A prospective resident may apply to one or more areas of emphasis within the APA-accredited Residency program. An area of emphasis is defined as a placement setting in either child/adolescent or adult psychology which serves as the primary site(s) of training for the Resident for the training year. The areas of emphasis are described below. Residents training in the specialty areas of Neuropsychology and the Anxiety Disorders Center are under the direction of the Director of Training and participate in the seminars with all Residents, although they are not currently part of the APA-accredited Postdoctoral Training Program.
The Institute of Living currently offers 6 APA-accredited positions, with 8 potential areas of specialty: (1) Adult Inpatient Psychology; 2) Child and Adolescent Inpatient Psychology; 3) Psychosis/Persistent Mental Illness; 4) Child and Adolescent School-Based Assessment and Treatment; 5) Health Psychology/Behavioral Medicine; 6) LGBTQ+ Gender Affirmative Care; 7) Psychological Assessment; and 8) Psychodynamic and Mentalization-Informed Psychotherapy.
Please note, we will be interviewing and accepting applications for all of these specialties, with 6 positions available. Decisions regarding admission will be determined based on goodness of fit with the applicant’s training goals and experience.
APA-Accredited General Clinical Psychology Area of Emphasis:
Adult Inpatient
The focus of the inpatient fellowship is on the delivery of brief, intensive treatment with patients admitted to our general adult inpatient psychiatric units in the role of Psychology Consultant. Within the inpatient hospital at IOL, there are 4 adult units and 3 child and adolescent units which are all serviced by the Inpatient Psychology Consultation Service. The Hartford area is richly diverse, allowing for advancement of cultural competence at the forefront of both patient and systemic interactions. Diversity and Equity are a focus within case formulation and treatment planning, while also being openly discussed in meetings and councils throughout the healthcare system. The consultation service acts as an adjunct and complement to the current treatment plan and can include the provision of individual psychotherapy, targeted interventions, individualized behavior plans, case conceptualizations, risk assessments, and treatment recommendations. The fellow acts as expert and consultant to the requesting treatment team.
The fellow works across all adult and older adult units and becomes part of the requesting interprofessional team which includes, Psychiatry, Social Work, Nursing, Recreation Therapy, Recovery Support Specialists and Mental Health Technicians. The requests typically involve assistance with highly complex, high risk, or high needs patients. The fellow is a key member of this consultation service and will be expected to quickly assume an independent level of functioning; therefore, applicants with psychiatric inpatient experience are highly desired. Applicants should also be comfortable with psychodynamic theories and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Fellows will facilitate both process-oriented and skills-based groups across multiple adult inpatient units. At times, these groups will be run independently and intermittently co-facilitated with interns and practicum students. This will provide in-vivo supervisory experience for the Fellow in addition to 30 minutes per week of supervised supervision of the inpatient Intern. Fellows participate in supervised research (4 hours reserved/protected weekly) that has generally focused on clinical topics related to their fellowship. Fellows present their research at the Psychology Department’s Research Day during the summer.
Child/Adolescent Inpatient
Child/Adolescent Inpatient Training is science-informed and will focus on the preparation for advanced practice competence in provision of brief inpatient treatment with children and adolescents presenting with a wide range of acute and severe psychopathology. The treatment model integrates empirically supported interventions, contemporary psychoanalytic object relations perspective and systems/family work.
Residents will develop advanced skills and experience in rapid psychodiagnostic and risk assessment, case formulation, and assessment with DSM-V diagnosis. In addition, Residents will develop advanced competency in consultation, treatment planning, and case management (when appropriate). Interventions used/developed during training include individual psychotherapy, group therapy, psychopharmacology, family therapy, milieu therapy, and behavioral/cognitive-behavioral/DBT techniques.
Residents will provide consultation through the Inpatient Psychology Consultation Service to the child and adolescent units throughout the duration of their training year. Depending on the consultation question and the clinical need, the resident will carry up to 3-5 consultations at a time. The consultation service acts as an adjunct and complement to the current treatment plan and can include the provision of individual psychotherapy, family therapy, specialized treatment interventions, individualized behavior plan and staff support plans, complex case conceptualizations, risk assessments, and treatment recommendations. Residents will work collaboratively with the multi-disciplinary treatment team to identify treatment needs and provide consultation. There is also the opportunity to provide consultation to the adult units when there is a need and interest.
Residents will receive extensive training in group therapy; facilitating/co-facilitating around 8 groups per week across the child, pre-adolescent, and adolescent units. Training will focus on process-oriented and skills-based group psychotherapy with adolescents. Social-skills and process-oriented group therapies are provided for child units.
The amount of direct service will vary considerably based upon individual patient needs but on average, each patient will require a minimum of 30 minutes daily of direct contact individually and involve multiple family meetings (when doing a family therapy consultation) during the week. Additionally, an integral aspect of the Resident’s training is developing experience with and competence in milieu therapy; the Resident will support the Unit Psychologist in milieu management, crisis intervention, and staff education/training. There will be many opportunities to develop leadership skills through involvement in program development and implementation, unit-wide initiatives, and Trauma-Informed Care staff training.
Health Psychology
The Health Psychology program includes training in assessment, consultation, and brief interventions for medical patients, with a variety of potential medical areas including surgical and medical weight loss, cardiology, oncology, transplant, neurology, and men’s/women’s health.
The Department of Psychology at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital is pleased to accept applications for one, one-year postdoctoral residency positions in clinical psychology with an emphasis in health psychology, to begin in fall of 2025. The residency follows the scientist-informed model of training and is an area of emphasis of the one-year APA-accredited postdoctoral residency program at the Institute of Living. The intent of the training program is to further the resident’s growth as a clinical psychologist and to develop advanced competency within the area of clinical health psychology. While the residency will emphasize evidence-based practices, the resident will receive training from various theoretical models, providing a unique perspective on the integration of mind and body problems.
The primary aim of the residency is to provide experiences in clinical assessment and intervention to adult patients experiencing a wide range of medical and psychological problems. The position is outpatient-based and includes consultation and diagnostic interviewing, pre-surgical psychological evaluations, short-term psychotherapy and behavioral interventions, and group therapy. The resident is provided ample didactic experiences and opportunities for teaching and supervision. There is also a requirement for a research project to be completed during the course of the year. There is flexibility in terms of primary clinical area of focus, with possible opportunities in the following areas:
- Headache
- Orthopedics/Sports Psychology
- Men’s Health
- Women’s Health
Applicants must have completed all requirements for the doctoral degree, including the completion of an APA-accredited predoctoral internship in clinical psychology. Preference is given to candidates with prior training and experience in health psychology, but this is not a requirement.
Lifespan Psychological Assessment
This position involves advanced training in psychological assessment across the lifespan with emphasis on complex case conceptualization and differential diagnosis. Fellows would be expected to complete 2 to 3 psychological assessments each week. For each case, the Testing Fellow will be responsible for record review, clarifying the referral with the interdisciplinary treatment team, test battery selection, clinical interviewing with patient (and family when applicable), administration of an integrated test battery, scoring, interpretation, report writing, and interactive feedback to referring interdisciplinary treatment team, patient, and/or family. Supervision is provided for all aspects of the assessment process; however, the Testing Fellow is expected to function with increased independence and autonomy as the year progresses. For each case, the Testing Fellow will receive approximately 1 to 2 hours of supervision.
The Psychological Testing Service receives referrals and consult requests from nearly all programs within the Institute of Living, including our six inpatient units, our many Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) and Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP), and outpatient programs. For every assessment case, you will be serving as a specialized consultant to interdisciplinary treatment teams across different levels of care and program specializations. We also receive referrals from specialty programs, such as the Center for Gender Health and Medical Weight Loss clinic. The Testing Fellow will assess patients across the lifespan with a wide range of presentations. Our test batteries are individualized based on referral questions, but generally include a clinical interview with the patient (and parent, if applicable), a brief cognitive and intellectual battery, a wide range of self-report (and parent-report) measures, and projective assessments. There is a strong emphasis on personality assessment measures (PAI, MMPI, Millon) and projective measures (Rorschach and CAT/TAT). Prior experience with the Rorschach is required. Batteries can often include neuropsychological measures, depending on the referral question. There are also opportunities for autism assessment training, including the ADOS-2, if interested. Referral questions and needs are varied, but often focus on suicide risk, violence/threat risk, complex differential diagnosis, presence of a psychotic-spectrum disorder, personality pathology, nature of mood disorder (e.g., depression versus bipolar), ongoing impact of trauma, concern for malingering, and/or determining cognitive or intellectual functioning.
In addition, the Testing Fellow would also carry at least two outpatient therapy cases throughout the training year. Cases are assigned based on the needs and interests of the fellow. As the training year progresses, the Testing Fellow has the option to grow their supervisory skills through tiered supervision with interns and practicum trainees, as well as holding group didactic sessions.
LGBTQ+ Gender Affirmative Care
The training program adheres to a science-informed model that actively integrates contemporary psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral models. The focus of the LGBTQ+ fellowship will be a hybrid model where the fellow will provide LGBTQ+ gender-affirmative care within Young Adult Services (YAS) the Right Track Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) in addition to helping with a Center for Gender Health Clinic that will initially run 2x/month with efforts to expand throughout the year.
The requests typically involve assistance with highly complex, high risk, or high needs patients. The fellow will become a part of the interprofessional team which includes Psychiatry, Social Work, Vocational Counseling, Case Management, and Recovery Support Specialists. The Right Track/LGBTQ Specialty Track IOP is a group-based therapy model that focuses on LGBTQ young adults (ages 16-26) who struggle with mental illness. The goals of the program are to help patients develop the ability to identify and modulate stress and stigma, strengthen family and family-of-choice connections, expand individual positive and creative coping skills, and capitalize on personal strengths. This is an IOP where the fellow will be expected to sit in/help with group programming 3 days per week, 3 hours per day (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday from 1-4pm). At times, these groups will be run independently and are intermittently co-facilitated with interns and/or practicum students. In addition, the fellow will be involved in intake assessments and team meetings. During the training year, the fellow will help design and run groups within the IOP group setting. In the past, topics have included: Process Groups related to LGBTQ+ issues/concerns, Mindfulness Series, Self-Compassion Series, and CBT/DBT Skills Training.
The Center for Gender Health Clinic will initially be a 2x/month specialty clinic for LGBTQ+ patients to receive several services which includes Psychology, Psychiatry, Primary Care/Infectious Disease, Endocrinology, and Case Management. The fellow will be expected to help assess patient’s readiness for gender affirming treatments, alongside a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. The fellow will also have opportunities to share their own voice and help be an essential part in building the Center for Gender Health here within Hartford HealthCare.
Treatment of Psychotic and Persistent Mental Illness
The Psychosis/Persistent Mental Illness fellow is integrated in the greater fellowship cohort through meetings and seminars but focuses on psychosis across levels of acuity and throughout the lifespan.
The focus of this fellowship is to immerse the fellow in work that focuses on treating individuals with psychosis across levels of acuity presenting with heterogeneity in symptom and at varying levels of onset (e.g., high-risk, first-episode, chronic). As such, the fellow will work with individuals with serious and persistent mental illness/psychosis in a variety of settings, such as our Schizophrenia Rehabilitation Intensive Outpatient Program, our Young Adult Potential track for First Episode intervention, and/or our Adult Inpatient units. The fellow will also have the option to carry an outpatient caseload of individuals suffering from psychotic illness across the lifespan.
Work at the Schizophrenia Rehabilitation Program (SRP) focuses on individual, group and family therapy, case management, cognitive remediation and psychoeducation for participants with chronic psychosis. The SRP also conducts and incorporates the latest research on the treatment and rehabilitation of schizophrenia to develop a best practice model for assessment and intervention. Research in the program includes vocational and cognitive interventions and outcomes, behavioral interventions and psychopharmacological interventions.
Work at the Potential track of the Young Adult Intensive Outpatient Program offers the opportunity for individual and group intervention for young adults in their first episode of psychosis. Both SRP and Potential programs offer the opportunity to conduct diagnostic and functional assessments in support of research and clinical interventions.
Work in the inpatient unit will include provision of consultative services to inpatient multidisciplinary treatment teams, individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, and case management.
There will also be opportunities to work with our adolescent psychosis program (ASAP) wherein the fellow will be exposed to those individuals presenting with at-risk or prodromal symptomology, or our Adult Day intensive outpatient program, where patients have a wider range of serious and persistent mental illness. Across settings, the fellow will facilitate both process-oriented and skills-based groups, be involved in individual and family treatment modalities, consult and work as part of various interdisciplinary teams, and be exposed to clinical research with these populations.
The Hartford area is richly diverse, allowing for advancement of cultural competence at the forefront of both patient and systemic interactions. Diversity and Equity are a focus within case formulation and treatment planning, and are openly discussed in meetings and councils throughout the healthcare system.
Psychodynamic and Mentalization-Informed Psychotherapy
The Professionals’ Program at the Institute of Living (IOL), Hartford Hospital (HH) is pleased to offer a full-time position in Psychodynamic and Mentalization-Informed Group and Individual Psychotherapy Fellowship. The Fellowship is housed in the Professionals Program which aims to offer an inclusive treatment space for adults who may be struggling to balance the demands of work, interpersonal life, and mental health. The Professionals’ program has a substantial emphasis on improving self-understanding and interpersonal functioning across multiple settings (e.g., family, work, friendships) to support symptom reduction and increase psychological insight and change. The program’s theoretical framework draws on aspects of insight-oriented treatment including interpersonal and psychodynamic therapy, mentalization-based therapy, family systems, as well as other treatment modalities including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavioral therapy (DBT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The programming in both the Intensive Outpatient Program and Partial Hospitalization Program includes a range of treatments with both skills-based and interpersonal process groups. Treatment typically includes eight weeks of intensive group therapy and medication management with a multidisciplinary team, three to five days a week.
The focus of the fellowship is on the delivery of group psychotherapy within the Professionals’ Program, which includes individuals presenting with severe mood disorders, characterological and personality syndromes, and trauma. The fellow will individually or co-facilitate interpersonal, psychodynamic-oriented process groups, mentalization-based psychotherapy groups, and skills-based groups. The fellow will also be involved in individual sessions with patients to help support them to fully utilize group and identify interpersonal and mentalization-based goals for group therapy. The fellow will also have the option to carry a caseload of individuals within the IOP/PHP and/or an outpatient basis. One of the many benefits of training within a larger hospital system includes availability of many elective experiences. Some of these experiences may include: work with severe and persistent mental illness, including schizophrenia or psychosis from a MERIT treatment lens, psychological and neuropsychological testing, engagement in the community-based radical recovery and DEIB initiatives, program development, leadership development, among a variety of other exciting opportunities.
In addition to clinical care, the fellow will have opportunities to engage in teaching and research experiences that align with their interests (i.e., co-teaching psychodynamic seminars for our internship training program, co-writing grants/research papers that align with mentalization-based or psychodynamic care, etc).
School-based Psychological Assessment and Psychotherapy
The Grace Webb School is our on-site therapeutic school that provides elementary, middle, and high school programming. The school and the outpatient clinics serve the regional and local community, which includes very ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically diverse populations. In addition to providing academic programming, Grace Webb School also provides individual and group psychotherapies to the students, and a broad spectrum of psychiatric diagnoses (mood; anxiety; psychosis, autism; trauma-related; personality) is represented.
The Resident working in the Grace Webb School will have the opportunity to carry child and adolescent cases in school and provide individual, group, and family psychotherapies. The Resident will also engage in crisis intervention, develop consultation skills, and conduct cognitive and personality testing to children and adolescents. The Resident will complete an average of two to three comprehensive assessments each month. Testing referrals include psychodiagnostic evaluations for school planning and placement team meetings. Residents work closely with psychiatrists, other psychologists, teachers, and social workers within the service. Students are typically enrolled for the full academic year, and as such the Residents have the opportunity to provide longer-term therapy. There is also the option of the Resident becoming involved in elective training opportunities throughout the IOL's outpatient clinics.
Cases are conceptualized in supervision from contemporary psychodynamic and behavioral perspectives. Integration of psychodynamic, family systems, and cognitive- behavioral conceptualizations with DSM-V diagnosis is emphasized. Training focuses on advancing the Resident’s skills in case conceptualization, intervention, assessment, and consultation, as well as professional development goals. Residents also participate in supervised research (4 hours reserved/protected weekly) that has generally focused on clinical topics related to their training. Residents present their research at the Psychology Department’s Psychology Research Day during the summer.
Applicants should have clinical experience with children and adolescents with significant mental health issues, preferably with some experience in milieu-based settings. Applicants should have competence in psychological testing, including at least some training or experience with projective testing.
Non-Accredited Specialty Tracks
Clinical Neuropsychology Fellowship
The Clinical Neuropsychology Residency is a member of the Association of Postdoctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology (APPCN) and is structured to meet Houston Conference and APA Division 40 Guidelines for training in neuropsychology with a goal of preparing fellows for board certification. The program collaborates with the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Hartford Hospital and the Institute of Living, as well as the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Hartford Hospital.
In accordance with Houston Conference guidelines, the Resident receives intensive training in the science and practice of clinical neuropsychology including opportunities for assessment, intervention, and research. We carry two postdoctoral Residents, starting on alternate years. Training differs across the two years in content, population, autonomy and to a degree, complexity, though the training program will flex to meet each fellow’s individual training needs.
Areas of emphasis include inpatient medical work, with referrals from neurology and PM&R, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, and brain tumor, as well as referrals of medically complex patients from other hospital departments (e.g., internal medicine, cardiology); outpatient evaluations in a general clinic, a movement clinic, and a memory care center; and inpatient neuropsychological evaluations within the psychiatry service, with questions related to differential diagnosis (often of dementia), ongoing impact from an established CNS insult (often TBI or CVA), or to acquire a cognitive profile in individuals who have serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Trainees also are involved in our late career assessment service, neurosurgery, clinically focused research, and interact with Residents from across the campus.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The Anxiety Disorders Center (ADC) at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital invites applications for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship (with an option for a second year, to be determined mutually) beginning in Fall 2025. The ADC is a combined clinical and research unit specializing in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and mood-related problems, and applied research on the nature and treatment of these disorders.
We are inviting applications for a postdoctoral fellow who will spend approximately 75% time providing clinical services, and approximately 25% time participating in research activities. We are recruiting for two fellow positions: one focusing primarily on work with adult patients and another on work with adolescents and children. Clinical duties will include assessment and outpatient cognitive-behavioral therapy, including intensive (daily) behavior therapy.
Research activities may include serving as a study therapist or independent evaluator, writing articles, or conducting data analyses. Numerous opportunities exist for independent basic or applied research as well. Although extensive research experience is not required, the ideal candidate will demonstrate adherence to the scientist-practitioner model, enjoys working in a research-rich environment, and seeks opportunities to connect clinical and research activities. All postdoctoral fellows at the Institute of Living complete and present on a year long research project. Other duties may include supervision of graduate clinicians and conducting workshops and trainings.
Qualifications include a doctoral degree in clinical psychology (APA accredited) and experience with cognitive-behavioral interventions for anxiety-related disorders.