Postdoctoral Fellowship

Structure and Experiences

Fellowship Structure

Fellows begin by participating in a 2-3-week orientation process that ensures that each fellow has the basic foundation of information necessary to function effectively throughout the year. Orientation activities include, but are not limited to: identifying and establishing rapport with supervisors and colleagues, gaining familiarity with policies and procedures, receiving training on the electronic health record systems used, and developing personalized training goals for the training year. The remainder of the training year is organized into Fall, Spring, and Summer academic semesters. 

Approximate Weekly Schedule 
Direct Service                                                                                  22 hours
Administrative/Documentation                                                   12 hours
Receiving Individual & Group Supervision                                   3 hours
Center Meetings                                                                               2 hours
Seminar                                                                                             1 hour
TOTAL:                                                                                             40 hours

During the year fellows have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of clinical and non-clinical experiences during their training year(s).

Fellowship Experiences

Initial Appointments (IAs)
Fellows will conduct intakes each week. During these initial appointments, clients will be assessed and referred for treatment at the Center (e.g., individual counseling, drop-in groups, interpersonal process groups, etc.), and/or referred for treatment at another campus agency (e.g., psychiatric services at Student Health Services) or in the community.

Individual Counseling 
For clients deemed appropriate, fellows provide short-term individual counseling. Fellows may also carry at least one longer-term client.

Group Counseling 
Each semester, fellows will faciliate or co-facilitate one of the groups offered as a part of the Center's group program. During the first semester the fellow(s) may be assigned to a group, and during the second and third semesters, they will have an opportunity to choose from available groups. 

Single Session Coverage
Throughout the year, each fellow will provide single session consultation shifts during business hours (typically about 2 hours weekly) for students seeking same-day, urgent consultation at the Center during regular business hours.

Consultation and Outreach Programming
Fellows are expeted to participate in joining in the center's consultation and outreach programming to campus constituents. Consultation and outreach activities are considered direct service when calculating hours.

Counseling Center Meeting Participation
Fellows are expected to attend weekly clinical team meetings, staff meetings, committee meetings for internal committees that fellows have opted to join, and periodic in-service presentations/continuing education programming. 

Case Presentations
Each fellow is required to do at least one case presentation during the year to the staff of the Counseling Center. The overall goal of this presentation is to provide fellows an opportunity to speak about their clinical work in a formalized, professional manner. 

Provision of Supervision
Fellows may be able to supervise the clinical work of one of the students in the Counseling Center’s Graduate Student Clinician (GCS) program. The interdisciplinary GSC program hosts trainees from programs housed in USF (Social Work, Counseling, Clinical Psychology, & School Psychology). Based on availability, GSC supervision typically requires one hour face-to-face per week. All of the fellow’s supervisory activities will be supervised in turn by that fellow’s primary supervisor, a licensed Counseling Center staff member.

Postgraduate Seminar
Fellows participate in a biweekly professional development seminar and focus upon issues that are tailored to the fellows and their developmental needs. Topics include both evidence-based practice and professional development issues at the postgraduate level (i.e., licensure preparation/application, job search, etc.).