This month the NCAL Kaiser Mental Health Training Program is very excited to highlight the pioneering work of Matthew Holland, PsyD (he/him). Dr. Holland comes from a multi-ethnic background (Mexican/Okinawan/English) with a multi-cultural upbringing. He states that “balancing multiple perspective and appreciating differing value systems is a part of my life experience “and reflecting on the impacts of his own intersectional identity has been a lifelong journey and source of strength and personal growth.
Dr. Holland has held many diverse faculty roles in local training programs, including assessment supervisor for postdoctoral residents, primary and assessment supervisor for practicum externs, FIC case consultation group supervisor for NSA trainees, and delegated supervisor for the NSA postdoctoral residency. He has also contributed to the North Bay Postdoctoral Residency Consortium as an instructor for their didactic seminars and produced valuable Lucet training resources for the MHTP Lecture Library.
Dr. Holland started with the KPNC MHTP in May of 2023 as a Clinical Supervisor, where he continues to supervise practicum externs and post-master’s fellows. He has also been in the process of creating and piloting MHTP regional psychological/cognitive assessment workflows for doctoral level trainees for the Adult ADHD and Adult ASD populations. This year he has also offered a twice monthly supplemental assessment didactic series for trainee’s working with the adult population. Dr. Holland is also a pivotal support for internship program development and accreditation for varying medical centers.
Immediately following his undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley, Dr. Holland took a break from academia to pursue performing arts before committing to his long-term career path as a psychologist. His strong interest in the medical setting led him to Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, where his patients were often experiencing “mental health services for the first time”. He reports that his interests have included “normalizing/de-stigmatizing mental health services” and “translating the science of psychology for patients and increasing patient awareness of the partnership of the mind and body”.
Dr. Holland’s favorite part of his work is the teaching and mentoring he does in his varied roles with the NCAL Mental Health Training Program where he has enjoyed “encouraging trainees to find/develop their professional clinical style”. He acknowledges that he wished there had been more training available in feedback informed care and outcomes monitoring when he started in the field, and in his work, he enjoys “finding gaps in my knowledge and training and passing along that information to trainees”. Dr. Holland is especially proud of the workgroup he participated in that launched the KPNC MHTP Resource Center featuring custom onboarding programs for all new trainees and serving as a single destination for training resources.
Outside of his dedication to health psychology and training, Dr. Holland enjoys spending time with his two young and curious sons, as well as enjoying and appreciating all the great food the Bay Area has to offer.
Contributed by Chelsea Vilinskas, PsyD
