Postdoctoral Training Program in Clinical Psychology

Program Overview

AIDS Care Group (ACG) treats the whole person, bringing together medical and psychological services in a team-based approach to effectively care for individuals with chronic conditions. The aims of the residency program are three-fold: residents are provided advanced training in clinical psychology, with the skills to provide psychotherapy to a wide array of individuals recovering from co-occurring psychological and health conditions. Beyond this, the residency program provides advanced training in integrated medicine and addiction treatment, ensuring that graduates have the skills and experience necessary to engage in meaningful and rewarding careers that address the psychological needs of high-need and underserved communities.

In line with these aims, upon completion of the program residents can expect to be able to effectively:

1. 1. provide individual and group psychotherapy using evidence-based interventions within a long-term treatment model,
   2. diagnose and treat substance use disorders and common co-morbid conditions
   3. consult to medical professionals and allied health professionals on psychosocial topics as well as coordinate patient care.

A Residency Dedicated to Serving the Underserved

The program at ACG is strategically located within an area accessible to many low-income, underserved communities being ravaged by the opiate overdose epidemic. Individuals in the communities that ACG serves most often do not have access to high quality, long-term psychological treatment. Furthermore, the residency program’s focus on an integrated medical model of practice helps residents to meet the unique needs of individuals recovering from substance use disorders and severe mental illness who may otherwise be lost in the cracks of poorly connected healthcare systems. The Residency Program at ACG has several clinical tracks, based upon our agency’s programming and clinical needs: 1. Addiction psychology (medically assisted treatment for opiate use disorder), 2. HIV/AIDS psychology, and 3. LGBTQ+ psychology. Residents will have the opportunity to choose a primary and secondary program in which to focus their training, consistent with agency needs.

Grounded in a Mission of Equitable Care

“Working for and within populations adversely affected by stigma, poor access to care, discrimination, and poverty, AIDS Care Group is dedicated to using its resources to provide comprehensive and compassionate clinical care and social services to persons living with leading public health conditions including, but not limited to, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, mental illness, and opioid use disorders.”

Rooted in Values of Cultural and Structural Humility

The residency program strives to view the communities we serve through a systemic lens. We seek to effectively engage with the individualized experiences of our patients, couched in an understanding of the interwoven systems that they occupy and navigate.  Residents can expect to gain a strong foundational understanding of social determinants of health, along with the social systems at play in creating and maintaining the health disparities that we seek to lessen.

Growing Through Inclusion

The residency program at ACG believes in equitable hiring practices to ensure that the program admits qualified residents from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. ACG incorporates social responsibility into its values as a training program for future psychologists. With these values in mind, the residency program at ACG strives not only for equal hiring, but also for diverse hiring in order to enact these values at every level of the program.