Postdoctoral Residency – South Sacramento

Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity (EID) are key focuses of the training program in South Sacramento. Our region is one of the most diverse in California and provides the opportunity to work with an economically, ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse community.

We support this week through a weekly Cultural Conversations seminar. This seminar is conducted by a staff psychologist with expertise in EID and no formal affiliation with the postdoctoral program, to contribute to an environment of accountability and emotional safety in discussing themes related to EID, clinical work, and how systemic issues impact the lives of our residents on a professional level.

EID is a key focus of both our regional and Sacramento-based weekly didactics. Previous and future didactic seminars have included the following:

• Cultural Humility and Unconscious/Implicit Bias
• Introduction to Multicultural Assessment
• Tele behavioral Health: Ethical, Clinical, and Cultural Considerations
• Culturally Aware Feedback Informed care
• Working with African Americans in a Medical Setting
• Muslim American Populations in Behavioral Health Settings
• Black Men’s Experience of Police Harassment
• Gender Affirming Surgery Evaluations

Postdoctoral residents also can participate in our local EID Committee. This committee is dedicated to improving the wellbeing of Kaiser members and staff in our Department of Psychiatry through expanding formal and informal spaces to explore, process, and become educated in areas related to EID, increase awareness of issues to improve staff morale, and to plan trainings, cultural encounters, discussions, celebrations, and other culturally affirmative experiences to improve culturally affirmative care for our diverse communities here in South Sacramento.

Regularly scheduled weekly didactic seminars, formerly held at the consortium level, are now organized, and administered regionally for all KP NorCal postdoctoral residents. Residents are required to attend a two-hour weekly virtual seminar, which focuses on developing competencies and expertise in clinical areas most relevant to their day-to-day work.

Our Regional Mental Health Training Program also sponsors seminars for continuing professional development. The seminars 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 local and national experts on a variety of cutting-edge topics in mental health treatment and research. Residents are required to attend these monthly seminars. Regional seminar dates and a list of speakers and topics can be found on the Regional Mental Health Training Programs website. In addition, many of the presentations are recorded and available under the continuing education lecture library webpage.

Along with weekly individual and group supervision, residents participate in an hourly, weekly Office Hours led by the local training director.

This weekly meeting provides space focused on acculturation to the Kaiser Permanente organization and to discuss topics related to administrative issues and professional development, along with general support.

Other meetings include the following:

• Monthly Departmental Meetings for Adult Outpatient Program, Child Outpatient Program, and Behavioral Medicine Services
• Monthly Psychiatry Department Meetings
• Weekly Clinical Consultation meetings led by a department psychiatrist
• Quarterly Psychologist Discipline/Guild Meetings
• Quarterly Psychologist Continuing Education Trainings, focused on Psychological Testing and Specialty Services
• Residents are provided 1 hour a week to complete their research project.
• Residents are provided 1 hour per week to prepare for their licensure exams.

All postdoctoral residents are supervised by licensed psychologists and are assigned to a primary supervisor and a secondary supervisor. These clinical supervisors meet with their assigned resident one hour per week for individual face-to-face supervision. Thus, each resident has two hours of individual supervision per week.

The primary and secondary supervisors are responsible for overseeing the direct delivery of clinical services. The primary supervisor takes the lead role in developing the resident’s learning plan, monitoring their progress, and evaluating their training schedule. The primary supervisor is also responsible for completing the resident’s evaluation after gathering input from other supervisors and staff who may have provided supplementary supervision during rotations or while co-facilitating groups with the resident.

Residents also attend group supervision to present cases to their postdoctoral peers and to learn how to incorporate Feedback Informed Care (FIC) into their practice. Residents gain experience giving and receiving feedback during case consultation which helps them to develop the collegial and supervisory aspects of their professional identities as psychologists.

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 patient members. Projects may include presentations on mental health topics or career mentoring in such settings as community colleges/schools, after school programs, and health advocacy or other organizations dedicated to assisting those in need.

The goal of this project is to provide outreach to underserved populations to promote health and advancement. 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. Residents will meet with the Community Partnership supervisor to assist with placement and the development of a project.

Psychological Assessment is a major focus of both our Psychiatry Department and our postdoctoral residency program in South Sacramento. Our psychiatry department hosts a robust testing library for our Adult Outpatient, Child Outpatient, Pediatric, and Behavioral Medicine service lines.

All psychologists participate in psychological testing and trainings and discussions related to psychological assessment are a part of the culture of the South Sacramento Psychiatry Department.
All our postdoctoral residents complete at least 4 multimodal, comprehensive psychological assessment batteries a year. Common reasons for referral include ADHD and ASD assessment, complex differential diagnosis, developmental assessments, and therapy and medication treatment planning.

Residents also meet with a psychological testing specialist supervisor who is not their primary supervisor weekly to gain specialized supervision personalized to their experience, interests, and training needs in both the Adult and Pediatric Tracks.

Each resident is required to undertake a program evaluation project during their training year. The project is selected based upon the resident’s interests and skill set and should fall within the regular scope of departmental services.

It may involve collecting and analyzing data to improve administrative operations, or a quality improvement project aimed at improving or assessing a treatment program or process. Examples include developing and evaluating a treatment group, intake procedure or other new programming; evaluating factors associated with treatment outcomes; or a needs assessment of a service that may be enriched by psychological consultation. Residents meet with the program evaluation supervisor as a group regularly over the course of the training year to review progress on their projects.

Postdoctoral Residents in the Adult Outpatient Program Primary Rotation will spend 4 days a week throughout their entire training year providing services in our community-based Adult Outpatient Clinic. Our adult Kaiser members seen in this department have a range of challenges and concerns, including depression, anxiety, trauma, adjustment challenges, and relational challenges.

Residents participating in this rotation are based in our West Stockton offices and provided with ample comfortable space to complete work and see patients. Residents participating in this rotation also can facilitate group psychotherapy and orient to specialty services, such as Focused Individual Treatment (FIT), Trauma-focused treatment, and Intensive Outpatient treatment.

Residents typically see 15-18 patients per week.

Postdoctoral Residents in the Pediatric Behavioral Medicine Primary rotation will spend a year serving as part of an interdisciplinary pediatric primary care team. This team includes physicians, nurses, psychiatrists, allied health professionals, and a team of psychologists with specializations and expertise in developmental and clinical psychology, specifically with the 0-5 population. In addition to conducting brief, behaviorally focused interventions with child ages 0-18 and parents, residents also collaborate and play a consultative role to medical and allied health colleagues.

This rotation also provides a unique opportunity for residents to develop a specialized skill in psychological assessment focused on the 0-5 patient population and will conduct assessments focused on developmental, cognitive, psychosocial, and emotional concerns.

Residents conduct approximately 15-18 hours of face-to-face treatment in this rotation.

Postdoctoral residents in the Behavioral Medicine-Adult & Family Medicine Secondary rotation work closely within an interdisciplinary medical team consisting of physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, and allied health professionals collocated in a community-based hospital primary care clinic. Residents in this rotation provide adult patients with mental health consultation/triage support, mental health intakes and brief problem-solving therapy focused on the intersection between physical, emotional, psychological, and social wellness. Residents will attend daily huddles, learn about measurement-based care and support patients presenting with intersecting medical and psychological needs.

In the past, residents who have completed this rotation and have presented with interest and skills related to the specialty, have had the opportunity to work in specialized Behavioral Medicine specialty tracks, including:

• Bariatric Medicine
• Oncology
• Women’s Health
• Pain Management
• Adult Fit4Life

This enhanced psychological assessment track presents postdoctoral residents with the opportunity to further develop their knowledge and expertise and receive specialized assessment-focused supervision and conduct complex, multimethod testing batteries for a diverse range of adult patients presenting with symptoms consistent with ADHD and ASD.

This rotation is in addition to the 4 required batteries in the Adult Outpatient rotation, and the number and types of training cases, testing instruments, and referral questions are tailored to each resident’s level of experience, knowledge, skill set, and interests. Residents receive ongoing regional and local training, supervision, and didactics in ADHD and ASD assessment and treatment throughout their rotation.