Core seminars

All of our core seminars meet on a regular basis throughout the entire postdoctoral training year.  As part of the fellowship, we are committed to providing our postdoctoral fellows with opportunities to learn from psychologists who have experience with a wide range of clients in a variety of treatment settings.  As such, our seminars are facilitated by the program’s attending psychologists as well as several volunteer clinical faculty who are employed throughout the Sacramento area.

• Assessment case conference
  This seminar meets twice per month and is facilitated by two of our volunteer clinical faculty psychologists, Steven McCormick, Ph.D. and Candace Adams, Ph.D.  As part of the seminar, each postdoctoral fellow presents and leads a discussion on one of their current assessment cases in detail.  Discussions focus on referral questions, assessment measures, case conceptualization, and treatment planning.  Each member of the seminar is invited to ask questions, make suggestions, and provide their insights into each case.  This seminar offers the postdoctoral fellows a unique opportunity to collaborate with other professionals in the practice of psychological assessment who work in a variety of settings, including inpatient psychiatric facilities, outpatient clinics, and private practice.  It also provides each fellow the opportunity to learn about psychological assessment with clients of diverse backgrounds who present with a range of presenting problems.
  
  
• Therapy case conference
  This seminar meets twice per month and is also facilitated by two of our volunteer clinical faculty members, James Cooper, Ph.D. and Lisa Farquhar, Ph.D. The structure of this seminar is such that one of the fellows presents an ongoing therapy case to the group, highlighting challenges and difficulties with the case and allowing for discussion of clinical issues that are related to the therapy process. Such structure allows fellows to gain exposure to a variety of models for conceptualizing, diagnosing, and treating a range of clients with multiple demographic backgrounds and presenting problems in varying treatment settings.
  
  
• Group supervision
  Group supervision meets twice per month and is facilitated by Stacey Peerson, Ph.D., who is the director of postdoctoral training for our program.  In our commitment to providing our fellows with support and guidance as they transition from students into professionals, fellows are encouraged to use these meetings as opportunities to discuss a range of topics.  Many fellows have used the time to discuss issues related to their training, balancing their work and professional life, or professional development and career choices.
  
  
• Legal and ethical issues
  This seminar meets once per month and is facilitated by Catherine Cohen, Ph.D. and Margaret Bezmalinovic, Ph.D. on the UC Davis Medical Center campus.  This seminar provides fellows the opportunity to consider and discuss in more depth a range of legal and ethical concerns that arise within the context of mental health treatment.  Issues that frequently arise during treatment, such as confidentiality, boundaries, and duty to warn and protect are discussed.  Fellows are also encouraged to discuss topics that may be specific to their own clients and experiences.
  
  
• Special Topics seminar
  This seminar meets twice per month.  As part of our program’s dedication to providing fellows with exposure to new perspectives, many of these seminars invite psychologists from within the community to discuss their work in a variety of settings with a diverse range of clientele.  These seminars are designed to provide fellows the opportunity to learn about potential career paths as well as to develop working relationships with other professionals in the field. Common topics from previous years have included: how to prepare for EPPP and licensure, how to start a private practice, culture and psychology, vicarious traumatization and self-care, and CV building for jobs.  This seminar also focuses on a review of Rorschach administration, scoring, and interpretation early in the year, which reflects our program’s value in providing well-rounded training in both objective and projective assessment.

• Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Assessment Team (CMAT)
  
  This team is based out of the CAPS clinic.  Members of the team include two psychologists, a psychiatrist, and a pediatrician as well as fellows in psychology and psychiatry and rotating medical students.  The team’s psychologists take the lead in conducting live, comprehensive psychological assessments behind a two-way mirror.   These assessments are conducted on children and adolescents with extremely complex presentations who are referred to the team by mental health and medical professionals within the community.  Oftentimes these clients’ clinical presentations are complicated by serious medical problems and/or severe environmental stressors.
  
  
• Inpatient Group Psychotherapy (Mind and Emotion Group)
  This is a weekly psychotherapy group that occurs at the Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center (inpatient psychiatric hospital), which is one of the primary training sites for the adult postdoctoral fellow. The focus of the group is to provide support to patients who are psychiatrically hospitalized, to introduce positive coping skills, to facilitate positive interpersonal interactions and group process, and to introduce mindfulness skills to group members. The group is very dynamic, often including a mixture of depressed, anxious, psychotic, and manic patients with changing group members from meeting to meeting due to the nature of the psychiatric inpatient setting (e.g., daily discharges and admissions). The adult psychology fellow helps co-facilitate this group along with Ju Hui Park, Ph.D. This group is also open to child fellows who are interested in getting some experience with group therapy and inpatient treatment.
  
  
• Grand rounds
  Fellows attend the Department’s bimonthly grand rounds.  In addition to attending grand rounds, every year one of our fellows is invited to present a topic at grand rounds.  Typically, fellows have presented on their dissertation research.  Our fellows’ presentations have been well-received by the Department and oftentimes draw in professionals from other departments and the community as well.
  
  
• Interpersonal process group
  Psychology fellows are invited to join psychotherapy process groups with other postdoctoral fellows and residents in psychiatry.  These groups are facilitated by Martha Gilmore, Ph.D. and three other volunteer clinical faculty, and meet once per week for the entire training year.  They provide the unique opportunity for members to gain considerable insights into their own ways of relating to others as well as the interpersonal dynamics that arise in a group setting.  Many of our fellows who have participated in these groups have greatly valued their experience and the opportunity to develop long-lasting relationships with other group members.
  
  
• Psychiatric interviewing skills
  Each year our fellows and psychologists are invited to lead a six-week training in psychiatric interviewing for UC Davis’ medical students.  As part of the training, our fellows lead a small group of medical students through live interviews with adults who are inpatients in a psychiatric facility.  Our fellows have been highly regarded by the medical students and the Department for their ability to educate and support medical students with their first exposure to individuals suffering from severe mental illness.