Post Doctoral Fellowship in Integrated Care and Behavioral Medicine

This postdoctoral residency in integrated care and behavioral medicine allows participants to become engaged in multiple activities in both the Oakland and Martinez VA primary care settings.  Both settings provide behavioral health services fully integrated into primary care, but the models of integration are distinct, providing the resident with exposure to different care models.  In both settings, the resident is involved in providing same-day access to mental health services for veterans seen in primary care and specialized behavioral medicine interventions that are critical to the mission of prevention, health promotion, and chronic disease management.  The resident will function on a variety of interprofessional teams in a variety of specific roles.  The program's settings provide experience with a very diverse range of patient backgrounds and presenting problems.  As such, developing competency in the provision of culturally sensitive care is a major training component.

Specific activities include:

• Behavioral health consultation according to the co-located, collaborative care model.
• Provision of same-day / as needed access to mental health assessment and treatment services for veterans in primary care.
• Consultation to primary care providers and other specialists related to management of behavioral health concerns in a medical setting, chronic disease management, and utilization of behavior change strategies related to improving medical outcomes.
• Implementation of evidence-based / supported individual intervention practices, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance/Commitment Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and skills-based approaches (e.g., stress management, pain management) targeting behavior change to promote physical and mental health.
• Co-facilitation of interdisciplinary group programs for chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, chronic pain, smoking cessation, and the MOVE! weight management program.
• Participation in the Codisciplinary Pain Clinic, a twice-monthly interprofessional assessment and intervention setting staffed by a pain medicine physician, a physical therapist, and a behavioral medicine psychologist.  Same-day co-assessments are also conducted with the pain medicine physician on request.
• Psychosocial assessments for transplant (e.g., lung, kidney, liver, stem-cell) and bariatric surgery.
• Psychoeducational lectures to specific groups of care providers and patients (e.g., stress management education for patients with diabetes, managing PTSD in a medical setting for nurses).
• Collaboration and consultation with a variety of other disciplines related to implementation and evaluation associated with the Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACTs).
• Development of an independent quantitative project related to improving clinical care, such as implementation and evaluation of a clinical program, interdisciplinary trainings, development of a treatment manual, etc.
• Provision of supervision and didactic presentations to other psychology trainees.