Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Residency – Vallejo

We are committed to nurturing and integrating diversity training into all aspects of our neuropsychology postdoctoral residency program by:

• Providing residents with opportunities to work with patients who represent various aspects of diversity, including age, religion, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, values, lifestyle and disability status.
• Placing a high value on residents’ willingness to engage in self-reflection and learning and supporting the exploration of attitudes, beliefs and therapeutic postures that could impact clinical interactions.
• Neuropsychology Residents are invited to participate in the Regional Mental Health Training Program EID Committee’s advanced trainings on topics related to cultural sensitivity and competence along with a forum to reflect on and discuss their varied experiences in a safe environment.

• Two hours of weekly training that includes a case review and a topic in advanced neuropsychology
• One day per month of a full-day seminar on neuroanatomy and other topics that prepare Residents for board certification
• Two hours per month of neurorehabilitation-specific training during Grand Rounds and/or multidisciplinary journal club
• Monthly regional didactics on advanced psychology practice

General training in Neuropsychology following the Houston Guidelines:

• Neuropsychological interviewing, report writing, and feedback
• Validity testing
• Capacity evaluations
• Memory: anatomy and assessment
• General Neuroanatomy
• Neuropsychology of mild and severe traumatic brain injuries

• Individual supervision is as needed (i.e., immediately after scoring data and/or prior to writing reports or assessments) and averages approximately 3 to 4 hours per week.
• Group supervision is also available and in excess of 2 hours per week.
• Daily meeting with all trainees to review cases, develop testing batteries, and have impromptu didactics based on caseload diagnoses and clinical needs.

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 health and/or mental health in the local community beyond our Kaiser Permanente patient members.

The goal of this project is to provide outreach to underserved populations. Anchors for the project include developing alliances with individuals and/or systems to improve the lives of those served; providing education and training based on the empirical literature; and presenting relevant outcomes data to partnership stakeholders.

Neuropsychology residents have worked with local schools and club sports programs to provide students, parents, coaches, and teachers with psychoeducation on sports-related concussions, return-to-play, and accommodations to ensure academic success.

The Vallejo Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Residency in Neurorehabilitation and Sports Concussion is a two- year program at Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center (KFRC) with an integrated rotation in Sports Concussion at Kaiser Permanente Vacaville.

During the first year of training at KFRC, Residents primarily work with an inpatient population and rotate between the traumatic brain injury and the spinal cord injury teams. Neuropsychological assessments in this setting are typically brief and referral questions include capacity and readiness to return to school or work.

During the second year of training at KFRC, Residents will have additional opportunities to work at the Vacaville/Vallejo Youth Sports Concussion clinics. Residents will also conduct more traditional outpatient neuropsychological evaluations referred through Psychiatry and Neurology.

The Vallejo Neuropsychology and Neurorehabilitation track is located within the Neuropsychology Department of the Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center (KFRC), a CARF (Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities)– accredited, regional neurorehabilitation center for all of Kaiser Permanente Northern California. The Center serves patients ages 14 and older who represent the diverse population of the greater Bay Area.

KFRC maintains high standards of maximizing recovery potential by accepting most patients directly from acute care and discharging them to the community. Residents are pivotal in improving patient participation in therapy classes while also helping with post-discharge community re-integration. Many providers in the department have worked at KFRC for over a decade, demonstrating a solid commitment to the community, as well as the department and its mission statement.

Residents are trained to be the primary contact on a treatment team that is comprised of a physiatrist, case manager, nurse, social worker, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and speech and language pathologist. Team assignments are based on clinical interests and professional strengths. There are, however, opportunities to develop expertise with stroke, spinal cord injury and brain injury.

Daily job assignments include neuropsychological assessments (inpatient and outpatient), brief treatment psychotherapy (adjustment to disability), behavior management, pain management, consultation, psychoeducation, and occasional bedside hospital consultations for medical decision-making capacity. Residents will also have opportunity to provide direct supervision to advanced practicum students.

As part of the Neuropsychology team, residents will present clinical cases throughout the year; and develop and present at least two PowerPoint presentations on any neuropsychology topic of interest to help develop expertise in the area.

The Vacaville Kaiser Permanente Sports Concussion program uses a multidisciplinary approach to managing adolescent patients with protracted sports-related head injuries. Residents have the unique opportunity to work alongside sports medicine physicians and physical therapists trained in vestibular therapy. Residents learn how to interpret IMPACT test results and compare performance to baseline functioning, when available.

Evaluations help inform decisions about an athlete’s readiness to return to school or play. Interventions and evaluations are focused on the athlete but psychoeducation and advocacy with the patient’s parents/guardians, schools, and community, are also a large facet of the neuropsychological work.

Residents will become CIC trained IMPACT providers.

Training Schedule: Residents will spend two days per week in Vacaville during the second year of their 2-year neurorehabilitation residency.

Mornings at the clinic will include being an active participant in the multidisciplinary treatment team evaluations. As a team member, the Resident will be instrumental in providing patients and their families with psychoeducation, recommendations, and resources.

Afternoons at the clinic will be spent conducting outpatient neuropsychological evaluations that are referred from the Neurology and Sports Medicine clinics.