Severe mental illness track

[whatishappeningpm]

Hi, any suggestions for programs with severe mental illness emphasis/track? I am already identifying faculty that have similar research interests in schizophrenia/psychosis, but would also love to be able to focus on severe mental illness in my curriculum/clinical components. I've only found one at Nova. Anyone know of others?

Thanks (=

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[R. Matey]

UW has a research center in that area. Also, I've heard that there's a PI at Temple University that does work in psychosis.

Edit: I just saw the other part of your question. I'm not certain that specific coursework is as necessary as quality practicum experiences. The SMI population can largely be found in inpatient facilities or community mental health centers though I am told that some private practices also specialize in SMI. Whatever training site you find, be sure that it's a somewhat established program to actually train you, rather than just exploit you for your services.

 

[whatishappeningpm]

Thank you!

 

[EnPsychlopedia]

I am studying schizophrenia/psychosis in my PhD program and will have externship opportunities which will allow me to get clinical experience with this population. The extent to which this is possible varies widely from program to program, and makes for a good question to bring up with the DCT during interviews. It's certainly not always possible, though I'm not sure about the extent to which that is a problem, since SMI internships and post-docs also exist and would be able to provide some of that exposure.

 

[SomeGreatNotion]

SMI Training is a nice resource. They have a list of postdoc programs but many of these academic sites will have doctoral level programs with psychosis research faculty. The research tab has a list of readings by SMI topic that might also give you ideas of where there are programs.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I obtained my experience with this population in practicums and then did my internship at a state hospital. Coursework is good to provide foundational information that applies pretty broadly and then as we work with various populations and settings we start to specialize and learn how to apply the knowledge. I actually think it can be a mistake to narrow one’s focus too early in this process.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I'd agree that narrowing one's focus too much, too early is problematic. That said, I suspect that in most instances, if your advisor is involved in SMI, then you'll have available practicum opportunities in SMI. Even if the advisor does no clinical work, which is very unlikely (or impossible) for a clinical program, they've gotta get their research participants from somewhere.

But just to be sure, if the program lists its practicum sites/types, I'd keep an eye out for places like large state hospitals, community mental health clinics, any type of psychiatric inpatient facility, and possibly even forensic mental health facilities.

 

[whatishappeningpm]

I'd agree that narrowing one's focus too much, too early is problematic. That said, I suspect that in most instances, if your advisor is involved in SMI, then you'll have available practicum opportunities in SMI. Even if the advisor does no clinical work, which is very unlikely (or impossible) for a clinical program, they've gotta get their research participants from somewhere.

But just to be sure, if the program lists its practicum sites/types, I'd keep an eye out for places like large state hospitals, community mental health clinics, any type of psychiatric inpatient facility, and possibly even forensic mental health facilities

 

[whatishappeningpm]

True, thank you!

 

[earlyinterventionist]

I'd agree that narrowing one's focus too much, too early is problematic. That said, I suspect that in most instances, if your advisor is involved in SMI, then you'll have available practicum opportunities in SMI. Even if the advisor does no clinical work, which is very unlikely (or impossible) for a clinical program, they've gotta get their research participants from somewhere.

But just to be sure, if the program lists its practicum sites/types, I'd keep an eye out for places like large state hospitals, community mental health clinics, any type of psychiatric inpatient facility, and possibly even forensic mental health facilities.

Agree with this 100%. I trained in an SMI lab and though I interacted with that population via my mentor's research, I didn't have any intervention experience with scz/psychosis until my internship. I'm now faculty in a program that has an SMI-focused internship track, and this continues to be common amongst our applicants/matched interns.

Even if your goal is to become an expert in psychosis, attending a program with strong foundational training in evidence-based assessment and therapy is more important than getting direct SMI experience early on in your training IMO. OP, feel free to msg me if you have questions.

 

[ClinicalABA]

It's been my observation that places that offer (or, more accurately, advertise) "tracks" tend not to have things like "mentors" and "labs." If you want SMI experience as an in-house part of your graduate training, find a mentor-model training program with a mentor that is doing research in SMI. As a second option, find a mentor-model training program with a mentor that will support you doing your own research or external work with SMI (e.g., through practicum placements, thesis/dissertation), despite it not being the primary focus of their lab. A large cohort program with specialty training tracks might not be a great option, as the "tracks" may be defined more by the curriculum and what is taught, vs. the expertise of who is doing the teaching or direct access to the population that is being taught about. If you are going to invest huge amounts of time and money into the next almost decade of your life, be certain to distinguish marketing gimmicks from actual in-depth training opportunities. There may be some really good "specialty training track" model programs, but there are definitely some pretty awful ones. Caveat emptor (and many of these programs see you as nothing more than an "emptor"!).

 

[whatishappeningpm]

It's been my observation that places that offer (or, more accurately, advertise) "tracks" tend not to have things like "mentors" and "labs." If you want SMI experience as an in-house part of your graduate training, find a mentor-model training program with a mentor that is doing research in SMI. As a second option, find a mentor-model training program with a mentor that will support you doing your own research or external work with SMI (e.g., through practicum placements, thesis/dissertation), despite it not being the primary focus of their lab. A large cohort program with specialty training tracks might not be a great option, as the "tracks" may be defined more by the curriculum and what is taught, vs. the expertise of who is doing the teaching or direct access to the population that is being taught about. If you are going to invest huge amounts of time and money into the next almost decade of your life, be certain to distinguish marketing gimmicks from actual in-depth training opportunities. There may be some really good "specialty training track" model programs, but there are definitely some pretty awful ones. Caveat emptor (and many of these programs see you as nothing more than an "emptor"!).

I have an additional question here: per your response, you can select a faculty member who's lab isn't your primary interest? I have been only trying to find 1:1 and it's severely limited my options esp because now due to personal reasons I may have a geography constraint. Also, is it possible to pick a core faculty member but do research interdisciplinary across departments? How much can ur interests deviate from mentors? I was actually considering getting my LMHC and then a pure research PhD in my area of interests given my new limited geographic issues (south florida).Thanks!

 

[pricklyhare]

I have an additional question here: per your response, you can select a faculty member who's lab isn't your primary interest? I have been only trying to find 1:1 and it's severely limited my options esp because now due to personal reasons I may have a geography constraint. Also, is it possible to pick a core faculty member but do research interdisciplinary across departments? How much can ur interests deviate from mentors? I was actually considering getting my LMHC and then a pure research PhD in my area of interests given my new limited geographic issues (south florida).Thanks!

I’m not the person you’re replying to but I have experience working with and applying to (for PhD programs) faculty who focus on SMI. There are just not a lot of SMI faculty for the numbers of potential students that want to work with them. Generally when you are applying to PhD programs you want to have as close of a research fit with your potential mentor as possible - after all, you’re likely going to be using their data and contributing to their data collection. Your core faculty member is your mentor and someone you will be ostensibly linked to for the duration of your career, you can definitely collaborate with other faculty within a department but I would not call that interdisciplinary. If you want to do SMI research you will have to apply to SMI researchers, of which there are (unfortunately) very few. Programs without SMI faculty also likely don’t have many opportunities for you to engage with that population.

If you have a serious but temporary geographic limitation, I would maybe wait on applying, you’ll need to apply veeeery broadly as an SMI applicant. But like others have said you can get SMI training internship and beyond, so if you find a faculty member who matches other interests you have and you end up working with them, I don’t think all hope is lost for getting that experience.

 

[whatishappeningpm]

I’m not the person you’re replying to but I have experience working with and applying to (for PhD programs) faculty who focus on SMI. There are just not a lot of SMI faculty for the numbers of potential students that want to work with them. Generally when you are applying to PhD programs you want to have as close of a research fit with your potential mentor as possible - after all, you’re likely going to be using their data and contributing to their data collection. Your core faculty member is your mentor and someone you will be ostensibly linked to for the duration of your career, you can definitely collaborate with other faculty within a department but I would not call that interdisciplinary. If you want to do SMI research you will have to apply to SMI researchers, of which there are (unfortunately) very few. Programs without SMI faculty also likely don’t have many opportunities for you to engage with that population.

If you have a serious but temporary geographic limitation, I would maybe wait on applying, you’ll need to apply veeeery broadly as an SMI applicant. But like others have said you can get SMI training internship and beyond, so if you find a faculty member who matches other interests you have and you end up working with them, I don’t think all hope is lost for getting that experience.

Okay, thank you very much. I might consider exploring other research options even if my main interests is SMI. There's a neuropychologist who does addiction research at FIU, and I am interested in how he uses neuropsych since most neuropsychs work with TBIs/aging/health etc.

 

[LM02]

Chiming in as someone who does work that includes a focus on SMI, but in a medical center. I think that the commentary about limited faculty in psychology departments is a valid one - it's difficult, though not impossible, to do this work out of psychology department without a strong connection to a medical school. Wit that said, people like David Penn, Sheri Johnson, June Gruber, and Deanna Barch are people who come to mind in psychology depts.

 

[ClinicalABA]

I have an additional question here: per your response, you can select a faculty member who's lab isn't your primary interest? I have been only trying to find 1:1 and it's severely limited my options esp because now due to personal reasons I may have a geography constraint. Also, is it possible to pick a core faculty member but do research interdisciplinary across departments? How much can ur interests deviate from mentors? I was actually considering getting my LMHC and then a pure research PhD in my area of interests given my new limited geographic issues (south florida).Thanks!

When applying to a mentor model doctoral program you are generally applying to work with a specific faculty. There will be overall departmental and university standards, and there will likely be some vetting of your application done by the departmental faculty, but you really are applying to the that specific mentor. Your funding (e.g. research assistantship) may be tied specifically to that mentor faculty, so there will be some expectation that you work with then in their lab (and in this context, "lab" refers to a group of people working under a specific faculty, rather than a physical location like a "laboratory").

My mentor was pretty open to my collaborating with other faculty and students, both within and outside the clinical psych department. Other faculty were not so open to this (in most cases because of specific grant funding tied to discrete projects in which their students were expected to contribute. My mentor's area of interest was geriatrics (specifically anxiety and worry), but also behavioral therapy and ABA. My thesis and dissertation work focused on ABA and geriatrics, though the population I worked with also had SMI and was located in a nursing facility. As a result, I did some work with faculty in the department of nursing. Because of the ABA interest, I was also able to work in a lab with a faculty from the developmental psych department. There was always an expectation that I would prioritize work on my advisor's projects (they did pay the bills, after all!), but collaboration and networking were seen as a primary and important skill for a doctoral level clinician, and thus were encouraged.

 

[pricklyhare]

Chiming in as someone who does work that includes a focus on SMI, but in a medical center. I think that the commentary about limited faculty in psychology departments is a valid one - it's difficult, though not impossible, to do this work out of psychology department without a strong connection to a medical school. Wit that said, people like David Penn, Sheri Johnson, June Gruber, and Deanna Barch are people who come to mind in psychology depts.

There are a lot of wonderful SMI researchers, but there still are not that many and therefore competitively unfortunately. David Penn has retired, for example, and other SMI faculty receive so many applications that you have to be exceptional to stand out. It’s not impossible but when I say limited that is what I mean.

 

[LM02]

Oh man, I feel old knowing that David Penn has retired!

 

[earlyinterventionist]

Oh man, I feel old knowing that David Penn has retired!

As someone who is approaching 10 years of completing my PhD..... same.

It does seem like there are fewer SMI labs for PhD training these days as more people retire, but it's always worth checking out where someone's former mentees have ended up to get new leads... Amy Pinkham at UT Dallas, for example, trained with Penn and is now a Professor with an active lab doing great scz research.

If OP is looking for other active SMI labs, off the top of my head I can think of Northwestern (Vijay Mittal), UGA (Greg Strauss), Michigan State (Katy Thakkar), BU (Dan Fulford), Louisiana State (Alex Cohen).

 

[psych.meout]

I don't know that they have a "track" for SMI, but at least one faculty member at the IU Indianapolis campus is an SMI researcher. I think another one recently retired.

 

[cotn_psych]

I was in an SMI lab, did internship on an SMI track, and postdoc in a couple SMI labs. If you want to work with SMI populations and want a doctorate, you need a pretty solid foundation in SMI research and should aim to work in one of the labs and network with SMI researchers. It is a fairly small community across the US so everyone knows everyone else doing this research. Most professional research assistants in one SMI lab will end up doing grad school and postdoc in another lab. Positions are posted pretty frequently in Society for Research in Psychopathology and you can also see who is taking grad students by following this organization. If you are not yet apart of this community, I would not try to apply for grad school. There is a lot of really good competition within these labs and people do not tend to take grad students outside of the community.

As for clinical work, you just need a solid clinical training in CBT. I ended up doing VA and community mental health externships later in grad school, which was great exposure to SMI populations in outpatient settings. If you are focused on a clinical career, you'd be more effective getting a social work degree.

 

[R. Matey]

As for clinical work, you just need a solid clinical training in CBT. I ended up doing VA and community mental health externships later in grad school, which was great exposure to SMI populations in outpatient settings. If you are focused on a clinical career, you'd be more effective getting a social work degree.

Agree here. I did SMI work in a CMHC with just a master's degree. As I said, I hear that PPs exist for these patients, but my guess is they are not typical.