Trauma Postdoctoral Fellowship

La Rabida Children’s Hospital

Post-Doctoral Fellowship

La Rabida Children’s Hospital is offering 1-2 full-time fellowship positions in the Childhood Abuse and Trauma postdoctoral training program. The fellowship begins September 4, 2024 and concludes August 29, 2025.

At La Rabida Children’s Hospital, our mission is simple: we’re dedicated to maintaining and improving the quality of life for each of our patients with complex conditions, disabilities, and chronic illness. The path to completing this mission, however, is often complicated. Fortunately, we’ve got the best team around. If you are looking for your next career opportunity to partner with a compassionate multidisciplinary collaborative team, we have the job for you.

Job Summary:

Administered under the auspices of La Rabida’s Behavioral Health Division, the Chicago Child Trauma Center (CCTC) offers a well supervised training experience for developing pediatric and child clinical psychologists.

La Rabida’s Behavioral Health Division is one of the largest in the nation housed within a pediatric hospital, offering a high staff-to-patient ratio. The hospital is a recognized leader in the treatment of abuse and trauma, and serves as a model for hospital-based programs nationwide. Graduates of our fellowship program find employment in a wide range of settings, including pediatric hospitals; community mental health centers; child guidance facilities; public agencies dealing with physical and sexual abuse; academic settings; and private practices specializing in child psychology.

Program Philosophy and Patient Population:

The CCTC serves survivors of sexual abuse, physical abuse, exposure to domestic violence, neglect, exposure to community violence and medical traumas, as well as children in the foster care system. Abuse and trauma-related services are provided at the hospital, and the Child Trauma Center’s satellite office.

The training model provides a supportive clinical experience with a strong educational component. Postdoctoral candidates will receive exposure to a wide variety of treatment modalities including Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) model, Child-Parent psychotherapy (CPP), assessment and treatment for children with sexualized behavior problems, Judith Herman’s trauma-focused phase oriented approach for complex trauma, as well as a family systems approach. Realizing that children and their families function in a larger community and societal context, the La Rabida Chicago Child Trauma Center (CCTC) maintains close working relationships with the many systems involved with our patients (for example, schools, social service agencies, the juvenile justice system, and others). The CCTC strives to maintain an ecological approach to the care of our patients and their families, with a focus on culturally responsive conceptualization, cultural humility, and working to understand the potential challenges and impacts of structural racism and other intersecting forms of structural oppression. Our approach includes factors affecting an individual’s development ranging from environmental stressors and intrapsychic influences to family function to extremely broad socioeconomic and cultural pressures.

Essential Trauma Post-Doctoral Fellow Functions:

• Clinical interviews/consultations

• Conducting trauma-focused assessments

• Crisis intervention

• In-patient, trauma-focused consultations/liaison to medical staff

• Clinical responsibility and supervision for all cases rests with our staff of licensed clinical psychologists

• Postdocs are provided with approximately two hours of individual supervision and one hour of group supervision per week

• Attends all clinical staffing, receives supervision from multiple training staff members in variety of formats

• Fellows may have the opportunity to provide supervision to advanced practicum externs. Fellows may also have the opportunity to complete a “quality project” which may include a research component.

What we need from you:

• Qualified applicants must have completed or be currently completing an APA-approved pre-doctoral internship with child training

• Experience working with children with trauma histories required

• All employees at La Rabida Children's Hospital are required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by their start date and to receive the annual flu vaccine (with medical or religious exemptions available, per approval and in exceptional circumstances).

What you will receive:

• Stipend

• Health insurance

• PTO benefits

• 5 Education Conference Days and Education Conference Registration Reimbursement

• Free Parking

Who we are:

La Rabida is a place unlike any other. We understand the needs of families with children dealing with the most serious or complicated of conditions. With teams of the best healthcare providers in Chicago, we give continuous, comprehensive care, education and support, helping families face their unique obstacles head on.

La Rabida Children’s Hospital is very proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

Conditions of Employment Required to demonstrate full vaccination status for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) with a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized or FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine; OR Qualify for a reasonable accommodation for an exemption from vaccine requirements based on a medical disability or because of a sincerely held religious belief. Additional information and instructions regarding how to request a reasonable accommodation will be provided on request at the time of selection.