We are recruiting 2 postdoctoral fellows for the 2024-2025 academic year for our Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) residency program at Samaritan Health Services of Oregon.

 

Setting:

Samaritan Health Services (SHS) is a network of hospitals, clinics, and health services located throughout the beautiful Willamette Valley and central coast region of Oregon. The SHS postdoctoral year allows residents to advance in their clinical and professional skills as a behavioral health consultant working within a family medicine or primary care setting. The SHS residency program offers two (2) placements focused on a particular community: Samaritan Family Medicine Resident Clinic (Corvallis, OR) and Samaritan Family Medicine Geary Street (Albany, OR). 

 

Description:

Residents typically spend 3 days/ week in their primary placement,  1 day/ week in a minor rotation (options currently include rotations in cardiology and OBGYN), and 1 day/ week engaged in didactic and research activities.

 

Behavioral health residents are highly valued within each clinic and operate as an integrated member of the primary care team. Regardless of community placement, residents work as part of a multidisciplinary team with a focus on integrated behavioral health care within the Primary Care Behavioral Health model (PCBH). The PCBH model emphasizes brief treatment of mental health and physical health related issues, consisting of 15-30 minute sessions, with focus on improving overall functioning in managing current difficulties. Emphasis is on brief treatment with referrals to specialty mental health services for traditional psychotherapy in the community when identified as appropriate.  The purposes of the PCBH model are to improve access to mental health care, improve medical provider satisfaction, and improve patient outcomes.  Residents also conduct warm handoffs to meet briefly with patients during regularly scheduled primary care appointments to introduce patients to behavioral health services. There is also an increasing focus on collaborative training with family medicine residents.   Opportunities to develop and co-lead group-based programs exist and are highly encouraged.  Additionally, residents may have the opportunity to provide layered supervision to predoctoral interns within their clinic. 

 

Residents also have the opportunity to gain additional health psychology skills through a minor rotation in a specialty clinic, such as cardiology or OBGYN, dependent on provider availability and residents’ interests.  Recent residents have completed a minor rotation in our outpatient cardiology clinic.  In this setting, residents provide behavioral health treatment to support patients’ engagement in health behavior change and improve adjustment to medical concerns. They also co-facilitate group-based programming including psychoeducational classes for a cardiac rehab program and co-lead a therapy group called Minding the Heart: Stress Management for Heart Health.

 

Supervision, Research, and Additional Learning Activities:

Residents receive a minimum of 2 hours of individual supervision per week, 1 hour of group supervision each week, and attend didactic seminars that align with their training interests and goals. Residents co-facilitate a monthly diversity seminar for predoctoral interns and also have the opportunity to provide layered supervision.  Protected time and mentorship is provided to support residents’ completion of a research or program development project, which is one important milestone of the training year. 

 

Application Process:

Candidates should be in good standing with their APA/CPA-accredited program and have strong training in health psychology and behavioral health to be considered for interview.  Applications should be submitted through APPIC’s Centralized Application Service (APPA CAS). This application portal will require you include the following: 1) Curriculum vitae, 2) Cover letter of interest that includes the sites the candidate is applying for, fit with program and site, and long-term career goals, 3) Three (3) reference letters, with at least one from a primary supervisor on internship, 4) Transcripts (digital) from graduate program.

 
Applications are due on December 4, 2023. Applicants will be notified of their interview status by December 15, 2023.
 
Interviews will be conducted on the following two dates: January 3 and January 9, 2024. All interviews will be conducted virtually for the 2023-2024 recruitment season.  Interviews will be scheduled over a 2-hour period and involve the applicant meeting with residency program staff, current residents, and supervisors.  

 

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

Samaritan Health Services Psychology Training Program (SHSPTP) strongly values diversity and this value is explicitly reflected in multiple areas of training including efforts to recruit and retain diverse trainees and staff members, create an inclusive and affirming work environment, and effectively train trainees to skillfully navigate individual and cultural diversity issues within all aspects of their professional lives. 

 

SHSPTP maintains a required profession-wide competency in individual and cultural diversity.  Diversity experiences and training are interwoven throughout the training program to ensure that trainees are both personally supported and well trained in this area.  These experiences include (but are not limited to) provision of interventions and assessment to diverse populations, an emphasis on diversity issues in supervision, and didactic seminars on diversity-related topics.

Compensation and Benefits:

Stipend: $62,820

Additional benefits include: Health insurance benefits including options for vision and dental coverage, Malpractice insurance, 20 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) in addition to all federal holidays in which clinics are closed, Up to an additional 2 days of paid leave to take the EPPP and Oregon Jurisprudence Exam and 1 day to present at a professional conference, Reimbursement for EPPP and Oregon Jurisprudence Exam fees, so long as residents take and pass the exam(s) during their residency year, Access to EPPP study materials and protected time for EPPP studying, Reimbursement for Oregon licensure application fee.

Additional Information:

All SHS psychology training programs are overseen by the Director of Clinical Training (Terra Bennett-Reeves, PsyD) and Associate Director of Clinical Training (Petra Zdenkova, PsyD). The SHS residency program is directly overseen by the Assistant Director of Clinical Training (Julie Cunningham, PhD) who can be contacted at jcunningha@samhealth.org

Visit our website for more information: Health Psychology Residency Program (samhealth.org)