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Postdoctoral Fellowship

UHS Mental Health Services postgraduate training program provides a comprehensive experience within a practitioner-scholar model of training to facilitate each postgrad’s development as an independent professional psychologist. Our unique program offers generalist training with traditional college mental health service delivery experiences, as well as advanced training in a specific emphasis area. Program flexibility allows postgrads to individualize their experiences and integrate these experiences with past training to solidify their professional identities as psychologists.

Learning occurs in a supportive, collegial, multidisciplinary, multicultural environment that provides a balance of service delivery with supervision and autonomy. Postgrads receive weekly individual and group supervision by experienced multidisciplinary senior staff, including psychologists, social workers, counselors, psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists, and other specialized health care professionals (learn more about our staff at uhs.wisc.edu/staff). UHS is committed to diversity and to providing an environment that supports individual and cultural similarities and differences.

UHS provides an integrated model of medical and counseling care, as well as wellness services and prevention programs aimed to create a healthy campus climate. Services provided at MHS include multiculturally-competent crisis intervention, behavioral health, psychiatry, individual and group counseling, assessment, outreach/consultation/liaison to campus programs, stress management, yoga, meditation, and healthy eating services.

Postgrads receive 4 hours/week (200 total hours) of training in a defined emphasis area. This is a unique dimension of our training program, such that postgrads co-develop their training experience with emphasis consultants in a specific content area. Emphases include eating disorders, TGNC health, substance use, working with partners, training and supervision, working with students of color, group counseling, behavioral health, working with Latinx students, trauma, and assessment.

Application Process

Submit applications by email to:
Jennifer Moulton, PhD jennifer.moulton@wisc.edu

Applications will be reviewed by the selection committee, who will then contact select applicants to schedule phone or Zoom interviews. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.

Contact:
Jennifer Moulton, PhD
Assistant Director of Training
jennifer.moulton@wisc.edu 

Listen to the Connecting Badgers podcast episode about the MHS training programs.

Application & Selection Process

The selection process occurs in January and February and is conducted by the Program Coordinator, postgrad training staff, and current postgrads. Current postgrads also participate in the applicant interview phase of the selection process, and field questions from applicants about the program and their experiences.

 Requirements

  • Completion of an APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship program. Internship must be completed no later than July 31 to start the fellowship on August 1.
  • Strong interest in providing brief intermittent multiculturally-competent counseling to a diverse college student population.
  • Demonstrated experience in college mental health, as indicated by at least one supervised practicum, internship, or other work experience in a college student mental health setting.

Our selection committee seeks applicants who meet the application requirements, and who ideally have both college and community mental health experiences. An ideal applicant will also demonstrate experience in brief individual and group therapy, behavioral health, triage, case management, campus-based services, providing supervision, and multidisciplinary consultation.

A successful candidate must demonstrate strong interest in and experience with college mental health, ability to work as part of an interdisciplinary team, and desire to serve a diverse student population.

Required Application Materials

  • Cover letter describing your interest and fit with our program, as well as your experience, expectations, own work, and needs related to your top three preferred emphases.
  • Curriculum vita with your anticipated graduation date.
  • Two letters of recommendation from those knowledgeable about your clinical experience (preferred), or identify two references including contact information.

Application Process

Please submit applications by email to Jennifer Moulton, PhD, at jennifer.moulton@wisc.edu.

Applications will be reviewed by the selection committee, who will then contact select applicants to schedule phone or Zoom interviews. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.

For additional questions about the postgraduate program and selection process, contact:

Jennifer Moulton, PhD
Assistant Director of Training
jennifer.moulton@wisc.edu 

Postdoc Training Information

Mental Health Services’ philosophy and training model is based on the practitioner-scholar model, which is influenced by an understanding of the current knowledge and methods of psychological science. We build upon the foundations of competence acquired through internship, graduate coursework, research, practica, and other applied experiences, offering opportunities to accumulate required post-degree clinical hours, prepare for the EPPP, and solidify professional identity as an independent professional psychologist.

As scholars of science, postgrads use scientific information collected from supervision and other learning experiences to contextualize and inform their professional practice. As practitioners, postgrads apply critical thinking with scientific principles to their professional practice by gathering data, formulating conceptualizations and testing hypotheses, controlling variables to account for change, examining the efficacy of psychological services, evaluating outcomes, and considering theories and assumptions of the diversity of human experience.

Although the integration of science and practice is complex and challenging, postgrads are exposed to supervisory role models who exemplify balance of this professional identity. Accordingly, scholarly learning occurs via experiential, consultative, and didactic methods under intensive supervision, and postgrads develop and practice these skills in a supportive learning environment. This environment facilitates the postgrad’s transition in professional identity from intern to entry-level psychologist.

MHS is committed to diversity and the richness of human differences, to provide postgrads with role models from diverse backgrounds, and to maintain an inclusive and welcoming climate for all. Our training mission highlights that staff and postgrads are treated with respect and valued across all individual and cultural similarities and differences. Policies, procedures, activities, relationships, and interactions with individuals and groups whom we serve are consistent with this value.

Multicultural competence is a core goal and expectation of the postgraduate training program. Postgrads will be able to demonstrate cultural competence in service delivery to clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. Individual and group supervision are designed to facilitate postgrad exploration of assumptions and biases and their influence on clinical practice. Postgrads work with clients from diverse backgrounds, and as a result develop self-awareness, appreciation of differences, and understanding of the different sociocultural contexts in which people live.

In summary, the model of training of our postgrads program reflects a belief that a competent practitioner-scholar must have a broad knowledge of the scientific and theoretical principles of the professional practice of psychology and the ability to apply that knowledge to specific clinical and cultural contexts. Postgrads socialized within the practitioner-scholar model of training at MHS will have refined their skills and experiences to work get jobs in a variety of academic, applied and clinical settings, including college, community, and behavioral mental health (e.g., university counseling centers, community mental health centers, private practice, academia, university training clinics, and VAs).

MHS offers postdocs the education, training, and experiential preparation they need to succeed in their professional practice of psychology. Within the context of the practitioner-scholar model, MHS’s goals are to produce entry-level psychologists who:

  1. Practice from a consolidation of core professional competencies
  2. Apply the cultural competence that underlies professional psychology
  3. Demonstrate ethical principles and practice
  4. Develop a professional identity as a psychologist

These goals are accomplished by providing postdocs with individual and group supervision, consultation with senior staff, and other training experiences where they deliver psychological services (e.g., assessment, intervention, and consultation) to diverse client populations. MHS postdocs receive a broad range of professional learning experiences in several domains of knowledge and practice.

The foundation of the postdoc experience is guided by a set of competencies, such that postdocs will demonstrate clinical and professional competence as entry-level psychologists when they complete their postdoc experience. These competencies are based on the competency benchmarks in professional psychology first described by Fouad et al. (2009) and reframed by Hatcher et al. (2013). These competencies also serve as the framework for postdoc evaluation.

Foundational Competencies

Professionalism

  • Professional Values and Attitudes: as evidenced in behavior and comportment that reflects the values and attitudes of psychology.
  • Individual and Cultural Diversity: Awareness, sensitivity and skills in working professionally with diverse individuals, groups and communities who represent various cultural and personal background and characteristics defined broadly and consistent with APA policy.
  • Ethical Legal Standards and Policy: Application of ethical concepts and awareness of legal issues regarding professional activities with individuals, groups, and organizations.
  • Reflective Practice/Self-Assessment/Self-Care: Practice conducted with personal and professional self-awareness and reflection; with awareness of competencies; with appropriate self-care.

Relational

  • Relationships: Relate effectively and meaningfully with individuals, groups, and/or communities.

Science

  • Scientific Knowledge and Methods: Understanding of research, research methodology, techniques of data collection and analysis, biological bases of behavior, cognitive-affective bases of behavior, and development across the lifespan. Respect for scientifically derived knowledge.
  • Research/Evaluation: Generating research that contributes to the professional knowledge base and/or evaluates the effectiveness of various professional activities.

Application

  • Evidence-Based Practice: Integration of research and clinical expertise in the context of patient factors.
  • Assessment: Assessment and diagnosis of problems, capabilities and issues associated with individuals, groups, and/or organizations.
  • Intervention: Interventions designed to alleviate suffering and to promote health and well-being of individuals, groups, and/or organizations.
  • Consultation: Consultation: The ability to provide expert guidance or professional assistance in response to a client’s needs or goals.

Education

  • Teaching: Providing instruction, disseminating knowledge, and evaluating acquisition of knowledge and skill in professional psychology.
  • Supervision: Supervision and training in the professional knowledge base of enhancing and monitoring the professional functioning of others.

Systems

  • Interdisciplinary Systems: Knowledge of key issues and concepts in related disciplines.  Identify and interact with professionals in multiple disciplines.
  • Management-Administration: Manage the direct delivery of services (DDS) and/or the administration of organizations, programs, or agencies (OPA).
  • Advocacy: Actions targeting the impact of social, political, economic or cultural factors to promote change at the individual (client), institutional, and/or systems level.

The postdoctoral fellowship at MHS has a strong emphasis on service delivery. In addition, postdocs may have opportunities to participate in assessment (e.g., substance abuse, ADHD, personality, and/or eating disorder assessments), research, consultation and liaison development, Let’s Talk, interdisciplinary collaboration, and wellness/positive psychology consultations. A sample of a postdoc’s typical weekly schedule is below. Postdocs’ schedules will vary, however, depending on their choices of different service delivery options, choice of emphasis area, as well as agency need and resources. The opportunity to work until 7 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays also provides scheduling flexibility.

Direct Clinical Service (60%) Hours
Individual counseling 12-13
Group counseling (2-3 groups) 4-6
On-Call/triage 2
Behavioral health (optional) 2
Outreach/consultation/liaison (optional) 2
Let’s Talk (optional) 2
Subtotal 21.5
Supervision
Individual (clinical) 2
Group (with other postdocs) 1
Subtotal 3
Emphasis
Research 1
Individual Consultation 1
Team Consultation 1
Administration 1
Subtotal 4
Administrative Activities
Documentation/paperwork/case notes 7
Staff meeting 1
Team Meeting 1
Steering committee 0.5
Professional development 1
Postdoc Cohort Support 1
Subtotal 11.5

In collaboration with a senior staff member (who provide weekly consultation as an emphasis consultant) and the Postrad Program Coordinator, postgrads co-develop an emphasis area designed to deepen clinical or professional knowledge and skills. Four hours per week (200 hours/year) are designated for emphasis training, and include one hour of individual consultation per week.

Individual consultation – on hour per week
Postdgrads work with a senior staff member who provide one hour per week of emphasis consultation. MHS staff have valuable knowledge and experience that extends beyond their practices as generalists. They are mental health providers from a variety of academic training backgrounds, and offer expert consultation about many different postgrad emphases.

Team consultation – one hour per week
Postgrads connect and collaborate with other UHS and MHS providers in weekly emphasis-focused meetings. Conversations and action items are about creating social change, program development and planning, updating UHS policies and procedures, working with campus stakeholders, and service delivery considerations.

Research – one hour per week
Postgrads co-create the research component of their fellowship with their emphasis consultant based on their current level of experience. Research includes learning about evidence-based practices, reading articles from the literature, attending emphasis-focused conferences, as well as nontraditional sources of learning (e.g., books, movies, videos, social media).

Administration or project development – one hour per week
Postgrads co-develop projects related to their emphasis and use the administrative hour to implement emphasis activities. For example, past Postgrads have surveyed campus stakeholders about clinical services, co-chaired internship and practicum search committees, and developed needs assessment for groups. The administration time is a flexible hour in the postdoc’s schedule.

Postgrads may also participate in service delivery related to their emphasis, which would be a part of their required service delivery expectations and differentiated from their four hours/week training emphasis. Potential emphases are:

Assessment
Postgrads participating in the assessment emphasis will:

  • define common psychological syndromes seen in college counseling centers (e.g., ADHD, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar I and II, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD)
  • describe how to differentiate between psychological syndromes, as defined by the DSM-5, as well as list interview questions and/or measures that could assist in this differential diagnosis
  • demonstrate how to select an assessment that has adequate psychometric properties
  • demonstrate how to select an assessment that is culturally appropriate, considering factors such as language and available norms
  • differentiate between test results that confirm a diagnosis from those that suggest the possibility or likelihood of a diagnosis
  • synthesize biopsychosocial factors into the conceptualization of a client, creating a therapeutic narrative that frames diagnoses and/or feedback
  • create a test battery to assess and diagnosis any psychiatric syndrome using clinical interview, self-report surveys, and personality testing
  • provide therapeutic feedback sessions
  • co-facilitate ADHD Skills workshops (optional)

Behavioral Health
A postdoctoral emphasis in Behavioral Health (BH) is an opportunity to be a part of a small, cohesive integrated care team here at UHS and to work with students who may not seek out traditional mental health services. We strive to address student concerns from a health equity and whole person care lens, and we offer mental health approaches for students who often enter our system with medical concerns. BH emphasis postdocs have appointments in 2-hour shifts, taking most referrals from Primary Care, Gynecology, or Sexual Health departments for concerns related to medical or somatic illnesses that have mental health components, anxiety, depression, sleep concerns, pain management, sexual health, attention/concentration concerns, and substance use. Appointments often involve behavioral, mind-body, and self-care interventions aimed at improving student functioning. The BH postdoc may also have further opportunities for working alongside medical providers in an integrated care model; understanding the research literature regarding best practices in behavioral health; attending BH provider meetings and retreats; co-facilitating BH seminar training to interns; and developing a specialized area of BH treatment related to Gynecology, Sexual Health, Pain management or other areas of BH interest.

uhs.wisc.edu/medical/behavioral-health/
uhs.wisc.edu/wellness/

Eating Disorders
The eating disorders emphasis postdoc will:

  • increase knowledge in evidence-based practices for eating disorder care within a college counseling setting
  • conduct Eating Disorder Assessments to develop skills in diagnosis, treatment planning, the provision of psychoeducation about eating disorders, motivational interviewing, and referring
  • more confidently assign DSM-5 diagnoses, while also recognizing the importance/validity of transdiagnostic migration
  • recognize the racist origins of fat phobia and fat bias/weight stigma in the medical community, and principles of diet culture/fat phobia that impact the over-evaluation of weight/shape/size, etiology of eating concerns, and individual experiences of stigma/oppression for fat individuals
  • incorporate Health at Every Size (HAES) principles into clinical framework
  • develop skills in interdisciplinary consultation to support effective eating disorder treatment, including a collaborative treatment approach within an integrative health care system that recognizes limits/scope of care
  • address issues of identity and intersectionality, including protective and vulnerability factors for relationships with food, exercise, and body
  • identify medical complications of eating disorders
  • recognize the impact of co-morbid conditions and/or underlying psychological factors correlated with the onset and maintenance of eating disorder symptoms

uhs.wisc.edu/mental-health/eating-disorders/

Group Counseling
The Group Counseling emphasis focuses on honing group facilitation skills in a range of formats, cultivating a reputation and professional identity as a group therapist, learning more about the group research literature, and contributing to the coordination of group programming in a university setting. There is an opportunity to be involved in supervision and training of graduate-level practicum students, many of whom have no previous experience in group therapy. Additionally, the emphasis may provide opportunities to collaborate with the Group Coordinator on projects involving the creation of new groups, program development, review of group-related policies and procedures, and initiatives to improve our model of service delivery.

uhs.wisc.edu/mental-health/group-counseling/

Substance Use
The substance use postdoc will:

  • develop competency in assessing substance use disorders and determining levels of care
  • evaluate assessment data to create a treatment plan
  • work within a harm-reduction model of care to provide motivational interviewing and other brief interventions
  • understand the individual and social impacts of substance use
  • learn about substance use relative to co-morbid mental health concerns
  • attend the UHS AODA work group and substance use specialist team meetings
  • identify theories relating substance use with social justice, systemic racism and other social issues
  • implement culturally-contextualized strategies to meet the needs of students who hold marginalized identities
  • engage in analysis and evaluation of programs, services and data related to AODA concerns in the campus community
  • identify and recommend changes in AODA policies, procedures, and service delivery on campus

uhs.wisc.edu/mental-health/aoda/

Training and Supervision
The training and supervision postdoc will:

  • apply the developmental model across practicum and internship training contexts
  • identify how the practitioner-scholar model of training prepares trainees to enter practice
  • assist in improving the supervision experiences of supervisors and trainees, including the provision of clinical supervision and acquisition of trainee competency
  • learn how social justice and equity are applied in the training programs
  • assist in onboardings, selections, and program evaluations in all training orientations

uhs.wisc.edu/mental-health/doctraining/

uhs.wisc.edu/mental-health/practicum/

Trans and Gender Non-Confirming (TGNC) Health
The TGNC Health emphasis focuses on expanding knowledge, awareness, and skills related to client gender exploration and identity, medical resources for gender affirmation, and collaboration with stakeholders (e.g., medical providers, campus partners) in TGNC Health. Projects and training experiences include participating on the TGNC Health Committee and Trans Health medical team, engaging in outreach initiatives (e.g., Queer Leadership Team meetings, Gender & Sexuality Campus Center events/programs), and collaborating in the creation and implementation of new policies/initiatives to help University Health Services better serve TGNC students.

uhs.wisc.edu/medical/trans-health/

Trauma
The Trauma emphasis offers the postdoc didactic and experiential learning in the treatment of trauma.  The postdoc will work alongside our Survivor Services team and likely carry a caseload of students whose presenting concerns center on trauma and its aftermath. The postdoc will have access to small group and individual consultation specifically related to their trauma-focused clinical work. The Trauma emphasis fosters skill development related to culturally- and contextually-informed case conceptualization, treatment planning, and clinical interventions. Postdocs can expect to strengthen their understanding of the neurobiology of trauma, learn how to identify and respond to the many ways that trauma can ‘show up’ in the therapeutic space, and practice skills and interventions to support nervous system regulation. Postdocs will also deepen their knowledge about the impact of identity and intersectionality on protective and vulnerability factors to trauma exposure.  Postdocs may also participate in group programming specific to supporting survivors of trauma.

uhs.wisc.edu/survivor-services/

uhs.wisc.edu/survivor-resources/

Working with LGBTQ students
The LGBTQ+ emphasis will focus on growing identity-specific knowledge, awareness, and skills through a social justice lens to best serve students who hold these marginalized identities. Training experiences may include engaging in culturally- and clinically-appropriate care through individual and group counseling, reviewing the LGBTQ+ literature to inform best practices, providing outreach and programming (e.g., Gender and Sexuality Campus Center), and participating in meetings with campus partners (e.g., the Queer Leadership Team and the Trans Health Workgroup). Projects can be developed collaboratively around the interest of the postdoc relative to the dynamic needs of the LGBTQ+ students on campus.

uhs.wisc.edu/remotehealth/identity-resources/

Working with Partners
The Working with Partners emphasis focuses on exploring best practices to support the health and wellness of partnered relationships on a university campus. Consistent with the experience & interest of the postdoc, emphasis learning may include review of theoretical models & intervention techniques, assessment protocols, ethical challenges within a brief, intermittent service model, and practice contextualized by partners’ and relationship identities. Engagement experiences may include brief, intermittent couple/partner therapy/co-therapy; outreach presentations (e.g., Weathering the Storm Together: Relationships During COVID); workshops (e.g., Grad Resilience: Relationship Fitness); Relationship Focus Let’s Talk; collaborating in the review of agency practices, policies, & service delivery; reviewing referral, app & self-help resources; consultation/orientation; and/or proposing new initiatives.

uhs.wisc.edu/mental-health/couple-partner/

Working with Students of Color
The Student of Color emphasis focuses on expanding knowledge, awareness, and skills related to both personal and client racial/ethnic identity development, developing knowledge of resources and skills to offer students related to healing from the impact of systemic racism, and collaborating with students to help them expand their support networks at UW Madison. Projects and training experiences may include participating as a co-facilitator for an in-community support and processing-based group, engaging in outreach initiatives (e.g., LatinX Cultural Center events, Chicano/Latino Studies events, Multicultural Student Center, or SOC-based events/programs within other individual academic programs and/or scholarship programs where students are predominately BIPOC students), and collaborating in the creation and implementation of new policies/initiatives to help University Health Services better serve BIPOC students.

uhs.wisc.edu/remotehealth/identity-resources/

uhs.wisc.edu/mental-health/group-counseling/

 

The postdoctoral program at MHS provides postdocs with opportunities to participate in supervisory experiences, didactic training, campus-based consultation and outreach experiences, behavioral health, as well as case conferences and staff development activities as part of their training. In addition, postdocs receive supervision in different contexts (e.g., individual, group), and have opportunities to learn from different staff members about their approaches to clinical and consultation work at a university counseling center.

Orientation

The first two weeks of the fellowship are designed to familiarize postdocs with the daily operation of MHS and UHS, and to facilitate transition to Madison and UW–Madison. A major focus of orientation is for postdocs to get to know MHS staff and supervisors, to feel a part of the agency, and to begin to develop individual schedules. Postdocs are introduced to the many MHS systems, including campus-based services, psychiatry, administrative support, triage services, behavioral health, Healthy Eating Program and Survivor Services.  In addition, postdocs are provided with didactic training, including sessions on initial consultation and assessment, crisis assessment and intervention, as well as risk assessment and legal and ethical issues. Postdocs also visit and learn about campus and student services at UW-Madison.

Individual Counseling

UW–Madison students are eligible for individual and couples counseling at Mental Health Services. Staff work in a short-term (10-sessions/year, 20 sessions/degree) intermittent model of service delivery.

Group Counseling

MHS offers numerous groups over the year, including interpersonal process, support/theme (e.g., LGBTQ support, adult children of alcoholics, grief), and psycho-educational (e.g., mindfulness for anxiety, social skills, DBT) groups. All of these groups are co-facilitated.

On Call Coverage

Postdocs currently provide two hours/week of on call/triage coverage. Students can “drop-in” and meet with an on call/triage provider for a brief consultation. Students can discuss their concerns, and then are assigned internally (e.g., 60-minute scheduled consultation/intake or single session appointment), follow-up with their current provider, or are referred to external providers.

Behavioral Health

Behavioral health providers work with medical providers and students to consider the physical, emotional, and behavioral aspects of health and determine therapeutic courses of action. Providers help students develop behavioral change plans for tobacco cessation, weight loss, alcohol use, exercise or other lifestyle modifications. Providers also help develop skills to effectively manage emotional or behavioral difficulties such as stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, anger, and relationship problems.

Outreach/Consultation/Liaison

Postdocs can establish a liaison relationship with a UW-Madison department, student service organization, or campus group. Postdocs are consultants and provide presentations/workshops on mental health topics for students or staff within the organization they work with. Postdocs participate in at least four outreach requests for programming throughout the year.

Let’s Talk

Let’s Talk are no-cost, informal, drop-in confidential consultations at locations around campus that are available to students throughout the academic year. Let’s Talk counselors can help provide insight, support, and information about other resources. Let’s Talk is not a substitute for formal counseling and doesn’t constitute mental health treatment, but gives students an opportunity to address concerns, explore solutions, and understand how counseling might be helpful.

Team meeting

Postdocs meet weekly with staff in one of several teams to consult about on-call service delivery, challenging clinical experiences, treatment plan options, and personal or professional development.

Staff meeting

All MHS staff meets weekly to talk about the agency, including service delivery, training considerations, counseling center partnerships, and self-care. Professional development training opportunities are provided to all staff once a month. Past trainings include multicultural counseling, DSM-5, multicultural supervision, threat assessment, and sex therapy.

Committees

Postdocs can participate on one of several steering committees that meet throughout the year. Committees include Training, and Clinical Services. Additional UHS committees include Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity, Trans Health, and Healthy Eating Services.

  1. Our postdoc program is not internship 2.0. Emphasis training is a unique aspect of our program, such that you will engage in at least four hours/week focused on professional experiences in eating disorders, TGNC health, substance use, working with partners, training and supervision, working with students of color, group counseling, behavioral health, working with Latinx students, trauma, or assessment.
  2. We are a program committed to diversity, social justice, and anti-racism. We are responsible to change individual and agency systems that perpetuate white supremacy and oppression, and we are works-in-progress as we examine our implicit biases and cultural competence.
  3. You will be a part of an 80-member multidisciplinary team of counseling psychologists, clinical psychologists, social workers, master’s-level counselors, substance abuse counselors, marriage and family therapists, physicians, psychiatrists and advanced practice nurse practitioners, and nutritionists. Mentorship is a cornerstone of our program.
  4. You also get a breadth of experiences with us, from crisis on call to Let’s Talk to affinity groups to outreach/consultation to behavioral health to assessment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and steering committees to trauma counseling to Healthy Eating programs. You will get great group experience with us as well. We offer approximately 50 groups each semester, so there are plenty of group counseling opportunities.
  5. Learning happens in an integrated collaborative health care model. We conceptualize students holistically from this model.
  6. Global warming means February temperatures are less likely to be in the single digits! Woohoo!
  7. Postdocs receive support (financial, time, emotional) for EPPP and licensure. This is another reason why the postdoc is different than internship: having passed the EPPP will make you a more marketable and competitive job applicant. And a postdoc experience gives you space to accumulate post-degree hours and move forward with licensure requirements like the EPPP.
  8. Every one of our postdocs has gotten jobs at year’s end at university counseling centers, private practices, university training clinics, community mental health centers, academia, private practices, university training clinics, and VAs. A postdoc experience adds to your experience and marketability.
  9. We provide services to more 45,000 students at a Big 10 university. Go Bucky!
  10. We are mental health providers who are committed to college mental health, and we would love to have you join our team. Learn more about our staff here: uhs.wisc.edu/staff

Supervisory Assignments

Given the important role of supervision to professional training and personal development, postdocs collectively meet with potential supervisors during the first week of orientation. Goals, theoretical orientations, and supervision styles are discussed, and then postdocs and supervisors submit to the Director of Training for pairings. Multiple factors are considered in supervision pairings, including the postdoc’s skill level, theoretical orientation, training needs, goals and interests, as well as the interests, strengths, skills and preferences of supervisors.

Individual Supervision

Intensive individual supervision is provided throughout the postdoctoral year and is considered a core component of training. In supervision, postdocs receive support for their growth and development as professional psychologists as well as ongoing feedback regarding their strengths, goals for training and areas for improvement. Supervisory functions include monitoring client welfare, promoting and enhancing clinical and consultation skills, encouraging personal and professional growth and evaluating postdoc progress in each of these areas. The supervisory relationship is a core aspect of each postdoc’s training experience during the postdoctoral year.

Postdocs receive 2.0 hours/week of individual supervision with a licensed psychologist. Additional consultation is arranged on an as-needed basis. Supervisors are responsible for overseeing each postdoc’s individual client caseloads.

Emphasis Consultation

Postdocs work with a senior staff member who provides 1 hour/week of emphasis consultation. MHS staff members have valuable knowledge and experience that extends beyond their practices as generalists. They are mental health providers from a variety of academic training backgrounds, and offer expert consultation about many different postdoc emphases.

Group Supervision

Each postdoc also participates in 1 hour/week of group supervision with the other postdocs. Group supervision is co-facilitated by two psychologists.

Supervision of Group

Postdocs meet with their group co-facilitators to debrief for 30 minutes after each weekly group session. Topics of conversation include dynamics of individual group members and the group process, administrative considerations, and roles and processes of the group co-facilitators.

The primary mission of the MHS postdoctoral training program is to offer advanced professional training for postdoctoral fellows. The program includes the following characteristics:

  • Postdocs are expected to participate in at least 21.5 hours/week of service delivery, approximately 13 hours of which will be individual counseling.
  • Each postdoc will receive at least 2.0 hours of individual supervision/week.
  • Postdocs are expected to receive satisfactory performance evaluations on the Postdoc Evaluation Form as completed by their supervisors. Satisfactory performance is defined as an evaluation of 3 or higher on all dimensions of a particular competency. An evaluation below 3 on a competency dimension may require remediation, additional supervision, or application of the UHS due process procedures.

Evaluation Procedures

Evaluation is an important and integral part of the training experience. The MHS training staff is committed to providing ongoing feedback and evaluation of postdocs’ performance in order to facilitate professional growth and development. Postdocs also informally evaluate their supervisors and the postdoctoral program throughout the year, and more formally every six months.

Evaluation of postdocs begins during the orientation period when each postdoc and supervisor review the evaluation form and establish priorities and a contract for supervision, identify specific interests, training needs, and training goals and objectives. Postdocs receive informal feedback regarding their progress during regularly scheduled individual supervision sessions such that feedback and discussion are an ongoing process throughout supervision.

Formal written evaluations are completed quarterly by supervisors and are then submitted to the Postdoc Program Coordinator and Director of Training. Strengths, areas for growth, and specific suggestions for the postdoc’s further professional training are identified and recorded in these evaluations. Written evaluations are discussed and signed by both supervisor and postdoc. The evaluations are reviewed by the Director of Training and then placed in the postdoc’s personnel file.

Evaluation of the Training Program

Postdocs provide informal feedback about the training program throughout the fellowship year. Special requests, recommendations, or suggestions may be addressed with a supervising staff member, the postdoc’s supervisor, the Postdoc Program Coordinator, or the Director of Training. In addition, the following procedures are in place to ensure that postdocs’ concerns and needs are addressed.

  • Postdocs complete an anonymous Qualtrics survey of their orientation experiences to improve the orientation process for the next training year.
  • Postdocs formally evaluate their supervisors in writing every six months with the Evaluation of Supervision Form.
  • At the end of the training year, postdocs evaluate all aspects of the postdoctoral experience with the Final Evaluation of Postdoctoral Training Program (by anonymous Qualtrics survey). This evaluation focuses on specific areas of strength and weakness of the program, including suggestions for improvement. Postdocs’ evaluations are reviewed by the Postdoc Program Coordinator and the Director of Training and are used to explore and implement appropriate changes in the program as appropriate.

Postdoctoral Fellow-Supervisor Supervision contract (Document).
Postdoctoral Fellowship Quarterly Evaluation (Document)
Postdoctoral Fellow Evaluation of Supervision (Document)

In order to successfully complete the training program, each postdoc must meet the following exit criteria:

  1. Commit no ethical violations.
  2. Complete at least 25% (500 hours) of face-to-face client contact.
  3. Demonstrate minimal competence in foundational and functional competencies identified on the Final Postdoc Evaluation. In particular, postdocs will have:
    1. Received a rating of “3” or “competence at expected level of development” or higher by individual supervisors on the Postdoc Evaluation Form for identified competencies by the end of the postdoctoral fellowship.
    2. Received a rating of “3” or “competence at expected level of development” or higher by group supervisor on the Postdoc Evaluation Form for identified competencies by the end of the postdoctoral fellowship.
  4. Complete all written documentation, including scheduled consultations, progress notes, and closing summaries.
  5. Complete and submit the following to the Postdoc Program Coordinator:
    1. All Postdoc Evaluation Forms
    2. All Supervisor Evaluation Forms
    3. Final Evaluation of Postdoctoral Fellowship

Postdocs who successfully complete all 2000 hours of the fellowship will receive a “Certificate of Completion” at the end of the year.

The fellowship is a 100% fixed-term 2000-hour appointment with a full-time equivalent annual salary of $43,000 plus group health insurance and life insurance. Additional benefits include 192 personal time off (PTO) hours (24 days total), legal holidays observed during the year, a technologically-equipped office, and other university privileges. Postdocs can also take up to 10 days to use as professional development, which includes time to study for the EPPP, attend conferences, or interview for jobs. Flex time may also be accumulated by postdocs who are engaged in direct service activities that require attending after-hours campus events as a UHS representative (e.g., LGBTCC graduation, Red Folder presentation). Postdocs also receive $600 for professional development monies. This is a 12-month 2000-hour (40 hours/week) full-time fellowship that begins August 1 and ends July 31 of the following year.

UHS promotes a work and service environment that is respectful of each customer and employee, and free of harassment of any kind. Each employee shares this responsibility. UHS provides reasonable accommodation for qualified employees with disabilities.

ALL NEW EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN ARE REQUIRED TO SUCCESSFULLY PASS THE STATE OF WISCONSIN’S BACKGROUND INFORMATION DISCLOSURE AS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT.

Please click here to download the professional development request form.

Postdoctoral Residents

2021-2022

Heidi Binder, PsyD, Adler School of Professional Psychology

Meg Boyer, PhD, UC-Santa Barbara

James Gresh, PsyD, Loyola University Maryland

Merrill Reiter, PhD, Oklahoma State University

2020-2021

Blake Bettis, PsyD, Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Melanie Daovannary, PsyD, Adler School of Professional Psychology

Matt Rozzi, PhD, University of North Dakota

Jen Yeoward-Dodson, PhD, University of Memphis

2019-2020

Kallie Kobold, PysD, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology

Jamie Welch, PhD, University of Maryland

Corinne Werner, PsyD, Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Kathy Wierzchowski, PhD, Purdue University