Our training program emphasizes a balanced psychotherapy experience that can be easily modified to individual learning goals.  It begins in PGY I, when interns learn interviewing skills from a diverse array of faculty in structured interviewing courses. There is a daily program in our psychiatric ER and a weekly program on our inpatient units, where rotating faculty demonstrate different interviewing approaches.  Current rotating faculty specialize in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, forensic evaluation, psychoanalysis, Existential Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and more. 

Starting in PGY II, each resident starts outpatient half-time and becomes established with their own panel.  From this panel, residents can select appropriate patients for short or long-term psychotherapy. If the resident does not have an appropriate candidate for a desired modality, one can be found within the wider clinic.  Due to our program structure, residents are able to follow the same patients for up to 3 years in clinic continuously. 

Residents receive guidance from two individual psychotherapy supervisors.  There are supervisors available for many modalities, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (including CBT for psychosis), Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy, Prolonged Exposure, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Family & Couples Therapy, and more.  There is additional weekly team-based supervision for DBT and trauma-specific modalities. Our on-site supervisors are from a variety of disciplines and train Harbor’s psychiatry residents, psychology fellows, and social work interns. Video supervision is typically used for feedback in both individual and team settings. PGY II didactics include a year-long seminar on evidence-based modalities and psychoanalytic foundations.  

In PGY III, residents continue their half-time outpatient clinic and are reassigned to two new psychotherapy supervisors.  Some residents may also elect to pursue a two-year psychodynamic fellowship through one of several local psychoanalytic institutes.  In addition to their Harbor clinic, residents start a half-day at Kaiser South Bay, where they see 3 psychotherapy cases that they follow for 6 months to a year with a Kaiser supervisor.  Dedicated residents may pursue psychotherapy cases in our child and adolescent clinic, using modalities such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents.

PGY IV, residents may pursue psychotherapy electives at NPI, Kaiser, or other community-based clinics.  Beyond the modalities mentioned above, there are clinics specializing in couples & sex therapy, evidence-based therapy for depression, Attachment-Based Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Mentalization-Based Therapy, and more.