May 07, 2015

South Texas Veterans Health Care System

Clinical Psychology Postdoctoral Residency

with an emphasis in Rural Mental Health

Accredited by APA since 1999

Training Year 2015-2016

 

The Psychology Service at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) has funding for an additional one-year position in the APA-Accredited Postdoctoral Residency in Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis in Rural Mental Health.  The STVHCS Clinical Psychology Training Program provides training to nine clinical psychology residents, with emphasis areas in Geropsychology, Health Psychology/Behavioral Sleep Medicine, Palliative Care, Primary Care/Health, Psychosocial Rehabilitation for Serious Mental Illness, Rural Mental Health, Substance Use Disorders & Homelessness, and Trauma.  Additionally, STVHCS has an accredited residency program in clinical neuropsychology with four residents and an accredited internship program with six interns.

 

Residency Description: The postdoctoral residency program aims to train the Rural MH-emphasis residents in general clinical psychology with a specialty area of rural mental health psychology. The residents will be housed at the South Texas Veterans Health Care Center (STVHCS) Kerrville Division in Kerrville, Texas located 65 miles northwest of San Antonio in the beautiful Texas hill country. Given its distance from the main hospital in San Antonio, the residents may be able to utilize VA vehicles or the VA Shuttle between locations to attend didactics and training. Through its affiliation with local agencies and the University of Texas Health Science Center, the STVHCS is actively engaged in community outreach and research partnerships, and serves as a teaching center for health care professionals in numerous disciplines. 

 

Since Kerrville, Texas has a population of 23,000 and serves the surrounding rural areas, training at the Kerrville Division affords residents an opportunity to become skilled in the provision of mental health services within the rural context, as well as the opportunity to develop cultural competency in working with a Hispanic population. Didactic training is fulfilled through video-teleconferencing or on-site attendance of presentations at STVHCS with our postdoctoral residency program, to provide the residents with opportunities to interact with colleagues. The residents have the opportunity for mental health experiences in rural populations with general outpatient mental health, PTSD specialty care, primary care-mental health integration, substance abuse, and geropsychology. Given the unique retirement setting of the Texas hill country, postdoctoral residents will provide treatment to a diverse group of patients spanning from OEF/OIF/OND veterans in their 20s to many of our Vietnam era veterans, as well as retired veterans from the World War II/Korea era living in the Kerrville area. Evidence-based psychotherapy training is available in Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Diversity training includes an emphasis on various areas of multiculturalism especially with veterans of Hispanic ethnicity (including the provision of Spanish-language therapies if residents are bilingual). Given the historical influx of German settlers in the local area, the postdoctoral residents will also have an opportunity to work with individuals from this cultural background.

 

In addition to the specific curriculum training above, the residents will be trained in several models of service delivery applicable to the rural context and outpatient mental health care (behavioral consultation models, community mental health models and system theory, etc). Along with the other residents in the STVHCS training programs, the trainees will complete an administrative and a research project; these projects will have a special focus on rural mental health services, in line with the emphasis area.

 

Accreditation Status: The clinical psychology postdoctoral residency program at STVHCS has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1999.  It was the first VA postdoctoral residency to attain accreditation. 

 

Benefits and Stipend: Salary is$42,239 (no state income tax in Texas) paid biweekly, with health and life insurance available. Annual Leave (vacation), Sick Leave, and Professional Leave are also benefits for residents. The STVHCS is an equal opportunity employer and minority applicants are encouraged to apply.

  

Residency Qualifications: As with all VA psychology positions, applicants must be citizens of the United States, have earned their doctorate in Clinical or Counseling Psychology from an APA-accredited program, and successfully completed an APA-accredited internship. We are looking for highly motivated and independent trainees who are clinically flexible and enjoy working collaboratively with other members of a multidisciplinary team.

 

Please refer to our training website for more information on the residency program and frequently asked questions. (http://www.southtexas.va.gov/psychology/index.asp)

 

Application Process:

Please submit the following to the Training Director, Dr. Karin McCoy, at Karin.McCoy@va.gov

 

ü  Cover Letter indicating interest in the Rural Mental Health emphasis area, and stating your training and career goals and how the STVHCS program can help you meet those goals.

ü  Curriculum Vita

ü  Three letters of recommendation from psychologists.  Applicants who are currently on internship should include an additional, brief, letter from their Director of Internship Training verifying their standing in the internship program and the expected date of completion. 

ü  Letter from Dissertation Chair indicating the status of your research project (e.g., completed data collection) and the anticipated date of completion/defense. 

Note:  If the dissertation chair is providing one of the recommendation letters, the dissertation status information may be included in that letter, precluding the need for an additional letter.

ü  Abstract of Dissertation

ü  Copies of Graduate Transcript (s)

 

 

Applications will be reviewed and interviews offered on a rolling basis, as received, until the position is filled.  Competitive applicants will be offered the opportunity to interview by telephone, VTC (video-teleconference), or in person, with travel at the applicant’s expense.

 

The training year will begin on 10 August 2015.

 

For additional information, please contact the Training Director, Karin J.M. McCoy, Ph.D., ABPP, at 210-617-5121 or by email atKarin.McCoy@va.gov

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