Housed in the Psychology Division of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, the Medical College of Georgia/Augusta University Postdoctoral Child Psychology Fellowship blends child/adolescent clinical activities, teaching/supervision, and protected research time. Under the direction of Drs. Christopher Drescher and Candace Best, this fellowship is designed to prepare professional child psychologists for a career in a range of settings including academic medical centers, children's hospitals, and private practice. Training experiences include delivering clinical services for children/adolescents, including diagnostic interviewing, psychological testing, individual and family therapies, and multifamily adolescent Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills group; providing clinical services to pediatric populations; teaching didactics and supervising psychology and medical trainees at various levels; and conducting research with child clinical/pediatric populations. Fellows will have opportunities to work with a broad range of clinical populations, such as patients with emotion regulation problems, mood/anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and comorbid medical disorders. Specific clinical experiences will be determined by fellow interest/training needs and funding sources. Training supervisors are primarily cognitive behavioral in orientation and have expertise in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, DBT, LGBTQ issues, multicultural therapy, and pediatric psychology consultation/liaison services. Additional training experiences include providing didactics and supervision for doctoral psychology interns, medical students, and other trainees. Scholarly activities can include endeavors designed and implemented by the fellow and/or collaborative research with Medical College of Georgia/Augusta University faculty. The fellow will have shared didactics with other psychology postdoctoral fellows and child and adolescent psychiatry fellows within the department as appropriate. Supervision, didactics, and clinical services may be conducted virtually as necessary to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Fellowship Director: Lara M. Stepleman, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Health Behavior
Please note: This is a 2-year fellowship and next application cycle will be for August
2021 start date.
The Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University anticipates funding for one full-time postdoctoral fellow interested in health psychology with an academic health center. The position has a strong focus on HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ Health in regard to mental health, treatment adherence, risk reduction, health disparities, and intersectionality. The postdoctoral fellow will serve in several integrated care clinics including Infectious Disease and the Equality Clinic of Augusta, a student run, all-volunteer LGBTQ primary care clinic as a mental health consultant. Additionally, we recently started a clinic with reproductive endocrinology as part of a gender affirmative medical transition team. Additional opportunities within other clinics (i.e. oncology) or populations (i.e. pediatrics) can be negotiated based on specific needs of the follow and/or current availability of training experiences. This position emphasizes integrated practice and the intersection of diversity issues, health beliefs, and culturally competent care.
The fellowship is approximately 70% clinical and 30% research and administration. The clinical portion of this fellowship will entail providing consultation, assessment, outreach, program development, and individual, family and group therapy to either individuals living with or affected by HIV and/or identify as LGBTQ. HIV and LGBTQ Health services will take place in several clinical environments including integrated care medical clinics, outpatient psychiatry, and local public health and community service agencies. The fellow will function as part of a multidisciplinary treatment teams of psychologists, physicians, physician assistants, psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers. In addition, the fellow will be provided with opportunities to supervise clinical and research experiences for psychology interns from our APA internship, psychiatry residents, and medical and undergraduate students. The research portion of the fellowship will entail collaborative health psychology research that may include participation on existing research projects and the development of new programs of research. We have a very active LGBTQ interprofessional research team. The administration portion of the fellowship will include assisting in grants development and management. Opportunities to teach in the medical school also exist.
By the beginning of the fellowship year, the applicant will have completed an APA-approved
doctoral program in clinical or counseling psychology and an APA-approved pre-doctoral
internship program. Experience working with LGBTQ communities and HIV and/or chronically
ill individuals or experience in medical settings is strongly preferred. Annual starting
salary is expected to be approximately $47,770, plus conference travel reimbursement,
health insurance, and retirement. The anticipated start date is flexible and based
on candidates needs but should fall between July 1 and September 1, 2021. Licensure
supervision will be provided. The fellowship is designed to be two years (assuming
funding availability) and preference is given to those open to completing a second
year.
Please email Lara Stepleman, PhD at lsteplm@augusta.edu for additional information.
The Psychology Division of the Department of Psychiatry & Health Behavior is pleased to offer a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, with options for training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and the Psychology of Women. The fellowship focuses on advanced clinical training in evidence-based approaches to problems of emotion dysregulation, suicide and self-injury, and substance abuse. The fellow will have opportunities to work in an outpatient setting with a broad range of clinical populations, such as patients with mood/anxiety disorders, PTSD and other trauma-related problems, eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, substance use disorders, and chronic medical illnesses. The fellow will work within our comprehensive outpatient Dialectical Behavior Therapy program, serving as intake coordinator to the program, providing individual DBT to adults, leading and/or co-leading adult skills groups, and participating in the weekly DBT consultation team. The fellow will also have the opportunity for training and supervision in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and other behavioral therapies. Additionally, the fellow may choose to tailor experiences to focus on the psychology of women.
Specific clinical experiences will be determined by fellow interest/training needs and funding sources. Additional training experiences include providing didactics and supervision for psychiatry trainees and psychology interns. The fellow will have shared didactics/seminars with other psychology postdoctoral fellows, including the option to participate in a Psychology of Women seminar with an emphasis on intersectional understandings of gender. The fellow will have 20% protected research time (one day per week). The research activities can include research endeavors designed and implemented by the fellow, as well as collaborative research with Medical College of Georgia/Augusta University faculty. Current research projects involving the fellows are focused on processes of change in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy groups for stage 2 DBT clients, ACT for substance use recovery group clients, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills group clients.
View details of the DBT/ACT/Psychology of Women Fellowship
The Fellowship in Forensic Psychology is offered through a partnership between East Central Regional Hospital (ECRH) and Augusta University (AU). The fellowship has two full-time positions available each year. The 2021-2022 year will be our tenth year and we are privileged to be part of the psychiatry department at Augusta University where a high priority is afforded to excellent clinical care and training.
Fellows are given an opportunity to evaluate individuals who have been charged with
a wide-variety of criminal offenses, including: murder, aggravated assault, rape,
and child molestation. The fellowship offers specialized training in conducting competency
to proceed to trial, criminal responsibility (insanity), and violence risk evaluations.
Fellows who are interested will also have opportunities to conduct competency to stand
trial and court-ordered psychological evaluations with juvenile offenders.
Fellows will have opportunities to conduct evaluations on diverse individuals covering
major diagnostic categories, including: psychotic disorders, mood disorders, personality
disorders, substance abuse, malingering, and intellectual disabilities. At the hospital,
there are three units that house 71 forensic individuals who are diverse in terms
of age, race, and socioeconomic status. Clinical training experiences include conducting
comprehensive assessments of competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility (insanity),
and violence risk. Fellows will be given the opportunity to testify and to observe
expert testimony provided by their supervisors. When a fellow is required to testify,
they will be accompanied to court by their supervisor. During the outpatient rotation,
fellows will conduct competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility evaluations
with adult defendants who are either incarcerated or out on bail. Fellows will also
be involved in annual civil commitment reviews, which are designed to provide the
Court with an individual’s progress over the proceeding year and to make recommendations
related to their appropriateness for continued outpatient commitment/conditional release.
View details of the Forensic Psychology Fellowship
