Application Deadline: January 4, 2016
Start Date: September 1, 2016
For over 13 years, the Boston Children’s Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships (CHNP) program has placed social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists in schools and community health centers throughout underserved neighborhoods of Boston to provide a comprehensive array of behavioral health services to children and adolescents where they live and learn.
The overall goals of CHNP are 1) to increase access to children’s behavioral health services; 2) to promote children’s healthy social-emotional development; 3) to build the sustainable behavioral health capacity of partner organizations; 4) to promote systemic change in behavioral health service delivery; and 5) to provide services that achieve a high degree of satisfaction with all stakeholders.
Children growing up in urban communities are some of the most in need of high quality, accessible services. They may face multiple factors that put them at greater risk for experiencing behavioral health problems, including living in communities with high rates of poverty, significant family stress, and exposure to interpersonal and community violence. Though the need is high, these children and their families experience formidable barriers when attempting to access behavioral health services.
CHNP’s School-Based Program includes partnerships with public schools in Boston, Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, Dorchester, and Roslindale, including elementary, K-8, middle, and high schools. Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) social workers and psychologists work onsite to provide clinical, early intervention, and prevention and promotion services to students, and behavioral health training and consultation to school staff. Family engagement and education is a critical component of CHNP’s work in schools. More details about the CHNP program can be found at: http://www.childrenshospital.org/centers-and-services/boston-childrens-hospital-neighborhood- partnerships-program
Postdoctoral Training Opportunities:
CHNP will accept one full-time/40 hour postdoctoral fellow this coming school year. The postdoctoral fellow will be placed in a partner school site part-time/20 hours to implement clinical services including short-term therapy, prevention focused group work, crisis intervention, staff training, and consultation to staff and families. The fellow will also take part in the psychiatry department’s meetings and clinical training seminars as well as CHNP team meetings. CHNP staff will provide clinical supervision.
The fellow will also be part-time/20 hours with the CHNP’s research and evaluation team. The research/evaluation team is in charge of the task of documenting the impact of clinical, prevention, and consultative services on the mental health status, academic performance, and additional outcomes of students in the CHNP partner schools. In addition to supporting the work
of evaluating community programming with this team, the fellow will be mentored in developing and implementing a quality improvement project based on his/her interests and skills.
The successful applicant will have a PhD or PsyD in clinical, counseling or school psychology from an APA/CPA accredited doctoral program and have completed a predoctoral internship in an APA/CPA accredited program. Given the mission and practice of the CHNP, applicants are sought with strong backgrounds in community-based and school-based work with diverse populations.
Interested candidates are asked to forward the following materials via email: Letter of interest, application information sheet, curriculum vitae, certified transcript of all doctoral work, and three letters of reference. Please contact Ms. Carol Berne, Department of Psychology, Fegan 8, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, 617 355-4563, email carol.berne@childrens.harvard.edu to obtain more information about the application. Please submit application materials electronically to Ms. Berne by January 4, 2016 and send original of letters of reference and transcripts of graduate studies by mail.
For further information about the fellowship, please contact Shella Dennery, PhD, LICSW, CHNP Director, at shella.dennery@childrens.harvard.edu