Associate Post Master’s Mental Health Fellowship – San Rafael

The Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Training Program has a long-standing commitment to Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity.  Diversity training and consultation is a major component of our training tracks and curricula, encouraging our staff and residents to foster cultural humility, understanding, and competence.

Our Kaiser San Rafael Training Program provides a Cultural Diversity Case Consultation for all trainees twice a month. The goal of the cultural diversity case consultation is to provide trainees with a safe environment where they can bring in clinical cases and practice case conceptualization and treatment planning from a cultural diversity lens.

At the clinic level, Kaiser San Rafael also has a Diversity and Inclusion Committee where all staff are encouraged to attend monthly meetings designed to identify, problem-solve, and implement plans for addressing various diversity issues in our workplace and service system. The Diversity and Inclusion Committee also hosts advanced trainings for all staff on topics designed to promote cultural competence and cultural sensitivity in the workplace.

At the regional level, our Mental Health Training Program’s Regional Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Committee organizes monthly forums that are designed for trainees only. Forums are held with experts from the community, within Kaiser Permanente, and national leaders on EID topics impacting trainees clinical work and personal development. Example of forum topics include immigration, micro-aggression, unconscious bias, Black maternal mental health, white privilege, and gender-affirming care. In addition to the forums, our Regional EID Officers also provide optional monthly consultation sessions for trainees.

Regularly scheduled weekly didactic seminars are organized and administered at the regional level for all Kaiser Permanente Northern California mental health trainees. Fellows are required to attend the two-hour weekly seminar, which focuses on aspects of clinical practice that the residents may not regularly encounter. Diversity issues are always integrated into seminar presentations.

Recent seminar topics included: Frontiers in Trauma Treatment; Advanced Risk Assessment; Updates in Substance Abuse Research & treatment; Advancements in Psychopharmacology; Cognitive Processing Therapy; Technology and Mental Health; Trans/Nonbinary Mental Health; Building a Better Brain through Exercise, Nutrition, Sleep and Stress Management; and Self-compassion.

Our Regional Mental Health Training Program also sponsors professional training courses for continuing professional development. These courses and presentations are offered at select times during the year for all KP mental health trainees and staff at Kaiser Northern California Medical Centers. We bring in national experts and keynote speakers on a variety of cutting-edge topics in mental health treatment and research. Fellows are required to attend these monthly regional trainings in addition to the weekly didactic seminars. Training course dates and a list of speakers and topics can be found on the Regional Mental Health Training Programs website. In addition, many of these lectures are recorded and available under the continuing education lecture library.

Fellows are expected to participate in weekly team case consultation. This is an opportunity to develop skills around case conceptualization and developing a working diagnosis, discuss symptom management and treatment planning, and incorporate Feedback Informed Care (FIC). This is also an opportunity to discuss barriers to treatment and ways to enhance therapeutic alignment with patients.

Fellows are also expected to attend team meetings including smaller team meetings and a monthly department-wide staff meeting.

Fellows participate in various supervision activities that meet BBS supervision standards. This includes weekly, hour-long, face-to-face supervision with the primary and secondary supervisors totaling two hours weekly of individual supervision. The primary and secondary supervisors are responsible for supervising the direct delivery of clinical services. The primary supervisor is responsible for developing the fellow’s learning plan, monitoring process, and evaluating their schedule. The primary supervisor also oversees the clinical work and completes the evaluations after gathering input from the secondary supervisor and other staff who work closely with the fellow.

The fellow gains invaluable group supervision experience via a multi-degree hour-long group supervision with SRF’s practicum cohort facilitated by psychologists in the Specialty Mental Health Department. Fellows are also encouraged to participate in a monthly EID regional supervision and depending on clinical interest and patients, may be encouraged to attend specialty track clinical group supervisions as well.

Fellows will complete a 32-hour community partnership project during their training year. They may choose from a list of existing partners or create new partnerships that align with their interests and then needs of the surrounding community.

Addiction Medicine and Recovery Services (AMRS) provides treatment for patients with Substance Use Disorder (SUD). Greater than 50% of patients with SUDs will present with dual diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and PTSD. There are co-dependency services and family education groups for friends and family members of the patient as well. The program consists of multiple levels of treatment depending on the severity and the needs of the patient. The day treatment program is a combination of integrated and group-based care with a mix of psychoeducation and process-oriented groups. The clinic also offers a harm-reduction program for patients whose goals do not include complete abstinence. The clinic provides outpatient medical detoxification and medication assisted treatment, as well as psychiatric medication management.

The fellow will gain experience in facilitating groups, and providing triage services, intake assessments, case management and individual psychotherapy. Fellows will coordinate care with a multidisciplinary team consisting of MDs, RNs, PhDs and LMFTs within the clinic and other departments.