Our Program

The Providence Medical Group – Oregon Integrated Care Psychology Residency Program is a part of Providence Health and Services. Providence Health and Services is a not-for-profit Catholic network of hospitals, care centers, health plans, physicians, clinics, home health care, and affiliated services guided by a Mission of caring that the Sisters of Providence began in the West nearly 160 years ago. The residency program was started in 2015 with two residents placed in Providence Medical Group (PMG) primary clinics functioning as Behavioral Health Providers. With ongoing Providence support the residency has grown to its current state of 5 residents in the program.

The primary aim of the residency program is to prepare psychologists to function effectively in integrated care settings as Behavioral Health Providers. Recognizing that this is an emerging and rapidly developing area of practice the program also provides psychologists with the knowledge, skills and abilities to function in integrated care leadership roles. Integrated care leadership roles include program development/implementation, expansion of integrated care into health care settings beyond primary care, and development of healthcare policy related to the integration of behavioral health and general medical care settings.

Accreditation

• Our program is Fully Accredited by the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Accreditation. For more information, please contact the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation:
  750 First Street NE
  Washington, DC 20002-4242
  Telephone: (202) 336-5979
  https://www.accreditation.apa.org/about-coa
  Additionally, the residency is designed to meet all standards for a psychology residency in the state of Oregon.

Curriculum

• Residents participate in the following combination of activities that are designed to work synergistically to develop advanced competency as clinical health service psychologists functioning in integrated healthcare settings. Residents work as Behavioral Health Providers embedded in Providence Medical Group clinics for the service delivery component of their training for 28-30 hours per week. This experience gives them the opportunity to build advanced skills and competency in:
  • Application of the foundational knowledge base and current evidence to the implementation/provision of behavioral health services in primary care.
  • Functioning as a "go to" consultant and knowledge expert in ethical/legal issues encountered in health care settings.
  • Provision of behavioral health integration services to a diverse patient population within a diverse multidisciplinary healthcare provider team.
  • Effective application of screening oriented assessment tools commonly utilized in medical settings to guide the provision of behavioral health integration services and facilitate population based healthcare goals and initiatives.
  • Development of focused concise consultation skills that are well suited for the primary care and other medical settings.
• Program didactics and clinical rotation experiences provide residents with:
  • Working knowledge of the foundational and current empirical evidence base that provides the rationale for behavioral integration services and informs strategies for their effective implementation.
  • Specialized training in healthcare ethics and cultural competency through the internationally recognized Providence Center for Health Care Ethics.
  • Knowledge of the evidence base regarding the promotion and development of culturally diverse, multidisciplinary teams.
  • Knowledge of the empirical basis and psychometric properties of assessment tools commonly utilized in primary care and other medical settings.
  • Knowledge of consultation models that inform effective behavioral health consultation in integrated care settings.
• All residents receive individual and group supervision that:
  • Provides clinical oversight of their direct service.
  • Integrates didactic knowledge with the development of advanced service delivery, consultation and leadership roles.
  • Provides mentorship in the development of advanced service delivery, consultation and leadership roles.
• The program differs from doctoral internship training in that internship provides the generalist profession wide competencies that prepare a psychologist for focused training in behavioral integration. The Providence Oregon Psychology Residency builds on that generalist training to provide advanced and focused training that prepares the resident to work in a variety of integrated care settings. The following areas of focused advanced training distinguish our residency program from internship training and from other postdoctoral training programs:
  • Review of foundational research that defines the benefit and best practice for psychologists working in integrated settings.
  • Focused training in healthcare related law and ethics.
  • Focused training in the science, value, promotion, and development of a diverse healthcare workforce.
  • Focused training in primary care and medical specialty oriented assessment methodology.
  • Focused training in primary care, multidisciplinary, oriented consultation.
• The overall duration of the program is 52 weeks with an average of 40 total program hours per week. It requires 12 months or one full calendar year to complete the program.
• Estimated Weekly Schedule:

Didactics & Clinical Rotations

• The program includes a weekly didactic hour with the exception of one week per month that is dedicated to the monthly Behavioral Health Provider meeting. The sample didactic curriculum (appendix A) provides knowledge of the evidence base associated with the development of the post-doctoral level competencies that support the aims of the program. The format of the didactics combines lecture, case examples, and group discussion.
• Residents are encouraged to attend 5 Providence Ethics Center “Ethics Core Program” seminars during the program year with the requirement to attend the full-day level one Ethics Core course during their first few weeks. The ethics programs are full day or half-day (3-4 hour) workshops. The format of the ethics didactics also combines lecture, case examples, and group discussion. Appendix B contains a brochure that includes a description of the Ethics Core Program.
• Clinical rotation opportunities include:
  • Advanced Heart Failure Clinic
  • Bariatric and Wellness Services Clinic
  • Behavioral Health Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Services
  • Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic
    • **Rotations are subject to change**

Supervision

• The resident weekly schedule includes 2 hours of face to face individual supervision with a psychologist licensed in Oregon for at least 2 years which is consistent with the Oregon Board of Psychology requirements for a residency supervisor. Residents meet each week for one hour of group supervision and one hour of didactics 2-4 times per month. They also meet once monthly with neighboring Behavioral Health Providers from 4-5 nearby Providence clinics to discuss clinical cases, refine workflows, exchange community resources, etc. Finally, they also attend a once monthly meeting (3 hours) with all area Behavioral Health Providers.
• Residents are assigned an individual supervisor, who will work with them for the duration of their residency. Individual supervision is provided by a psychologist who works in one of the Providence Medical Group clinics as a Behavioral Health Provider in a role similar to the resident’s role in their primary placement clinic.
• Per Oregon law, the individual supervisors assume professional and legal responsibility for the work of the residents including monitoring patient care, ensuring the quality of practice, overseeing all aspects of patient services, and mentoring the resident. As part of their supervisory responsibilities, each supervisor engages in live observation of the resident’s direct patient care at least 2 to 4 times during the training year – with preference for once quarterly observations. This direct observation adds to and informs the individual supervisors’ evaluation of their resident trainee.
• Per Oregon Laws, if a resident works 1–20 hours in a week, the resident must receive at least one hour of individual face-to-face supervision during that week. If a resident works more than 20 hours in a week, the resident must receive at least two hours of supervision during that week. One hour must be individual and one hour may be group supervision. Group supervision must be:
  • A formal and on-going group of at least three mental health professionals
  • Facilitated by a licensed psychologist
  • Approved by the resident’s supervisor

If you would like a copy of the Resident Handbook, Click Here.