CentraCare – St. Cloud Hospital
Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship

Program Description

The Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship at St. Cloud Hospital/CentraCare Health provides one year of training with opportunities in the following specialty tracks: 1) Child & Adolescent Clinical Psychology 2) Adult Clinical Psychology, or 3) Integrated Behavioral Health. These fellowships are designed to complement your background and to provide more focused and in-depth training in your chosen substantive specialty practice area.

St. Cloud Hospital provides family-centered care for patients of all ages. As the largest behavioral health service provider in the geographical area, our clinic receives a variety of referrals for patients of all ages with a wide range of presenting difficulties. As part of a larger health organization, behavioral health providers also have the opportunity to work closely with medical specialists including pediatricians, family practice providers, psychiatrists, and other health providers (e.g., occupational therapists, speech/language pathologists). Review OneCentraCare Philosophy and Fellowship Training Mission. (PDF)

The fellowship program is designed to provide clinical experiences necessary to support independent practice in clinical and/or health psychology. The fellowship meets all requirements needed for postdoctoral supervised experience, as required by the state of Minnesota and upon completion of the fellowship, fellows will be encouraged to apply for independent licensure. See our clinical program overview. (PDF)

Clinical Training Opportunities

We aim to tailor the training experience to meet the individual training needs and interests of the fellow. Flexible rotation selection offers opportunities for breadth of experiences, as well as specialization with populations of interests. Supervision plans are created to support a Fellow in their individual trainee needs, as well as ensuring that they meet all professional competencies needed for licensure requirements in the State of Minnesota. We offer three different training tracks with multiple opportunities for specialization. (PDF)

Both formative (evaluation and feedback provided throughout the year), as well as summative (integrated overview of skills at program completion) evaluations are provided as part of the fellowship training program. We utilize a competency-based training model (PDF), reflected in a competency-based measure of fellow skills with clear behavioral anchors. More detailed information on our fellow evaluation processes can reviewed at Review more detailed information on our fellow evaluation processes. (PDF)

Adult Clinical Fellowship Track

The adult clinical fellow may have opportunities to specialize in sexual and gender medicine, sleep medicine, integrated behavioral health, disordered eating, trauma-focused treatment (i.e., Internal Family Systems), as well as outpatient therapy for diverse patient populations and comprehensive and/or focused (i.e., bariatric evaluations) psychological assessments in our outpatient clinic, partial hospitalization program, and inpatient mental health unit. Fellows who seek to specialize in providing care to our LGBTQ+ patients, would work with CentraCare Sexual and Gender Medicine clinic staff to provide psychological support to patients with a wide range of gender and sexual diversities. This includes but is not limited to providing mental health services to our LGBTQ+ patients, gender affirming therapy, partner and family therapy and support groups. Fellows would be trained in completing culturally sensitive diagnostic assessments for gender dysphoria and any co-occurring mental and chemical health conditions. Fellows may have the opportunity to evaluate surgical readiness and/or to help adolescents and their families obtain the eligibility and readiness criteria as outlined in the WPATH Standards of Care, 8th Edition for adolescents seeking hormone therapy.

Fellows who seek to specialize in supporting patients who have experienced trauma would be trained to assess and understand the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on an individual, family and community. Fellows would be trained in the basic assessment of trauma symptoms and in diagnostic skills related to trauma diagnoses. The Fellow would become competent in providing psychoeducation on the emotional and behavioral sequelae of trauma and in the use of treatment interventions to support healing, reduction of distress, and/or other trauma symptoms, including treatments such as IFS, TF-CBT, ACT, or DBT. The Fellow would participate in a specialty trauma consult group and be asked to attend other didactics/trainings to support their work in trauma. Fellows would also receive education and support on the impact of vicarious trauma to support them in their work.

Fellows interested in sleep medicine will work under the supervision of a licensed psychologist who is a Diplomate in Behavioral Sleep Medicine (DBSM) and will have the opportunity to evaluate and treat adult patients with insomnia using CBT-I, the number one treatment option available. Fellows will also be able to learn how to assess and refer for other sleep disorders and will have built-in consultation available with the sleep providers. (Fellows are strongly recommended to attend the training at U. Penn prior to/at the beginning of this rotation and can accrue supervised hours they may use toward becoming a future diplomate in behavioral sleep medicine.) This is a high-need treatment area, and an excellent treatment niche area for psychologists.

Based on the Fellow’s current assessment skills and areas of interest, the Fellow may conduct psychoeducational, neuropsychological, personality, developmental and/or psychosocial assessments for patients in adolescence through to older adulthood. In addition to traditional outpatient psychological assessments, specialized testing experiences may be available through our Adult Mental Health Partial Hospitalization Program, Adult Mental Health Inpatient Unit, and/or Weight Management Clinic (i.e., Bariatric Evaluations).

Child and Adolescent Clinical Fellowship

On our child/adolescent clinical team we have opportunities for specialized training in therapy and assessment for diverse patient concerns, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD), fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), anxiety, depression, ADHD, trauma-related diagnoses, adolescent gender and sexual medicine, adjustment to chronic illness, integrated behavioral health and partial hospitalization programming. There are opportunities to do comprehensive assessments in our outpatient clinic, partial hospitalization program and inpatient mental health unit, as well as participation in our interdisciplinary assessment clinics (ASD and FASD).

Specialization in ASD could include participation in an interdisciplinary ASD assessment clinic (including providers in psychology, psychiatry, occupation therapy and speech therapy), providing psychology-only assessment for ASD and providing consultation visits, individual and/or parent-focused therapy modalities. Previous training on the ADOS-2 is preferred.

Specialization in assessment and treatment of youngsters impacted by prenatal alcohol exposure, could include a rotation with Proof Alliance. Proof Alliance is a national leader in promoting awareness about the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and supporting individuals and families impacted by fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). In this rotation, Fellows would work with an interdisciplinary team to complete psychological assessments through Proof Alliance’s Diagnostic Clinic, in addition to working with Proof Alliance staff to develop best practices in diagnosing FASDs and development of innovative approaches to reducing barriers to patient care and clinic capacity. A minor rotation through our CentraCare FASD multidisciplinary assessment clinic, working with medical, behavioral health, and rehabilitation clinic providers to do comprehensive assessments and feedback is also available to the Fellow.

Specialization in health psychology could include a rotation with our Integrated Behavioral Health Clinic Team and outpatient therapy providing long-term management of chronic illness. As part of our IBH team, fellows would be embedded in the medical clinic; primary care or specialty care (i.e., Pediatrics, Family Medicine,). Fellows would work within a Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) model, working with a multidisciplinary team, utilizing screenings and targeted assessments, and brief intervention services. Fellows would provide behavioral health care with the medical team in support of health and behavior change. Fellows could provide consultation for physicians and other healthcare providers around behavioral or emotional issues related to a patient's medical condition. See more detailed information on these IBH training tracks, in our “Clinical Training Opportunities” section above.

Fellows interested in Partial Hospitalization programming would have the opportunity to do a rotation at Clara’s House – where we provide needed mental health services for children and teens ages 5–18. Post-doc fellows would have the opportunity to engage with a multidisciplinary team in providing comprehensive assessment and treatment interventions using evidence-based practices based on the Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) Framework of Blaustein and Kinniburgh. Each member of the multi-disciplinary team contributes to the ‘attunement’ or understanding of the child and caregivers, and a treatment plan is coordinated by a team of specialists that include psychiatrists, advance-practice providers, psychotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, art therapists, recreation therapists, program facilitators, behavioral health technicians and teachers.

Other specialty care experiences in the fellowship may include:

  • Outpatient Assessment
  • Pediatric Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Assessment Clinic
  • Adolescent Gender and Sexual Medicine
  • Trauma-based interventions (TF-CBT, ARC Framework, Internal Family Systems)

Integrated Behavioral Health Fellowship Track

Fellows will receive specialized clinical training in primary care behavioral health (PCBH) or health psychology, working with patients with a wide variety of clinical presentations within a collaborative team-based environment. Fellows will engage in integrated behavioral health services within a family medicine primary care clinic and can practice in the Heart & Vascular Center, a medical specialty clinic. In addition, they will have opportunities to do screenings and targeted assessments to support the medical teams (i.e., risk assessments, depression). In addition, the Fellow may have opportunities to do comprehensive psychological assessments within an internal medicine or pediatrics clinic.

As part of this Fellowship, Fellows will work in our Family Medicine Residency Training clinic. In this clinic, Fellows would have the opportunity to see patients and families across a life span (0-100+ years old) and support resident physicians in their training. The focus will be on immediate, flexible format (brief intervention), and close collaboration with the medical provider. The Fellow will see a wide variety of clinical presentations (chemical dependency, severe and persistent mental health, depression, anxiety, smoking cessation, behavior change related to medical conditions). Treatment modalities such as Motivational Interviewing (MI), Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (fACT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindful Self-Compassion, Solution Focused, and Trauma care will be emphasized. They also may be involved in the education of family medicine residents about behavioral health issues. Fellows will be an integral part of a multidisciplinary team consisting of family medicine residents, community paramedics, and patient advocates.

As part of our Integrated Behavioral Health Fellowship, Fellows can choose two additional rotations to round out their training year. Fellows may choose to work with adult cardiovascular patients (ages 18+) in our CentraCare Heart & Vascular Center, or with a young population (birth to 18) in our Pediatrics clinic. There are also opportunities to do psychological assessments in our Internal Medicine clinic and Pediatrics.

A rotation in our CentraCare Heart and Vascular Cener could include Fellows having the opportunity to 1) lead patient education sessions in cardiac rehab (focused on stress management, goal setting and behavioral change, relationship health, and sleep health), 2) complete brief screenings for mood and SI as a part of the cardiac rehab orientation process, and 3) participate in multidisciplinary rounds focused on the care of Heart Failure patients. Fellows can complete warm hand offs and brief interventions in both the inpatient and ambulatory setting, and to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams (including physicians, APPs, nurses, dieticians, clinical pharmacists, and exercise physiologists) on the care of cardiac patients.

In our Pediatrics clinic, Fellows can work with children from birth to young adulthood and their families. The focus will be on immediate, flexible format (brief intervention), and close collaboration with the medical teams. Orientations such as Motivational Interviewing, Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindful Self-Compassion, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy will be emphasized. Fellows will be responsible for some scheduled patient times each day in addition to warm hand offs and provider to provider consults from the pediatric clinic and the Child Advocacy Center (CAC), to support the behavioral health needs of patients. Fellows may utilize the Healthy Steps model (Who We Are - HealthySteps) in their work with families to promote nurturing parenting and support infant and toddler health and well-being. Fellows will be an integral part of a multidisciplinary team consisting of pediatricians, pediatric nurse practitioners, a lactation specialist, a pediatric social worker, in-house and external interpreters, community health workers, nursing staff, and care coordinators.

Supervision and Training Opportunities

Fellows will have the opportunity to work with several supervisors to obtain hours necessary for licensure and will participate in individual supervision and group supervision/consultation, including specialty consultation groups such as: trauma-focused therapy, assessment, and multicultural consult. They may also have opportunities to participate in additional consultation groups if relevant to their training, including but not limited to integrated behavioral health, and sexual and gender medicine consultation groups. Learn more detailed information on our supervision opportunities. (PDF)

Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in monthly didactics on a wide range of topics, as well as our Cultural Humility didactic services, addressing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additional educational opportunities are also provided through the hospital/clinic and our family residency program. There is an expectation for preparation of one professional presentation (oral or written) to the health care community during the year. Find out more detailed information on our didactics and training opportunities. (PDF)

Program Details

  • Duration of Fellowship: One year
  • Number of Program Openings Per Year: Three
  • Timeline
    • Applications are due early January (see UPPD listing).
    • Interviews will take place in January/February.
    • Offers will be made following interviews, estimated offer date in mid-February.
    • We will follow APPIC Postdoctoral Selection Standards with Common Hold Date.

Please see UPPD listing for detailed application information:

CentraCare requires that all fellows abide by all of CentraCare’s applicable policies, procedures, rules and regulations, in addition to the specific requirements of this Behavioral Health Fellowship Program, and it is the responsibility of each Fellow to abide by those CentraCare requirements. In return for those expectations, CentraCare shall provide each fellow with the rights of the grievance procedure and due process. See our detailed Due Process and Grievance procedures. (PDF)

Requirements

Completion of all professional doctoral degree requirements from an APA- or CPA-accredited program in clinical, school or counseling psychology and completion of an APA- or CPA- accredited predoctoral internship are required prior to September start date.

Salary and Benefits

The position includes a current salary of $54,000, along with a $2,000 sign-on stipend with the opportunity for more. Fellows will also receive $1,250 in educational funds to support travel, conference attendance, therapy tools, EPPP preparation, and professional membership dues. Position includes a full benefit package and additional education/training support (funding and CE days). St. Cloud Hospital provides exceptional clinical care within a collegial work environment. St. Cloud, Minn. is a desirable area that provides an excellent quality of life.

Application Process

Applicants will be reviewed until position is filled; Preference given to applications submitted prior to application deadline (see UPPD site). Applications are accepted on APPA-CAS or can be submitted to Nicky Lahr in Physician and Provider Recruitment at LahrN@centracare.com. It is requested to submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae and three letters of recommendation.

Contact Information

Questions about the Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship at CentraCare — St. Cloud Hospital should be directed to Lori Listug-Lunde at Listug-LundeL@centracare.com. Please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Listug-Lunde via e-mail or mail at:

Lori Listug-Lunde, PhD, LP
Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health
CentraCare Health Clinic
1900 CentraCare Circle, Suite 1000
St. Cloud, MN 56303
Listug-LundeL@centracare.com

Psychology Postdoctoral Faculty

Supervision Faculty

Child and Adolescent Department

Adult and Specialty Departments

Integrated Behavioral Health Faculty

CentraCare has made a commitment to diversity in its workforce. All individuals including, but not limited to, individuals with disabilities, are encouraged to apply. CentraCare is an EEO/AA employer.