Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System

Application Deadline: January 6th*

*(March 2 application deadline for non-psychology applicants to the Interprofessional PSR fellowship)

The Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS) offers one-year postgraduate fellowships in Clinical Psychology within two tracks, one emphasizing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD - one position per year) and the other track featuring an emphasis on Psychosocial Rehabilitation/Recovery/Serious Mental Illness (PSR/SMI – up to four fellowship positions a year) as part of an interdisciplinary fellowship.

Our PSR interdisciplinary fellowship is also open to applicants within the fields of social work, rehabilitation counseling, psychiatry, nursing, and occupational therapy; specific disciplinary makeup varies from year to year. Individuals interested in applying for a fellowship within the PSR interdisciplinary track in disciplines other than psychology are encouraged to review detailed information about this track on the PSR track page and to contact the PSR preceptor, training director or associate training director if further questions arise.

Our training Fellowship has two overarching training goals:

1. Primary goal #1 of the clinical fellowship training program is the development and refinement of a broad range of professional skills necessary to function effectively as psychologists and healthcare professionals within an interdisciplinary context, the broader system of health-care, and the community.
2. Primary goal #2 of the program is training of psychologists and healthcare professionals in the delivery of quality, recovery-oriented health care within both general and specific emphasis areas, with a particular appreciation of the special needs of the VA population and the nature of service in the public sector.

Clinical fellowship appointments are for a 12-month period (September through August), and the fellow is expected to complete 2080 hours, which meets or exceeds requirement for licensure in most states. The fellowship year is comprised of an initial orientation period, with the remainder of the year encompassing advanced training and service delivery activities consistent with core emphasis requirements, as well as elective options for adjunct training experience based on the individual fellow's interest or need for experience. Fellows are on duty five days a week, with a workday typically defined as 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Fellowship Information:

Training Site: The Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS) is a large and comprehensive VA medical complex within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Located in beautiful central Arkansas, one of the country’s best-kept secrets for a high quality of living, CAVHS has a strong history of training excellence. The medical center is located in a metropolitan area of approximately 580,000 people and draws from a primary service area of 275,000 veterans. CAVHS providers also serve active duty and National Guard personnel, as well as family members. The two- division, consolidated, tertiary care medical center provides medical, surgical, psychiatric, rehabilitation, and nursing home services, and offers a wide variety of outpatient specialty and primary care programs. The primary site for the PSR fellowship is the North Little Rock division (Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center), where much of our mental health and rehabilitation services are located. The psychology internship program has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1979, and the postdoctoral fellowship program, begun in 2008, is in the process of applying for APA accreditation and anticipates an APA site visit in 2012.

Benefits & stipend: Benefits include health Insurance, 13 days paid vacation, up to 13 days of sick leave, 10 paid federal holidays and additional authorized leave of absence (up to 40 hours if approved) for selected conferences. A stipend is provided for all fellows, with specific amounts varying by year (and by discipline, for those within the Interprofessional PSR track). The VA annual stipend is set nationally by the Office of Academic Affiliations with pay distributed every two weeks.

Application to fellowship: To apply, please review qualifications and application procedures on this page and proceed as directed.

APPIC Member Number 9907

For more information about the CAVHS post-doctoral and interdisciplinary PSR fellowship contact:

Director of Postdoctoral Training – Dr. J. Glen White at jerry.white4@va.gov  or 501-257-3498; Fax: 501-257-3110

Assistant Director of Postdoctoral Training & Preceptor for PTSD track –  Kevin.Reeder@va.gov or 501-257-3480

Preceptor for PSR track – Dr. Craig Rookey at craig.rookey@va.gov or 501-257-1672

PSYCHOLOGY POSTDOCTORAL & INTERPROFESSIONAL PSR CONTACTS

Glen White, Ph.D.	Kevin Reeder, Ph.D.	Craig Rookey, Ph.D.
Glen White, Ph.D.	Kevin Reeder, Ph.D.	Craig Rookey, Ph.D.
Director of Postdoctoral Training	Assistant Director of Postdoctoral Training & PTSD Preceptor	PSR Preceptor

Mailing Address

J. GLEN WHITE, Ph.D.
Director of Psychology Postdoctoral & Interprofessional Fellowship
Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
2200 Fort Roots Drive (116/NLR)
Building 170, 2N-101
North Little Rock, AR 72114

Phone: (501) 257-3498 (Training Director)
Phone: (501) 257-1668 (Administrative Support)

For map and driving directions, click here

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APPIC Membership

As a member of the Association of Psychology Predoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC), the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System Psychology Fellowship program adheres to the APPIC policy regarding recruitment, offers and acceptances of positions for training.

Uniform Notification Date with Option for Reciprocal Offer process 2011 12 (UNDr)

All APPIC non-neuropsychology postdoctoral programs (those that do not offer the specialty of clinical neuropsychology) will make offers to applicants only on the APPIC selected date for offers (March 14, 2012). Programs may make an exception if an applicant is made another earlier bone fide offer, which must follow the guidelines below. On Wednesday, March 14, at noon EST (11am CST - CAVHS local time), the program will call their top candidate. Once an offer is made to an applicant, the applicant may proceed with one of the following actions:

• accept the offer, decline the offer, or hold the offer for up to four hours.
• If the position is held, it is considered to be frozen and cannot be offered to any other candidate during that time period.
• Candidates may not hold more than one offer at a time.
• Once a candidate accepts an offer they must call the remaining programs that are lower on their preference list and inform them that they no longer wish to be considered at those facilities.
• Postdoctoral Training Directors (or their designee) will contact all applicants by phone or e-mail on the day of the UND to inform them of the status of the position.
• After a site and an applicant come to an agreement, a formal offer letter will be mailed to the applicant who will then formally accept the offer in writing.

Reciprocal Offers Process

Candidates who have been made an offer from a non-APPIC site (whether clinical or research postdoc or job offer) requiring a decision prior to UND date may contact an APPIC site and indicate that the APPIC site is their #1 choice (similar to a job search). The candidate would indicate the name of the program making the offer and how long they have been allowed to hold their offer. Before making a reciprocal offer to the candidate, the APPIC site should call the candidate’s Internship Training Director and verify the offer or ask the applicant for a written copy of the competing offer. When an APPIC program makes a reciprocal offer, the candidate is expected to accept immediately. The acceptance is binding. If a program declines to make a reciprocal offer, the candidate is permitted to contact another site indicating it is (now) their #1 choice. Programs that do not fill positions on UND may fill their empty positions on any future date.

Accreditation
The Psychology Fellowship Program is not currently accredited by the American Psychological Association. Application for accreditation is in process, with a site visit anticipated in 2012.

Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation: 

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation 

American Psychological Association 

750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002 

Phone: (202) 336-5979 / E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org 

Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation **

Recruiting Statements

The Psychology Internship and Post-Doctoral Fellowship training programs at CAVHS are committed to providing a supportive learning environment in which we actively seek and value diversity among our trainees and staff. We consider diversity as including various cultures, values, and experiences of trainees and faculty, as well as different theoretical models, research paradigms, and ways of professional practice. Our training programs strive to maintain a collegial and supportive environment where trainees and staff enjoy working together and are valued for their individual contributions to the group. Biopsychosocial and recovery-oriented approaches that incorporate elements of diversity and multiculturalism are especially valued in our training programs. We highly encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.

This Program meets criteria of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). CAVHS and its training programs are committed to providing access for all people with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodations. We ask only that any who may require accommodations to provide us a reasonable amount of advance notice.

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RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS ALSO AVAILABLE: 

Also available at CAVHS are two-year multidisciplinary research-focused fellowships via our Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers (MIRECC) and Health Services Research and Development Service (HSRD/CeMHOR) programs. Two research fellows a year are recruited, and in addition to excellent research training focusing on health services research, clinically qualified fellows also are able to spend 25% of their fellowship time in clinical training experiences. For more information about the two-year multidisciplinary research-focused fellowships, contact Dr. Justin Hunt (HSRD/CeMHOR) or Dr. Pat Dubbert (MIRECC) or go to:

http://www.mirecc.va.gov/mirecc-fellowship.asp.