Associate Post Master’s Mental Health Fellowship – South Sacramento

We are committed to nurturing and integrating diversity training into every aspect of our Associate Post Master’s Mental Health Fellowship Program by:

• Providing fellows with opportunities to work with patients who represent a wide range of diversity, including ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, socioeconomic status and abilities.
• Our service area has an EID committee that sponsors events like a monthly book club that staff from around the medical center can join – we were recently invited to share a mental health perspective on a book they read.
• Our department has an EID committee co-chaired by the training directors for associates and post-docs – meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of the month from 1:30pm – 2:30pm. The purpose is to help expand EID values with our peers.
• Our regional training program runs an EID Forum that’s held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11am to 12:30Placing a high value on encouraging and supporting fellows’ willingness and ability to engage in self-reflection and learning about their assumptions, privileges and habits that could have a negative impact on clinical interactions with patients who are different in significant ways from them.

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 Kaiser Permanente mental health trainees and staff at Kaiser Permanente 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.

• Our own department runs a CEU series during months with a 5th Tuesday on a wide array of topics that have recently included the effectiveness of group therapy and peri/post-partum depression.
• We keep an eye out for professional organizations (CALPCC, CAFMT, and NASW) trainings intended for associates (e.g., topics like the process toward licensure, law and ethics, etc.) and will encourage them to attend where possible.

• Ongoing seminars from region on topics like preparing for a successful career at Kaiser, interviewing skills, and more
• Office hour each week with the training director to remain connected with the needs of associates – past conversations have included topics like case load management, safety assessment, self-care, and thoughtful termination.
• Journal club where participants take turns sharing some research that interests them and then discuss implications and applications as a group.
• Scheduled exam practice each week to be as prepared as possible to take and pass the Law and Ethics exam as required before first associate number renewal.
• All staff meetings on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month
• Fellows also have the opportunity to participate in weekly Feedback Informed Care (FIC) case consultations.

All fellows are provided with two hours of weekly individual supervision with a primary and secondary supervisor, and two additional hours of weekly group supervision.

The primary and secondary supervisor is responsible for supervising the direct delivery of clinical services. This supervisor takes the lead role in monitoring the fellow’s progress, providing feedback on strengths and areas in need of further development, ensuring effective and safe patient care, adequate documentation, and evaluating training schedules.

Group supervision includes opportunities for fellows to present and discuss cases. Fellows learn how to address treatment through a cultural framework including ethnicity, language, age, gender and sexual identity. Group supervision allows for vicarious learning, practice with professional public clinical presentations, and learning how to give and receive feedback.

Reflecting Kaiser Permanente’s core commitment to mental health and wellness in our communities, each trainee will spend at least 32 hours during their training year on a Community Partnership Project that focuses on improving mental health in the local community beyond our Kaiser Permanente members.

The goal of these projects is to provide outreach to underserved populations in the community to promote healthy behaviors.

Training in feedback informed care as measured through Lucet

Patients receiving treatment in AMRS are frequently individuals using, abusing, or dependent on substances including alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. Some people are dually diagnosed meaning they experience a substance use disorder and another psychiatric condition aside from substance use like depression or anxiety. Some people in AMRS treatment are addressing concerns related to codependency. The majority of patients who are receiving treatment in AMRS are adults, but some are minors.

Treatment is delivered in individual and group settings which may focus on harm reduction, abstinence, dual diagnosis, and codependence. The most common interventions will be based in Motivational Interviewing, CBT, and DBT. On average, a provider may expect to get 2-3 new patients per week. The number of intakes in a provider’s schedule will decrease as the training program progresses, unless the provider is hired into a full-time position.

IOP is a short term (2 week), group-centered program serving high acuity adult patients in a structured outpatient setting with a multidisciplinary team . The diagnoses of the patients participating vary greatly but frequently involve mood disorders, anxiety, life crises and trauma related disorders.

The program is held 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) from 9am until about 12:30pm. Patients attend process and skill building/practice groups and meet with program psychiatrists for medication management. Interventions in the group setting include solution focused approaches, CBT, and DBT skills. Fellows will join the IOP team as an individual and group clinician, in addition to carrying a caseload of patients who are seen in-person or virtually.

Fellows will also have opportunity to co-facilitate groups geared toward a variety of topics, including symptom management, coping skills, relationship issues, and work stress.

Patients receiving services from adult outpatient providers range in age from 18 (and graduated from high school) and up. Presenting problems and diagnoses are wide ranging – including depressive, anxiety, trauma, relationship/work/life stress, and more. Many appointments are individual in-person, via video, or over the phone. We also offer a range of groups covering topics like grief, CBT for depression, CBT for anxiety, DBT skills, wellness skills, etc.

Our associates will be placed with a facilitator (either their supervisor or another clinician in the department, depending on need) to co-lead at least one group during their time in our program. Case load will be evaluated on an ongoing basis to make sure it remains manageable. Intakes per week will be based on an individual basis (e.g., participating in more than one specialty). The number of intakes in a provider’s schedule will decrease as the training program progresses, unless the provider is hired into a full-time position.

Patients receiving services from child outpatient providers range in age from 4 or 5 years up to 18 (if still in high school). Presenting problems and diagnoses are wide ranging – including depressive, anxiety, trauma, family/school/life stress, and more. Many appointments are individual in-person, via video, or over the phone. We also offer a range of groups covering topics like social skills, managing stress, parenting classes (for patients’ parents), among many others.

Our associates will be placed with a facilitator (either their supervisor or another clinician in the department, depending on need and availability) to co-lead at least one group during their time in our program. The number of intakes in a provider’s schedule will decrease as the training program progresses, unless the provider is hired into a full-time position. Case load will be evaluated on an ongoing basis to make sure it remains manageable. Intakes per week will be based on an individual basis (e.g., participating in more than one specialty).