Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Intervention Research with Youth and Families Impacted by the Legal System

Division of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital

Department of Psychiatry

University of California, San Francisco

This postdoctoral fellowship is a placement with the Juvenile Justice Behavioral Health (JJBH) lab in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Division of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ICAP) at Zuckerberg San Francisco General (ZSFG) Hospital, a public service hospital and Level I trauma center, committed to serving low-income and ethnically and culturally diverse minoritized populations. The position focuses on development, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral health interventions which leverage technology to improve access to and quality of care for youth and families impacted by the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.

The JJBH research team engages in a program of research that incorporates epidemiological/ observation, behavioral intervention, efficacy trial, and structural-level approaches to understanding how to improve behavioral health (psychiatric symptoms, substance use, sexual health) and legal outcomes for publicly (Medi-Cal) insured and/or systems-impacted youth and young adults. We are a multi-cultural, muli-lingual team dedicated to improving behavioral health outcomes and reducing health inequities among publicly insured and/or system-impacted youth. Many of our ongoing studies focus on leveraging technology to improve access to and quality of care.

There are two main projects where the fellow will have the opportunity to engage in scholarship:

1. The Family Telehealth Project (https://jjbh.org/researchs/ftp/) aims to adapt and evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of a family-based affect management intervention delivered to families impacted by the child welfare system via telehealth. The study aims to improve behavioral health outcomes and reduce housing instability among youth involved in the child welfare system by increasing youth and caregivers’ affect management abilities and improving the caregiver-youth relationship. An additional study aim is to culturally adapt and evaluate the intervention for Spanish speaking Latinx families.
2. The ECHO Projects (https://jjbh.org/researchs/extension-for-community-healthcare-outcomes-project-echo/) including: 1) JJBH ECHO, a tele-mentoring program for community behavioral health providers serving system-involved youth; and 2) ECHO Community, a tele-mentoring program funded by the Dream Keepers Initiative to increase capacity among community members in conducting research. These projects are an extension of Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), a “hub and spokes” model wherein a team of specialists (the hub) facilitates learning and shares expertise with community providers/members (the spokes) over a videoconferencing platform.

Other opportunities may also be available as funding permits.

Fellows are engaged in training and educational activities and research and will have opportunities to participate in systems-level work focused on advocacy and policy initiatives. Fellows will spend 100% of their time engaged in clinical research activities. Individual supervision will be provided by licensed clinical psychologists in accordance with requirements for licensure by the California Board of Psychology. This training experience will emphasize professional development to train fellows to assume leadership positions within academic medical and/or community mental health centers as child clinical psychologists. Opportunities to provide clinical services within ongoing clinical trials, participate in clinical group supervision, individual/group Spanish supervision, and a variety of didactic seminars through UCSF ICAP training programs are available. Upon completion of the one-year fellowship, fellows will have met the postdoctoral training hours requirement for licensure as a clinical psychologist in the state of California.

We expect our fellow to meet the following training goals:

1. Acquire sufficient methodological knowledge and research skills to conduct high quality research with system-impacted youth and families;
2. Acquire knowledge about the most pressing issues in behavioral health research with system-impacted youth and families;
3. Develop organizational management and community-engagement skills in working with various sectors (e.g., legal, education) involved in system-of-care of youth and families impacted by the legal system;
4. Develop the professional and leadership skills necessary to succeed within academic medical and/or public health settings and take leadership positions in those settings.

Stipends for fiscal year 2022-2022 are $55,000 for a full year for postdoctoral fellows. Bilingual fellows will receive an additional $2,000 to [FJ1] the aforementioned stipend amount pending certification through UCSF of language abilities. UCSF provides a competitive benefits package for postdoctoral fellows and further information can be accessed at https://postdocs.ucsf.edu/benefits.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Applicants must have completed a doctoral degree in Clinical, Counseling, or School Psychology from an APA-accredited program. Candidates must have completed all requirements for their doctoral degree prior to beginning fellowship. Only graduates of APA accredited doctoral programs will be considered, and applicants must have also completed an APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship. Candidates should have well-established clinical and research interests, and prior experience working with youth and families. Strong interest in working with underserved families in an urban, public health context is a must, and prior experience in these contexts is preferred. Bilingual applicants, and particularly Spanish-speaking applicants, are especially encouraged to apply. 

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. The 2022-23 training year is scheduled to begin September 1, 2022 and end August 31, 2023.

Candidates must submit the following to be considered for the position: 

1. Letter of interest which includes your long-term career goals and how this postdoctoral fellowship will help you reach these goals (no more than 2 pages, single spaced) 

2. CV 

All application materials and recommendation letters should be submitted directly to Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan (contact information below). In the email subject line, please write “UCSF JJBH Postdoctoral Application” to help us better process your application.

UCSF is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. The University undertakes affirmative action to assure equal employment opportunity for underutilized minorities and women, for persons with disabilities and for Vietnam-era veterans and special disabled veterans. 12/04 Employer University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)