Psychotherapy Supervision and Training
Our training program emphasizes a balanced psychotherapy experience that can be easily modified to individual learning goals.
During the PGY-I year, interns learn psychiatric interviewing skills in a structured interviewing course. During this course, interns learn and practice the art of interviewing patients with a range of psychiatric symptoms from seasoned faculty. Rotating faculty members specialize in psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, forensic evaluation, existential therapy, motivational interviewing, and more.
Starting in PGY-II, each resident starts outpatient half-time and becomes established with their own patient panel. Appropriate patients are identified for short or long-term psychotherapy from either within the residents’ own panel or from within the wider clinic. Due to our program structure, residents can potentially follow some of the same patients for up to 3 years in clinic continuously. Residents receive guidance from an individual psychotherapy supervisor. Our supervisors are from a variety of disciplines and have expertise in many modalities, including Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (including CBT for psychosis), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy, Prolonged Exposure, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Seeking Safety and more. Supervisors provide our residents the opportunity to further expand their knowledge and skillset acquired from the formal psychotherapy courses.
In PGY-III, residents continue their half-time outpatient clinic and individual supervision. They continue to obtain new patients to follow while maintaining care for their existing panel. During the child and adolescent psychiatry rotation, interested residents may elect to observe specialty modalities such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy or Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Some residents elect to devote time outside of their formal training to pursue a one- to two-year psychoanalytic certification through one of several local psychoanalytic institutes.
Finally, during their PGY-IV year, along with continuing their usual outpatient work at Harbor, residents may pursue electives that meet their therapy interests. Beyond the modalities mentioned above, residents may have interest in being a part of the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy team, learn trauma-specific therapies, or expand their learning of other interventions. Residents have also participated in opportunities to learn about such modalities as Couples & Sex Therapy, Attachment-Based Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Mentalization-Based Therapy, Exposure and Response Therapy for OCD and more. Residents retain an individual psychotherapy supervisor for the year, and there is additional weekly team-based supervision for those residents pursuing an elective in DBT.