves at least two important purposes. First,
the supervisor is ultimately legally and ethically responsible for the
welfare of any patient seen by the trainee; thus, any important
information about the trainee's internal experience that may affect the
conduct of assessment or therapy is expected to be a part of the
supervision process. Second, the general competencies expected in our
program, especially those described under the category of
Professionalism, include some particularly relevant to this new ethics
clause, e.g.:

-   Shows emotional maturity in professional contexts by tolerating
    ambiguity and anxiety and considering the views of others, even in
    charged situations.

-   Accurately evaluates level of competency and considers own
    limitations when working with patients; knows when own level of
    expertise is exceeded; seeks appropriate consultation when needed.

-   Demonstrates knowledge of self and the impact of self on the conduct
    of therapy, within the theoretical perspective being utilized.

-   Views supervision as professionally enriching rather than primarily
    evaluative and uses supervision to expand awareness and
    understanding of personal strengths and limitations

Feelings and the thoughts, beliefs, and circumstances that propel them
cannot be simply expunged by a psychologist when it comes time to see a
patient or to interact with colleagues. Learning to identify, utilize,
and control feelings, attitudes, and actions in the consulting room and
all other professional interactions is a lifelong process for all
psychologists. We believe it is important that supervision be a place
where the intern (or other trainee) is assisted to explore and
understand the qualities and experiences that he or she brings to every
aspect of professional work and how these facilitate or hinder effective
interactions. We intend that interns and other trainees will recognize,
improve, and employ those personal qualities that will assist in forming
effective working relationships with patients, peers, other Psychology
staff, staff and trainees of other professions with whom they work in
the health care system, etc. -- all professional work is influenced by
the personal qualities of the trainee, and these are appropriately
included in the supervisory process. At the same time, we re-affirm that
this needs to be done in a sensitive way, in which the intern is given
time to develop a safe and effective working relationship with the
supervisor. This work should occur such that the underlying APA
philosophy is respected. Interns should not be required or forced to
divulge information that is not relevant to the work they are doing or
in a way that is not designed to promote and enhance professional
development.

######### Application Procedure and Selection Process

Our application and selection process has been designed to be in accord
with the policies and procedures developed by the [Association of
Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers](http://www.appic.org/)
(APPIC), including participation in the
[Match](http://www.natmatch.com/psychint/reglink.htm). It is our
intention to be in full compliance with both the letter and the spirit
of the APPIC policy. This internship fully abides by the APPIC policy
that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use
any ranking-related information from any intern applicant.

If you apply for this internship, you are expected to submit **via
email** the APPIC universal application form (AAPI) and an additional
required form specific to our site (see below). Application materials
and a copy of the brochure may be obtained sometime after September 1 of
each year on the VA Palo Alto Psychology Training website at
<http://www.palo-alto.med.va.gov/MentalHealth/PsychologyTraining.asp>.
Completed internship applications are due in November each year; this
year the due date will be **[Monday, November 3, 2008]{.underline}. All
application materials must be emailed and received by us on or before
this date.** Incomplete applications will not be read by the Selection
Committee.

All application elements from you (#1-5) should be sent electronically
in **one email** with **"Internship Application from \[applicant name\]"
in the subject line**. Applicants with last names starting with A-M
should send items #1-5 to <Dana.Iller@va.gov>; applicants with last
names starting with N-Z should send items #1-5 to
<Benita.Givens@va.gov>. Note that any text from your transmittal email
will not be saved as part of your application. Elements from your
graduate program Director of Clinical Training and/or recommendation
letter writers (#6, 7) should be emailed to <Dana.Iller@va.gov> from
their institutional (e.g., university or agency) email address with
**"Internship Application Materials for \[applicant name\]" in the
subject line.** We encourage all files to be sent as Microsoft Word
(version 2003 or earlier) or Adobe Acrobat files. Only the transcript
(#5) may be mailed in hard copy form, but we prefer an electronic copy
emailed from you, if possible, or from your university Registrar's
office.

Please note that, due to the high volume of emails sent during the
application season, you will not receive a confirmation email that your
emails and application materials have been received. If you would like a
delivery receipt confirmation, you can set your email program to send
this to you (for example, in Outlook, choose View while in your outgoing
message, then Options, and select "Request a delivery receipt for this
message"). Do NOT send duplicate emails with your application materials.
Please wait until Monday, November 24, 2008, to either call or email
Dana Iller regarding the receipt of your application materials. We will
notify you by December 15^th^ of your interview status.

Application Requirements List:

+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1   | Cover letter                                                   |
| .   |                                                                |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| 2   | APPIC Application for Psychology Internship (AAPI) You should  |
| .   | download it from the APPIC web site                            |
|     | [www.appic.org](http://www.appic.org/); fill out the           |
|     | information on your computer; save it; and send us an          |
|     | electronic copy.                                               |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| 3   | Curriculum Vita                                                |
| .   |                                                                |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| 4   | VA Palo Alto form indicating your training interests           |
| .   |                                                                |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| 5   | Transcripts of graduate work. The transcripts should cover all |
| .   | post baccalaureate course work. You may mail an unofficial     |
|     | transcript, or email an electronic scanned copy.               |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| 6   | AAPI Part 2. This APPIC Verification of Internship Eligibility |
| .   | and Readiness Form must be completed by your graduate program  |
|     | Director of Training. S/he should email an electronic copy     |
|     | from her/his university email address, and this will be        |
|     | considered an official "signed" copy. We encourage DCTs to     |
|     | send documents as Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat files.       |
|     | **"Internship Application" and your name must be in the email  |
|     | subject line.**                                                |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| 7   | Three letters of recommendation from faculty members or        |
| .   | practicum supervisors who know your clinical as well as your   |
|     | research work well. Letter writers should email an electronic  |
|     | copy from her/his university or agency email address, and this |
|     | will be considered an official "signed" copy. We encourage     |
|     | letter writers to send documents as Microsoft Word or Adobe    |
|     | Acrobat files. **"Internship Application" and your name must   |
|     | be in the email subject line.**                                |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------+

#### Selection Committee and Criteria

The Intern Selection Committee consists of the Director of Training, Dr.
Hsu, and five to six other staff on a rotating basis. Currently, those
staff members are Judith Chapman, Ph.D., William Faustman, Ph.D., Carma
Heitzmann, Ph.D., Dorene Loew, Ph.D., Gary Miles, Ph.D., and Laura
Peters, Ph.D. Based on initial reading of internship applications by the
Director of Training, some candidates will be invited to schedule an
interview, which can be done as a face-to-face visit at VA Palo Alto or
as a series of telephone interviews. Visits and phone interviews are by
invitation only. On-site interviews are encouraged, but phone interviews
are a viable alternative. In either case, interviews will include
discussions with the Training Director, Selection Committee members,
supervisors from the kinds of rotations the applicant is considering,
and at least one current intern or postdoctoral fellow. On-site
interviews are scheduled for a full day between mid-December and the
third week of January. Requests to meet with specific staff will be
considered but cannot be guaranteed.

When the Selection Committee has determined that an interview offer will
not be made to a candidate, he or she will be notified by email by
December 15th. Typically, we screen out about half of our applicants
each year and can inform these applicants that they are no longer under
consideration.

Selection of interns is based on the following criteria (list not in
priority order):

1.  The breadth and quality of previous clinical or counseling training
    experience, with weight given to applicants who are at the advanced
    level.

2.  Preference is given to candidates whose dissertation will be
    completed prior to internship, or at least well advanced.

3.  The quality of scholarship and the scope of training, as indicated
    partially by academic record, research, papers presented at national
    and state conventions, and publications (especially those in
    peer-reviewed journals).

4.  The relationship between the clinical interests/experience of the
    applicant and his/her research interests.

5.  Involvement in professional organizations, particularly with regard
    to fit with applicant's professional goals.

6.  Evidence of personal maturity and accomplishments which distinguish
    the applicant from peers.

7.  Thoughtfulness of answers to the application questions.

8.  The goodness of fit between the applicant\'s stated objectives and
    the training program and medical center\'s resources.

9.  The strength of letters of recommendation from the Training Director
    at the applicant\'s university, as well as from other faculty and
    professionals who know the applicant well.

10. Presentation in internship application and interview of personal and
    professional characteristics such as self-awareness, collegiality,
    professionalism, open-mindedness, clear communication, critical
    thinking, awareness of multicultural and diversity issues, and
    openness to feedback and new learning.

The internship program follows a policy of selecting the most qualified
candidates and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. While a quota system of
affirmative action is not used, priority is given to ensuring diversity
in our internship classes. Our commitment to diversity includes
attempting to ensure an appropriate representation of individuals along
many dimensions, including (but not limited to) gender, sexual
orientation, age, ethnic/racial minorities, persons with disabilities,
and geographical and institutional diversity.

######### Graduate Programs of Current and Former Interns (2002-2009)

+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| American University               | University of Arizona             |
|                                   |                                   |
| Arizona State University          | University of British Columbia    |
|                                   |                                   |
| Boston University                 | University of Colorado, Boulder   |
|                                   |                                   |
| Bowling Green State University    | University of Connecticut         |
|                                   |                                   |
| Brigham Young University          | University of Denver              |
|                                   |                                   |
| California School of Professional | University of Georgia             |
| Psychology -- San Francisco       |                                   |
| Campus at Alliant International   | University of Houston             |
| University                        |                                   |
|                                   | University of Illinois, Chicago   |
| Colorado State University         |                                   |
|                                   | University of Illinois,           |
| Duke University                   | Urbana-Champaign                  |
|                                   |                                   |
| Florida State University          | University of Iowa                |
|                                   |                                   |
| Fuller Theological Seminary       | University of Kansas              |
|                                   |                                   |
| Georgia State University          | University of Louisville          |
|                                   |                                   |
| Indiana University                | University of Maryland, Baltimore |
|                                   | County                            |
| Louisiana State University        |                                   |
|                                   | University of Massachusetts,      |
| Loyola University of Chicago      | Amherst                           |
|                                   |                                   |
| New Mexico State University       | University of Memphis             |
|                                   |                                   |
| Northwestern University           | University of Miami               |
|                                   |                                   |
| Nova Southeastern University      | University of Missouri, Columbia  |
|                                   |                                   |
| Pacific Graduate School of        | University of Nebraska, Lincoln   |
| Psychology                        |                                   |
|                                   | University of Nevada, Las Vegas   |
| Pennsylvania State University     |                                   |
|                                   | University of Nevada, Reno        |
| San Diego State University/UC San |                                   |
| Diego                             | University of New Mexico          |
|                                   |                                   |
| Stanford University               | University of North Carolina      |
|                                   |                                   |
| State University of New York,     | University of Pennsylvania        |
| Albany                            |                                   |
|                                   | University of Pittsburgh          |
| State University of New York,     |                                   |
| Buffalo                           | University of Southern California |
|                                   |                                   |
| Syracuse University               | University of Vermont             |
|                                   |                                   |
| Temple University                 | University of Washington          |
|                                   |                                   |
| Texas A&M University              | Washington University             |
|                                   |                                   |
| UC Santa Barbara                  | Washington State University       |
|                                   |                                   |
| UCLA                              | Wayne State University            |
|                                   |                                   |
| University of Minnesota,          | West Virginia University          |
| Minneapolis                       |                                   |
|                                   | Yale University                   |
| University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa |                                   |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

######### Psychology Postdoctoral Training

Psychology Service at VA Palo Alto has an APA-accredited postdoctoral
fellowship program with five funded 1-year postdoctoral training
positions that are primarily clinically focused. In addition, the Mental
Illness, Research, and Education Center
([MIRECC](http://mirecc.stanford.edu/)) and the Health Services Research
and Development (HSR&D) Center for Health Care Evaluation
([CHCE](http://www.chce.research.va.gov/)) have funded 2-year
postdoctoral positions that are primarily research-focused. This section
only describes the clinically-focused Psychology Service positions and
the MIRECC positions. For information about positions at HSR&D, please
contact Keith Humphreys, Ph.D., at 650 493-5000, x22814. The MIRECC
fellowship program is separately accredited by APA, and the latter
research-focused postdoctoral positions (HSR&D, OAC) are not part of
either APA-accredited program.

Applicants for postdoctoral positions must be U.S. citizens who have
attended an APA-accredited doctoral program in clinical or counseling
psychology and who are currently in or have completed an APA-accredited
predoctoral internship. In order to be eligible to begin the Fellowship,
the selected applicant must have completed the dissertation and all
other doctoral degree requirements before September 1.

**Psychology Service Clinical Postdoctoral Fellowship Program**

There are seven emphasis areas in the Psychology Service clinical
postdoctoral fellowship program: Behavioral Medicine, Geropsychology,
Hospice/Palliative Care, Rehabilitation Psychology, Psychosocial
Rehabilitation for the Seriously Mentally Ill, PTSD, and Substance
Use/Homeless Rehabilitation. Postdoctoral Fellows receive a yearly
stipend of \$46,968. The Postdoctoral training program is a full-time,
one-year program with a 2,080 hour training requirement. The starting
date each year is generally September 1 and the ending date is August
31; some flexibility with start and end dates is possible, as long as
the training covers one full calendar year. We do not accept funded
part-time Postdoctoral Fellows.

Funding for training also includes health care benefits with a variety
of different insurance programs available from which Fellows can select.
Postdoctoral Fellows receive paid Federal holidays, 13 days of annual
leave, 13 days of sick leave (if needed), and any amount of Authorized
Absence commensurate with meaningful professional activities.

The mission of the VAPAHCS Psychology Postdoctoral Training Program is
to train psychologists who meet general advanced practice competencies
in psychology and can function effectively as professional psychologists
in a broad range of multidisciplinary settings. Prior to beginning the
postdoctoral experience, Fellows are expected to have attained a high
level of accomplishment in generalist training. The primary goal of the
postdoctoral program is for Fellows to develop the full range of skills
required for independent functioning as a psychologist, including skills
involved in clinical assessment and intervention; consultation,
supervision, and teaching; scholarly inquiry; organization,
administration, management, and program evaluation activities; and
awareness of and sensitivity to professional, ethical, legal, and
diversity issues.

Complementing our goal of preparing Fellows to function as independent
psychologists, we also aim to prepare Fellows for practice in high
priority areas of health care for veterans. VA's national training goals
are listed as primary care, geriatrics, mental health and rehabilitation
(Associated Health Professions Review Subcommittee, 1997). The
Psychology Postdoctoral Training Program includes seven emphasis areas:
Geropsychology, Behavioral Medicine, Palliative Care, Psychosocial
Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Psychology, PTSD, and Substance
Use/Homeless Rehabilitation. Through the professional activities in
these emphasis areas, Fellows receive training that facilitates their
development of the core general advanced practice competencies described
in Goal 1. In addition, Fellows develop depth of knowledge and advanced
skills in working with specific populations/settings (i.e., the aging,
medically ill, terminally ill and/or dying, severely mentally ill,
rehabilitation, trauma, substance using and/or homeless).

We offer three seminar experiences specifically for Postdoctoral
Fellows. One is a seminar on Professional Development, which meets twice
per month, led by the Training Director. A variety of topics are covered
in that seminar, all attending to issues of professional development,
identity, and self-confidence. As part of the seminar, Fellows also
jointly decide on a topic for a Continuing Education conference which
they plan and implement, as one of Psychology Service's APA approved
program of continuing education). The second seminar provides didactic
training on supervision and an opportunity for Fellows to compare and
discuss experiences as supervisors. In addition to the seminar, fellows
are expected to supervise at least two cases seen by an intern or
practicum student, while receiving supervision on that supervision, from
the primary staff supervisor. Finally, Fellows also meet one hour weekly
for a clinical case conference and journal club.

The training program is committed to the scientist-practitioner model;
Fellows will be expected to utilize state-of-the-art literature on
empirically supported assessment and treatment in planning and
delivering services and simultaneously expected to participate in
research with direct clinical implications that can potentially serve to
expand knowledge and quality of care. In addition, several didactic
experiences are available to support continued development of skills for
integrating science and practice. We are guided both by the original
articulation of the Boulder Model (Raimy, 1950) and by the update of the
scientist-practitioner model, as articulated at the Gainesville
conference in 1991 and in the subsequent publication following that
conference (Belar & Perry, 1992).

Although the program is primarily clinically focused, Fellows in every
emphasis area are expected to participate in research (Behavioral
Medicine, Geropsychology, Rehabilitation Psychology, PTSD, and Substance
Use/Homeless Rehabilitation emphasis areas), development of an
educational project (Psychosocial Rehabilitation emphasis area), or can
choose to do one or the other (Palliative Care emphasis area). Fellows
are expected to complete a meaningful aspect of the project during the
year. This could be writing a grant proposal, generating an article
submitted for publication or presentation at a professional meeting,
developing and presenting an in-service training module, or some other
marker of productivity. Fellows have one day a week of protected time
for such research and educational activity. In addition, many Fellows
are involved with research concerning direct clinical hypotheses, so
some of their clinical experiences will be in the context of research
programs, such that the clinical work contributes to data collection and
ongoing generation of hypotheses about the area of research.

There are many research opportunities here. Most training sites are
excellent models of scientist-practitioner functioning, in which
clinical work guides ongoing research, and in turn the research findings
inform the clinical work. Areas of ongoing research should be discussed
with supervisors in the various emphasis areas since new projects are
developed continuously. Fellows in any emphasis area can get involved in
research in relevant settings.

Information about required application materials and the selection
process can be obtained by contacting the Postdoctoral Coordinator, Bill
Faustman, Ph.D., preferably by email at [William.Faustman
\@va.gov](mailto:Matthew.Cordova@va.gov) or at (650) 493-5000 x64950.
Application materials are due by January 5, 2009. Please specify which
emphasis area(s) you are considering when you request and submit an
application.

**VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Psychology at MIRECC**

The Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical
Center ([Sierra Pacific MIRECC](http://mirecc.stanford.edu/)), in
conjunction with VA Palo Alto Psychology Service, offers a two-year
postdoctoral program in Advanced Psychology. Postdoctoral Fellows in
their first year receive a yearly stipend of \$46,968; in the second
year, the stipend will be somewhat higher and will be determined. The
MIRECC Fellowship is separately accredited by APA and has distinct goals
and objectives from the Psychology Service Clinical Psychology
Fellowship Program described above.

The MIRECC Fellowship program is interdisciplinary and aims to train
psychologists to become outstanding clinical researchers in two high
priority areas of mental health, geropsychology and stress disorders
such as PTSD. The program combines individualized, mentored research and
clinical training with a state-of-the-art curriculum that emphasizes
research methods; statistics; epidemiology; mental health systems;
quality improvement methods; education and service delivery. Fellows
devote 75% time to education and research activities and 25% time is
protected for clinical training. As with the Clinical Fellows, MIRECC
Fellows typically are involved with research concerning clinical
hypotheses, and some of their clinical experiences will be in the
context of research programs, such that the clinical work contributes to
data collection and ongoing generation of hypotheses about the area of
research. Thus, the total amount of clinical time obtained can be
considered to be well above the 25% protected clinical time.

In collaboration with their mentors, Fellows will develop and implement
a research project, publish and present findings, participate in grant
writing, and utilize the latest technology for educational activities
and clinical service delivery. A special emphasis of the fellowship
program is to train fellows to conduct translational research that
brings basic science to clinical practice. For example, fellows learn
how genetic factors are linked to clinical outcomes and how innovative
research methodologies yield more clinically relevant information. The
Sierra Pacific MIRECC is one of ten sites participating in the
fellowship program. The ten fellowship sites are linked electronically
for didactic, academic, and research efforts. One highly successful
aspect of training has been the national video conference seminar
series. Each month a different expert presents the latest advances in
conducting a particular aspect of clinical research. Seminar topics last
year included VA career development, funding and resources, behavioral
genetics, health informatics, and designing clinical trials of
behavioral therapies. Fellows in this program also participate in the
Psychology Service Professional Development and Supervision seminars
described above. For more information about this fellowship program,
contact Julie Weitlauf, Ph.D., Psychology Fellowship Director, at
<Julie.Weitlauf@va.gov> or (650) 493-5000 x23429.

######### Living in the San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area is a geographically and ethnically diverse
area surrounding the San Francisco Bay in Northern California. Home to
world-class universities such as Stanford University and UC Berkeley as
well as the headquarters of leading Silicon Valley high-tech companies
such as Google, Yahoo!, Apple, and eBay, the Bay Area is one of the most
culturally, intellectually, and economically dynamic areas of the
country. Palo Alto is located on the San Francisco Peninsula about 35
miles south of San Francisco, which is referred to as "The City" and the
cultural center of the Bay Area.

The Bay Area has three major airports (San Francisco International, San
Jose Mineta International, and Oakland), as well as an extensive freeway
system. Public transportation on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and local
bus systems connect the cities and suburbs of the Bay Area, though most
residents drive themselves. Housing for renters and homebuyers is one of
the most expensive in the country.

The Bay Area is the fifth most populous metropolitan area in the United
States, with high levels of international immigration. Palo Alto is part
of Santa Clara County which has slightly different demographics than the
Bay Area overall, with greater numbers of Asians and Asian Americans and
fewer numbers of African Americans. Also, thirty-four percent of the
people living in Santa Clara County in 2006 were foreign-born. See pie
charts below for specifics on Bay Area and county demographics.

![](media/image3.wmf)

![](media/image4.wmf)

The region has a lot to offer, making the Bay Area one of the most
desirable places to live in the country -- mild weather, beaches,
mountains, and open space perfect for outdoors enthusiasts, a thriving
business and technology sector, and excellent universities and
academically-affiliated medical centers providing resources for
intellectual and scholarly activities. Visitors and residents alike can
enjoy the diversity of social and cultural attractions, such as museums,
cultural events, top-rated restaurants, and wineries in the Napa and
Sonoma Valleys. In addition to easily accessible outdoor recreation
areas for skiing, surfing, hiking, and biking, sports fans can follow
the many Bay Area sports teams (Oakland A's, SF Giants, SF 49ers, San
Jose Sharks, Golden State Warriors).

Please see the below websites for more information about the local area:

  ---------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Palo Alto                    [www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/](http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/)

  Stanford University          [www.stanford.edu/home/welcome/campus/index.html](http://www.stanford.edu/home/welcome/campus/index.html)

  California home page; click  [www.ca.gov/state/portal/myca_homepage.jsp](http://www.ca.gov/state/portal/myca_homepage.jsp)
  on Environment and Natural   
  Resources for some great     
  photos and info              

  Monterey Bay Marine          [www.montereybay.noaa.gov/](http://www.montereybay.noaa.gov/)
  Sanctuary                    

  California travel; click on  <http://gocalif.ca.gov/state/tourism/tour_homepage.jsp>
  Regions and then SF Bay Area 

  Bay Area news and            [www.sfgate.com/](http://www.sfgate.com/)
  information                  
  ---------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The VA Palo Alto Internship program values practicing balance in one's
professional and personal life, which our supervisors strive for and
hope to be good models for our interns. If you come to VA Palo Alto for
internship, we hope you will have many opportunities to explore and
enjoy living in this great area!

######### Contacting Psychology Service

Psychology Service is open for business Monday through Friday, 8AM -
4:30PM Pacific Time, except on Federal holidays. Local application
materials and a copy of this brochure may be obtained by emailing or
telephoning the Psychology Service Program Support Assistant at
<Dana.Iller@va.gov>, or on the VA Palo Alto website; details follow:

Psychology Training Program (116B)

Palo Alto VA Health Care System

3801 Miranda Avenue

Palo Alto, CA 94304

Telephone: (650) 493-5000, ext. 65476

Fax: (650) 852-3445

Website:
[www.palo-alto.med.va.gov/MentalHealth/PsychologyTraining.asp](http://www.palo-alto.med.va.gov/MentalHealth/PsychologyTraining.asp)

The Training Director can be reached at <Jeanette.Hsu@va.gov>. Thank you
for your interest in our program. Feel free to be in touch with the
Training Director and/or the Psychology Service Program Support
Assistant if you have additional questions.

Jeanette Hsu, Ph.D. Steven Lovett, Ph.D.

Training Director, Psychology Service Chief, Psychology Service

The VA Palo Alto Health Care System Psychology Service has an
APA-accredited internship program and an APA-accredited postdoctoral
program. The [APA Office of Program Consultation and
Accreditation](http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/) can be reached at
the American Psychological Association, 750 First St. NE, Washington DC
20002-4242; phone number 202 336-5979.