UCLA Adult Anxiety Disorders Practicum - Clinical & Research

Overview

This placement is designed to provide supervised experience in the diagnostic evaluation and evidence-based treatment (primarily CBT) of OCD and anxiety disorders in adults as well as introduction to a clinical research in the same field. The Adult Anxiety Program is a clinical research program in the Division of Adult Psychiatry and serves as the site for several NIMH and other externally-funded studies including both psychosocial and psychopharmacological treatment trials. The program also serves as a key resource for other UCLA Resnick Hospital training programs through the Adult OCD Day Treatment Program and Inpatient services which provides training in the evaluation and treatment (both CBT and medication) to Psychiatry Residents, Fellows and Psychology Interns. The graduate student practicum is a separate program from the UCLA Resnick Hospital psychology internship. The practicum also provides support for evaluation and treatment services on a fee-for-service basis through the faculty/staff practice plan.

A typical week will include one 6-hour day of assessment/therapy observation/report writing, with an additional 4 hours dedicated to group and individual supervision and didactic training. The didactic training will comprise both offerings available through the post-doctoral program and supplementary lectures targeted for the practicum. In addition student could be asked to work with OCD Day Treatment Program or Inpatient Services assisting in direct ERP Program.

Some flexibility in weekly time commitment or duration of the practicum may be negotiated depending on the needs of specific students.

Position opening

The program accepts up to three (3) practicum students per training year. This number may be increased in the future when Inpatient and DBS services for OCD are initiated.

Resource Allocation:

The Anxiety Disorders Program and practicum is housed on the second floor of the 300MP. All clinical activity takes place in the Anxiety Disorders program offices or in other treatment rooms signed out to the program. Inpatient services for OCD will be conducted in the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital (4th floor of RRMC). The office resources that are available to the practicum trainees include: shared time on a computer with high-speed internet access, telephone availability, access to Xerox machines, necessary office supplies (paper, pencils, stapler, etc), and access to testing materials.

Supervision and Training:

Supervision is provided by program faculty (and medical staff members) who are licensed clinical psychologists, including the faculty listed above. All diagnostic evaluations are closely supervised or observed. Initially every student will be trained in assessment using MINI and steps of CBT. Once the student has demonstrated a sufficient understanding of anxiety and/or related disorders (typically after 3-4 months of intakes and therapy observations), they are assigned a treatment case where they execute ERP under direction of a licenced psychologist. Therapy supervision (at least one hour per week) is provided in individual format.

Supervision will be documented weekly by the practicum student on their hour-log, signed off by the supervisor on a monthly basis, and tallied during the appropriate 6-month and 12-month evaluations. Each practicum student will be evaluated using the Student Evaluation Form provided by the appropriate graduate school. If they are unable to provide such a form, a general Student Evaluation Form is available. Student supervision and evaluations (of student by program and of program by student) will be completed and documented using standardized evaluation procedures employed in other departmental training programs. practicum student evaluations will be completed by the direct clinical supervisor. Orientation to the ADP occurs in mid-August and is conducted by supervisors and post-doctoral fellows. All essential materials, including psychological assessment instruments, are available and provided to the practicum students.

Director/Instructor(s): Alexander Bystritsky, Jamie Feusner, Emanuel Maidenberg

Application

Pre-requisites:

Participation in accredited PhD program. Prior didactic training in psychological assessment and clinical experience is preferred, in addition, to completion of course work in neuropsychology and neuroscience if offered by the applicants school. Prior research trining and participatieon preferred.

Application process:

Candidates are required to submit a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae, two letters of references, a testing log, a letter from the Training Director of the School attesting to the student’s qualifications, and evidence of professional liability coverage provided by the candidate’s doctoral training program. Please submit all application materials via email to Alexander Bystritsky, M.D., Ph.D., Director, UCLA Anxiety Disorders Program at abystritsky@mednet.ucla.edu. Deadline for application is February 15th, each year.