Children's National Hospital Child Clinical Fellowship - Autism & Advocacy Psychology

20 Oct 2023    

The goal of this postdoctoral fellowship is to support an integrative autism-focused training experience across clinical and advocacy domains and to promote the fellow’s trajectory as an independent clinical psychologist. 

FELLOWSHIP STRUCTURE:

This is a one-year position (with potential option to extend for a second year) with a flexible start date (anticipated between July and September 2024 depending on need of fellow). Salary is commensurate with NIH guidelines and funding is provided for professional development activities (e.g., conference travel, clinical workshops). The position will be located at several different sites in DC. The position will include some telemedicine services and remote work opportunities. 

Clinical Training

Focuses on providing autism diagnostic evaluations through the Autism in Primary Care (APC) program and through the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (CASD). The APC represents a partnership between several divisions at Children’s National [Child Health Advocacy Institute (CHAI), CASD, the Division of Psychology & Behavioral Health, Whole Bear Care, and the Goldberg Centers for Community Pediatric Health] with the goal of facilitating more timely and equitable access to autism evaluations in primary care. CASD, the largest multidisciplinary pediatric autism program in the Washington, D.C., region, provides evidence-based clinical care and supports education and advocacy. The fellow will gain training in ASD diagnostic assessment across the lifespan, working with toddlers to older youth in primary care and specialty clinic settings. The fellow will gain facility with various diagnostic tools including STAT, ADOS-2 and CARS-2, along with measures of cognitive and adaptive function as required for best practice evaluation procedures. 

The fellow will have opportunities for additional elective experiences, such as providing outpatient intervention through the Early Childhood Behavioral Health Program and/or Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder. This may include opportunities providing Applied Behavior Analysis informed treatment, evidenced-based executive functioning treatment groups, running groups for parents of children newly diagnosed with autism, or providing other types of therapy depending on their interests and prior experiences. Other electives, such as those focused on pediatric psychology, research, neuropsychology, running groups for parents of children newly diagnosed with autism, or providing other types of therapy depending on their interests and prior experiences, may be discussed during the interviewing process. 

Advocacy/Research:

The fellow will have the opportunity to gain experience with advocacy and program evaluation/research by participating in the Community Mental Health CORE (Collaboration, Outreach, Research, Equity) within the CHAI. The Community Mental Health CORE is a multi-disciplinary team of professionals focused on improving mental health care access, equity, and sustainability. Through partnerships, policy and advocacy, research and evaluation, and by providing technical assistance and education, the CMH CORE takes a comprehensive approach to tackling challenging issues by focusing on multiple levels of the system, including 1) infrastructure-building initiatives that focus on sustainable systems-level approaches to promoting accessible and equitable behavioral health care, 2) enabling services that focus on population- and community-level services to build capacity and connect providers and families to needed resources, and 3) direct services that provide innovative, gap-filling services to children and families until such services can be more sustainably supported (such as the APC). While specific initiatives will be determined based in part on the fellow’s interests, the fellow will likely support activities of the DC Autism Collaborative and other initiatives focused on integrated behavioral health and social determinants of health screening and support in primary care.

Professional Development:

The fellow will have built-in didactics pertaining to autism, early childhood behavioral health and a range of other topics. This includes the opportunity for participation in leadership training in neurodevelopmental disabilities via the LEND program. Interested fellows may be able to provide umbrella supervision to psychology externs.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

• Applicants should have training from APA- or CPA-accredited doctoral and internship programs

• Completed all requirements for their PhD or PsyD prior to beginning the position

• Obtain Psychology Associate License in Maryland and the District of Columbia (will need prior to start of fellowship)

We serve a diverse population of patients and seek to continue to grow a workforce that reflects the communities we serve, thus applicants from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. Children’s National is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to racial, cultural, gender and sexual orientation diversity.

TO APPLY:

Send application materials to Leandra Godoy, PhD – lgodoy@cnmc.org

• Letter of interest describing relevant experience and interest

• Current curriculum vitae

• 2 letters of recommendation directly from your letter writers

• Please include “CASD-CHAI Fellowship Application” in the subject line of your email

Deadline for applications is December 1, 2023. Applications will be reviewing on a rolling basis and we may continue reviewing applications until the position is filled. Interviews are anticipated in December – February with a virtual option. We look forward to reviewing your application!