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The BRIGHTEN Training Program won the 2010 Innovative Training Program Award from the national Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs.
- Provide training in geriatric mental health and evidence-based psychotherapy for older adults, research, program development, and grant writing, all with a strong focus on interdisciplinary team collaboration and culturally competent care
- Train psychology and social work fellows together for an “interdenominational” training experience by experienced geriatric social workers and psychologist
- Work within the scientist-practitioner model to develop fellows who are a “triple threat” (clinical, research, and teaching)
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- Particular growth has been noted in fellows’ Pikes Peak Geropsychology Knowledge and Skill Assessment Tool skills related to cultural and individual diversity (II.B.2.), importance of teams (II.B.3.), practicing self-reflection (II.B.4.), communicating recommendations (III.B.7.), and across areas of intervention and consultation (IV, V).
- Psychotherapy outcome: Recent data analyses of fellows’ psychotherapy indicate statistically (p < .01) and clinically significant (≥ 30% decrease in PHQ-9 and/or Beck Anxiety Inventory scores) improvements in BRIGHTEN psychotherapy participants. Thus, fellows have demonstrated an ability to provide effective evidence-based psychotherapy for older adults.
- Grants: Past fellows have been successful in obtaining external foundation grants to support their research and career development.
- Fellow qualitative feedback: “The psychology perspective has allowed me the opportunity to obtain specific training on evidenced based therapy methods and the importance of thematic conceptualization of patients. The social work perspective has improved my holistic understanding of a client in their environment, with support on intensive case management when needed.” “Learning how to present psychotherapy data and outcomes in ways that are welcomed by the physician has been an important part of the training experience.” “It's very unique to be in three different types of facilities (non-profit university medical center, County hospital, and bilingual community clinic), and with a broad interdisciplinary team, to learn the system and politics. I don't think clinicians generally have an opportunity to work in all of these settings simultaneously and understand clinic dynamics in this way.”
- It is notable that team members from all disciplines have reported learning a great deal through our “virtual” conversations about clients. Clinic staff members have also reported being far more aware of mental health issues in all of their patients as a result of our fellows’ educational programs and BRIGHTEN involvement in the clinics. Thus, while we are providing direct training to our psychology and social work fellows, we are also increasing awareness of mental health issues by all of the providers in our team and our partner clinics.
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- Clinical assessments with diverse population of older adults
- Caseload of 15-20 older adult clients for individual or group psychotherapy
- Individual mentored research project of the fellow’s choosing, for which they are responsible for development of methods, data collection, analysis, and reporting
- Opportunity for mentorship in grant writing to support their fellowship project or a future project
- Each fellow gives Gerontology Grand Rounds lecture, didactic and case presentations, provides training on geriatric mental health for our partner clinic staff, and may have the opportunity to teach medical students as part of the Behavioral Sciences curriculum.
- Click HERE for a fellow’s typical monthly schedule.
- Weekly individual supervision – two hours, utilizing audio-taped psychotherapy sessions
- Weekly group supervision – one hour (issues are highly varied and include psychotherapy process, working with physicians, connecting to other services, and professional development)
- Weekly administrative meetings – address logistical program issues as well as clinic politics, team function, program sustainability, business of service provision, and recruitment issues. Fellows learn to collaborate in program development and sustainability through these meetings.
- Geriatric mental health didactic – includes full-day IPT and CBT seminars, as well as weekly one-hour lecture/discussions on a variety of topics related to late life mental and physical health (Click HERE for list of typical didactic topics) [BRIAN – link to separate page with calendar document]
- Monthly research progress meeting to discuss methodological issues, collaboration on current projects, and data presentation
- Monthly leadership meetings to explore issues related to leadership, supervision, and career building
- Eight week experiential course in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), followed by discussion of using mindfulness in psychotherapy
- Monthly psychology fellow professional development seminar facilitated by the Rush Department of Behavioral Sciences
- Monthly Social Work Age Training (SWAT) program facilitated by the Rush Older Adult Programs Department (optional)
- Quarterly cultural competence training, facilitated by an experienced cultural expert and trainer
- Monthly Gerontology Grand Rounds hosted by Geriatric Medicine; lunch is provided
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