The Post-Master’s Fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center is a two-year training program providing advanced training for social workers aiming to provide excellent clinical interventions with children, youth, and families, and become leaders in the field of clinical social work. Grounded in the Yale Child Study Center’s commitment to work towards creating an anti-oppressive environment, we seek to foster the knowledge, awareness, and skills needed for SW Fellows to engage in social-justice oriented clinical practice. Social Work Fellows participate in both multidisciplinary and discipline-specific training, which includes didactics, intensive supervision, and direct practice, with engagement in an elective project and/or area of specialization in the second year of the training program. The second-year elective is chosen by each individual Social Work Fellow and tailored to their specific interests and career goals through options available at the Yale Child Study Center, through collaboration with the larger community (hospitals, schools, agencies, etc.), and/or created by themselves.
Each Social Work Fellow will be assigned to a host clinical setting, which will be either the Intensive In-Home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services (IICAPS) or the Outpatient Clinic (OPC), with candidate’s preference for placement taken into consideration. The clinical experience includes clinical assessment, treatment planning, individual psychotherapy, family treatment, child guidance, parent guidance, and case coordination and management, along with weekly multidisciplinary Clinical Rounds presentations and discussions.
Within the respective host clinical setting, each Fellow will receive supervision with licensed clinical social workers who are senior members of the Yale Child Study Center faculty. Over the course of the two-year training program, Social Work Fellows will accrue clinical and supervision hours sufficient to meet licensing requirements in the state of Connecticut. Depending on local regulations, these requirements may be reciprocal when applying for licensing in other states.
As of 2020 our training program is formally collaborating with the Yale New Haven Hospital Department of Social Work and offering opportunities for second-year elective placement on patient units including pediatrics, maternal health, and adult medicine, with training and supervision provided by senior hospital social work staff.
We serve diverse families and are committed to recruiting applicants from diverse backgrounds.
Tracks
Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic Track
The Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic for Children (OPC) strives to optimize the developmental potential of children and families by providing the most effective treatment interventions available based on the principles of child development and child psychopathology. Treatment focuses on family involvement and utilizes data to improve and refine our approach to child and adolescent mental health services. Treatment includes individual, parent, and family therapies along with collaboration with schools and other service providers. Individual clinical supervision is provided by senior faculty within the OPC.
Social work fellows in this track will participate in the OPC Provider Orientation.
Psychotherapeutic services include:
- cognitive behavioral treatments
- trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy
- parent management training, family therapy
- problem-solving skills training
- play therapy
- traditional psychodynamic psychotherapy
Group therapies include:
- social skills
- anger management
- relaxation
- groups for youth identifying or questioning their sexual orientation/identity.
Outpatient Clinical Services encompasses all of the Child Study Center’s treatment and evaluation services. Social Work Fellows participate in direct treatment services of Outpatient Clinical Services.
During the two-year fellowship, the primary generalist experience in outpatient treatment is gained within the Child Study Center Outpatient Clinical Services whereby Social Work Fellows are members of a multidisciplinary clinic team. Typically, each SW Fellow carries approximately 16 cases concurrently, encompassing child, parent and/or family therapy.
Intensive In-Home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services Track
Yale Child Study Center’s Intensive In-Home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services (IICAPS) promotes positive child and family functioning through individual, parent, and family therapy sessions delivered in the child and family’s home weekly for six months. The IICAPS model was developed at the Yale Child Study Center and is delivered by multiple sites across the state of Connecticut. The model utilizes attachment theory, reflective functioning, and mentalization, and incorporates family systems theory, in order to provide services which are accessible, culturally humble, and responsive to the strengths and needs of each child and family. The overarching goal of IICAPS is the maintenance of each child’s primary relationship with parents or other adults in the interest of permanency and safety.
IICAPS serves a diverse population of children, adolescents, and their families, many of whom are managing multiple stressors, including trauma, recent psychiatric hospitalization, significant family conflict, and school or community difficulties. The IICAPS model encourages close collaboration with families and community providers. All services are provided by two person teams of licensed or license-eligible social workers, psychologists, nurses, professional counselors, and bachelor’s level mental health counselors. The IICAPS fellow will be partnered with a licensed clinical faculty member and the second-year IICAPS social work fellow; they will carry a caseload of five cases.
The IICAPS fellow will complete IICAPS training. Additionally, IICAPS provides the opportunity to engage clients and their families in a variety of modalities to address their needs, including, but not limited to:
- Cognitive behavioral therapies
- Mentalization and family systems-informed parent and family therapy
- Psychodynamic and supportive psychotherapy
- Problem-solving skills training
- Play therapy
- Trauma-informed parent, individual, and family therapy
- Case management support
- Crisis intervention and management
In addition to individual supervision by faculty, clinical supervision will be provided to each clinical team by faculty within IICAPS.
Program Dates
The Post-Master’s Fellowship runs from July 1st through June 30th of the respective years.
Stipend and Benefits
Social Work Fellows are provided a stipend of $43,920 in the first year and $45,240 in the second year. Comprehensive health care through the Yale Health Plan is available for a nominal fee.
Housing and transportation are not provided. You can learn more about popular housing choices at the website for Yale Housing.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants must have satisfactorily completed accredited Master’s level training in Social Work, Master Level Social Worker licensing requirements for the state of Connecticut, and DMV and criminal background checks by the start of the training year (July 1st) for which applying. Preference is given to applicants with previous direct clinical experience.
What are the didactics for the fellowship?
Seminars and training activities include, but are not limited to Departmental Grand Rounds, Section Rounds, Social Work Seminar, Psychopharmacology for Non-Physicians, Young Child Seminar, Parent Management Training, and Clinical Staff Meeting along with trainings addressing social justice/anti-racism yet to be organized by our incoming Chief Diversity Officer.
Application Checklist
Completed applications must be submitted via Qualtrics by the January deadline (announced annually) and include all of the following.
- Brief Statement of interest (3 pages maximum). Please include professional interests, reasons for applying to this Fellowship, what you hope to gain from the Fellowship, what you can contribute to the Fellowship, how this relates to your long-term career goals, and your understanding of how diversity impacts clinical care in mental health settings.
- Curriculum vitae or resume
- Transcript (most recent copy, does not need to be official or sealed, must be legible). Please include a list of courses taken and/or trainings attended relevant to clinical work with children, youth, and families.
- Three (3) letters of recommendation at least one of which must be from a field instructor or clinical supervisor (additional letters will not be reviewed).
- Clinical assessment (5 pages maximum). Please provide a de-identified clinical summary in narrative form that includes presenting problem, history, current presentation, diagnostic formulation, treatment goals, and intervention approaches recommended.
Late or incomplete application packages will not be accepted.
