Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH)

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is the major teaching and clinical research facility of the Yale University School of Medicine. It is also one the largest hospitals in the United States since acquisition of the Saint Raphael Hospital campus in 2012. YNHH is a 1,541-bed general hospital that encompasses the NCI-designated Smilow Cancer Hospital, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, and Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital.

With a longstanding history of innovation, tradition, and excellence, Yale-New Haven Hospital consistently ranks among the best hospitals in the United States. Yale-New Haven Hospital has an enduring commitment to high quality, family-centered care delivered within a world-class facility to an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse population from Connecticut and the surrounding New England region.

The Department of Psychiatry offers a range of comprehensive psychiatric and psychological services located within multiple practice settings of Yale-New Haven Hospital that include: the Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital (YNHPH) —a 118 bed, acute care, psychiatric facility that consists of five main inpatient programs and several specialized step-down intensive outpatient/outpatient programs serving adolescents and adults across the hospital’s two campuses; and the Psychological Medicine Service— a multidisciplinary service that includes inpatient consultation-liaison, behavioral medicine, tobacco treatment services, and the Yale Gender Program.

Clinical services, training seminars and supervision meetings within the hospital are functioning within a hybrid model of face-to-face and telehealth services for the 2023-2024 training year.

The psychology internship program within Yale-New Haven Hospital includes four distinct 12-month training options. Each training option is based on a scientist-practitioner model where the fellow is exposed to a variety of clinical, research, and didactic training opportunities. For all fellows, one half-day is reserved for Departmental seminars and related activities. A second half-day is reserved for a scholarly project.
Yale-New Haven Hospital psychology training options are as follows:

• Assessment Service
• Behavioral Medicine Services
• Adult Dialectical Behavior Therapy Services
• Yale Gender Program

The training programs in each service emphasize the acquisition of core competencies in assessment, intervention, consultation, and research. Fellows within each service receive training in direct patient care, participate in multidisciplinary team rounds and staff conferences, and have exposure to a range of therapeutic and theoretical perspectives. Doctoral fellows are trained in multiple therapeutic modalities, including individual, group and family therapy; and collaborative methods for pharmacologic and evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions. All fellows also receive clinical training in psychological assessment, and fellows within the Assessment, DBT and Gender Program placements have the option of receiving long-term psychodynamically-informed individual psychotherapy training within the Department of Psychiatry's Long-Term Care Clinic (LTCC).

At Yale-New Haven Hospital, diversity, equity and inclusion are central components of the organization’s values. The hospital is committed to providing an environment of equity and inclusion that supports the diversity of its patients, visitors, employees, business partners and communities. Serving the Greater New Haven area and surrounding Southern New England region, YNHH admits a diverse population of patients, both diagnostically as well as demographically. Racially, approximately 65 percent of patients admitted to the hospital are Caucasian, 15 percent Black, 15 percent Hispanic and 5 percent Asian. Nearly 60 percent of patient’s hospital costs are paid for through Medicare or Medicaid, since many served by the hospital are older adults or disabled. The hospital is committed to providing the highest standard of care to all patients regardless of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, geography, disability and age.

A high priority is placed on the provision and practice of clinical supervision at YNHH. Doctoral fellows at YNHH receive a minimum four hours of supervision per week. At least two to three of these hours are provided within the context of weekly individual supervision with psychology faculty members who have specific interests and expertise within the fellow's primary training placement. In addition, fellows also participate in scheduled weekly small group clinical and/or research supervision meetings with other psychology trainees and program staff.

Each fellow is assigned a Primary Advisor for weekly supervision of cases that may include individual, group, or family therapy. Primary advisors are full-time faculty working in the same clinical program as the fellow. In addition to formal weekly supervision, informal supervision is provided "in vivo" via faculty modeling, joint participation with the fellow in treatment team meetings, and case consultations.

Fellows are also assigned additional supervisors who provide weekly clinical supervision for the entire training year. Through intensive supervision, fellows address issues of professional development and learn about the complexities of different roles within varied treatment settings.

A unique feature of the training at YNHH is that fellows may also be assigned the role of "peer supervisor" to junior trainees within their primary clinical placement. Typically, junior trainees are third or fourth year graduate students from regional doctoral psychology programs who are participating in clinical practicum placements at YNHH. As a "peer supervisor", fellows meet weekly with their supervisee and have the opportunity to develop basic skills as a clinical supervisor by processing this experience within the context of their own primary supervisory relationship.

Doctoral fellows at YNHH attend and participate in a range of required departmental and hospital-based seminars. At YNHH, fellows attend, interact, and present material in the hospital’s weekly Psychology Fellow Seminar. Faculty from throughout the Psychiatry Department and medical school present on topics pertinent to hospital practice such as psychological assessment and psychopharmacology; evidence-based theory and practice; crisis intervention; family assessment and treatment; and professional development. Additional topics are added each year depending on the interests of fellows and faculty. In this seminar group, fellows also have the opportunity to present clinical case material as well as findings from their dissertation or other scholarly projects.

Fellows are encouraged to attend a variety of optional departmental clinical and research forums, including elective seminars within the Department of Psychiatry, weekly Departmental Grand Rounds, invited lectures, and special clinical and research forums throughout YNHH and Yale School of Medicine.

At YNHH, doctoral fellows within the Assessment, DBT, and Gender Program placements have the option of receiving weekly supervised individual psychotherapy training within the Long-Term Care Clinic.

The Long-Term Care Clinic (LTCC) is an outpatient psychotherapy training clinic operated by the Department of Psychiatry and YNHH. Individual patients are referred to this clinic by the Yale University Health Services and, as such, are typically members of the University community who are seeking insight-oriented psychotherapy for a variety of identified issues, most commonly related to developmental, relationship, mood, and/or anxiety concerns.

Within the LTCC, individual weekly supervision from a psychodynamic perspective is provided to guide the fellow in conceptualizing and implementing treatment from an insight-oriented therapeutic modality most appropriate to the assigned cases. Typically, doctoral fellows see one individual therapy patient in once-a-week psychotherapy for the full duration of their training year.

We are pleased to announce that the YNHH Adult Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Services Placement will recruit ONE fellow in the 2024-2025 training year. We welcome prospective applicants to submit their materials for the Adult DBT Services Placement. We continue to invite trainees to explore additional placement options, including the YNHH Psychological Assessment Services, which will also recruit ONE fellow in the 2024-2025 training year.