MIRECC / CoE
VISN 5 - VA Interprofessional Fellowship Program in PSR and Recovery Oriented Services
History & Purpose
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced its commitment to interprofessional clinical care and training in psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery for Veterans with serious mental illness in 2002. Through collaboration between Mental Health Services and the Office of Academic Affiliations, three VA healthcare sites were selected and funded to begin the VA Interprofessional Fellowship Program in Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery (PSR). In 2006, VA announced the expansion of the PSR fellowship program to four additional sites, and in 2021, the Fellowship expanded by three more.
The purpose of the Interprofessional PSR Fellowship Program is to develop future mental health leaders with vision, knowledge, and commitment to transform mental health care systems in the 21st century by emphasizing functional capability, rehabilitation, and recovery.
Program Overview
The Interprofessional PSR Fellowship Program is a state-of-the-art clinical training program that focuses on the theory and practice of psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery. Individualized, mentored clinical and research training is combined with a curriculum that emphasizes a comprehensive psychosocial rehabilitation approach to service delivery, education, and implementing change in a mental health care setting.
Education Dissemination Project
Fellows are required to develop and implement an "Education Dissemination Project" in order to enhance the education of health professionals and the quality of care provided to Veterans at their respective fellowship sites. The projects enhance the psychosocial rehabilitation beyond the training site. The projects focus on a variety of dissemination efforts such as developing continuing education or research conferences for health professionals, curricula for health professions training programs, patient education materials, or clinical demonstration projects. Fellows are also encouraged to take leadership roles by developing didactic projects and disseminating educational materials through a variety of efforts (e.g., planning regional invitational meetings, developing a training website) in order to educate health professionals and advance psychosocial rehabilitation training and collaboration.
Check out Visual Abstracts of two recent Dissemination Projects below!
For a list of Dissemination Projects click here!
Fellowship Positions & Disciplines
The PSR Fellowship Program is a year long, and each PSR fellowship site has from four to six full-time fellow positions. The fellows come from a range of disciplines, including nursing, social work, psychology, psychiatry, vocational rehabilitation, clinical pastoral education, occupational therapy, marriage & family therapy, and licensed professional mental health counseling. Fellows come to the fellowship with previous experience in working with Veterans with serious mental illness.
Clinical Training
The fellowship program utilizes a comprehensive psychosocial rehabilitation approach to restore a Veteran's full potential following the onset of a serious mental illness. Fellows are involved in a number of clinical training experiences that take place on inpatient psychiatric units, psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery centers (PRRCs), and a variety of other VA mental health treatment settings. Interventions that fellows may provide include Veteran and family education, enhancement of residential, social, and work skills, community re-integration, whole health interventions, spiritual counseling, individual and group psychotherapy using cognitive-behavioral therapy and other strategies, motivational interviewing, pharmacotherapy and provision of intensive case coordination.
Didactic Training
Each PSR fellowship program tailors its fellowship and discipline-specific seminars. The seminars include, but are not limited to, case presentations, workshops, coursework, conferences, and supervision. The Hub Site coordinates a monthly seminar series that offers a unified, comprehensive education and training for fellows across the nine PSR Fellowship sites. All PSR fellows are invited to attend the didactic seminar series as it is an opportunity to learn more about psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery. It is also an opportunity to potentially collaborate with other PSR sites on various psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery projects.
Additional Training Opportunities
Fellows are encouraged to attend one national mental health conference during their fellowship year, and submit proposals for conference presentations and poster sessions on their education dissemination projects. Recent Fellowship classes have attended the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA) Conference and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Convention. At the end of their fellowship year, fellows are eligible to apply for PRA certification as Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioners.
Fellowship Sites
The VISN 5 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center at Baltimore, Maryland, is the Administrative Hub Site for the VA Interprofessional Fellowship Program in Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery. The Hub Site was established in the summer of 2007 to help coordinate education, training and recruitment efforts across the funded PSR fellowship programs and serves as official liaison between sites and the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and the Office of Academic Affiliations, Advanced Fellowships.
Nine VA healthcare sites participate in the PSR fellowship program. Click on each link below to read highlights about each program:
Fellowship Requirements
Fellows must be U.S. citizens and must be graduates of academic programs that are accredited by the nationally recognized accrediting bodies for the profession. All fellows must possess a master's level degree or above in their respective disciplines, which is a basic requirement to participate in the fellowship program. Applications are invited from psychiatry residents, graduates of doctoral programs in clinical or counseling psychology, master's or doctoral programs in social work, master's or doctoral programs in mental health nursing, master's programs and doctoral programs in occupational therapy, master's programs in vocational rehabilitation, master's programs in marriage & family therapy, master's programs in clinical mental health counseling, who are license eligible, and masters of divinity programs with 4 units of accredited clinical pastoral education.
The Fellowship Program is full time for psychology, vocational rehabilitation, clinical pastoral education, occupational therapy, social work, marriage & family therapy, licensed professional mental health counseling and nursing fellows. Stipends are competitive and are based on location and discipline. Full time fellows are eligible for health and life insurance benefits. All fellows earn annual and sick leave and are entitled to all Federal holidays.
For information regarding VA Psychology Training eligibility requirements, please visit their webpage: http://www.psychologytraining.va.gov/eligibility.asp
For additional information about VA Psychology Training, please visit their webpage: http://www.psychologytraining.va.gov
List of VA Psychology Training Sites including Advanced Fellowships/Interprofessional PSR Fellowship: https://www.psychologytraining.va.gov/programs.asp
Applications
Please see the contact information of the nine clinical training sites below, including links to program descriptions and applications.
All nine fellowship sites are accepting applications beginning in November from psychologists, social workers, and vocational rehabilitation counselors. In addition, Cheyenne, Durham, Little Rock, and West Haven are accepting applications from occupational therapists. Denver, Durham, Milwaukee and West Haven are accepting applications from psychiatry residents. Durham, West Haven and San Diego are accepting applications from Masters of Divinity with at least 4 credits in Clinical Pastoral Education. Milwaukee is accepting applications from nurses and Cheyenne and Bedford are accepting applications from licensed professional mental health counselors.
The Fellowship year runs from September to the end of the following August. Applications for the 2023 – 2024 Fellowships will be accepted beginning in November 2022. Candidates from each discipline will be selected in the first part of 2023. Psychiatry Residents should contact prospective sites beginning in July 2023 for the 2024 – 2025 Fellowship year.
Application requirements and deadlines vary by discipline and clinical training site. Please contact sites directly for details.
Bedford, MA
Co-Directors: Andrew Peckham, Ph.D., Psychology Service
Adam Kirschner, LICSW, Social Work Service
200 Springs Road
Bedford, MA 01730
Andrew.Peckham@va.gov or (781) 687-4329
Adam.Kirschner1@va.gov or (781) 687-2564
Program Website
VA Bedford PSR Fellowship Description
Cheyenne, WY
Director: Charles Drebing, Ph.D.
Associate Director: Kyle Bewsey, Ph.D.
2360 East Pershing Blvd. (116A)
Cheyenne VA Healthcare System
Cheyenne, WY 82001
Charles.Drebing@va.gov or (307) 778-7550, Ext. 7450
Kyle.Bewsey@va.gov or (307) 778-7550, Ext. 4708
VA Cheyenne PSR Fellowship Manual
Program Website
Denver, CO
Co-Directors: Allison Douglas, LCSW, Social Work Service
Aaron Murray-Swank, Ph.D., Psychology Service
Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center
1700 North Wheeling Street
Aurora, CO 80045
Allison.Douglas@va.gov or (720) 857-5314
Aaron.Murray-Swank2@va.gov or (720) 857-5309
VA Denver PSR Fellowship Brochure
Durham, NC
Co-Directors: J. Murray McNiel, Ph.D.
Julie C. McCormick, LCSW, CPRP
508 Fulton Street MHSL
116D/Hillandale 2 2
Durham, NC 27705
jesse.mcniel@va.gov or (919) 286-0411, Ext. 177777
Julie.McCormick@va.gov or (919) 286-0411, Ext. 175111
Program Website
VA Durham PSR Fellowship Announcement
Little Rock, AR
Director of Post Doctoral Training: Erica Moseby, Ph.D.
2200 Fort Roots Drive (116/NLR)
Bldg. 170, 2L-163 (MH Admin)
North Little Rock, AR 72114
Applications to: Erica.Moseby@va.gov or (501) 257-3457
Inquiries to: Phiffany Spruill Phiffany.Spruill@va.gov or (501) 257-3793
Program Website
VA Central Arkansas PSR Fellowship Brochure
Milwaukee, WI
Co-Directors: Alison Minkin, Ph.D.
Michael McBride, M.D.
Milwaukee VA Medical Center
Milwaukee, WI 53295
Alison.Minkin@va.gov or (414) 384-2000, Ext. 45860
Michael.McBride@va.gov
VA Milwaukee PSR Fellowship Brochure
Program Website
Palo Alto, CA
Director: Stephen T. Black, Ph.D.
Stephen.Black2@va.gov or (650) 493-5000, Ext. 67556
Psychology Service
Program Website
VA Palo Alto Health Care System
3801 Miranda Ave (116B)
Palo Alto, CA 94304
For Psychology applicants: Program Description
For Social Work applicants: Please contact Dr. Black at Stephen.black2@va.gov
Palo Alto Social Work Announcement
San Diego, CA
Director: Dimitri Perivoliotis, Ph.D.
VA San Diego Healthcare System (116B)
3350 La Jolla Village Drive
San Diego, CA 92161
Dimitri.perivoliotis@va.gov (preferred) or (619) 228-8028
Program Website
VA San Diego PSR Fellowship Brochure
West Haven, CT
Director, PSR Interprofessional Fellowship: Anne Klee, Ph.D., CPRP
Errera Annex
200 Edison Road
Orange, CT 06477
Anne.Klee@va.gov or (203) 640-1727
Interprofessional Program Description
VA Connecticut PSR Fellowship Information
West Haven Discipline Specific Contacts:
Director, Psychology Training: Joshua Bullock, Ph.D.
Joshua.Bullock@va.gov or (203) 516-8013
Psychology Program Description
Psychiatry Program Description
Director of Social Work Training: Michele Roberts
Michele.roberts2@va.gov 203-479-8004
Director of Occupational Therapy Training: Mary Sperrazza, OTR/L
Mary.sperrazza@va.gov 203-508-7904
Director of Chaplaincy Training: James Cooke, S.S.T.,BCC
James.cooke2@va.gov 203-932-5711x2422
For other information, please contact the PSR Fellowship Hub Site:

Richard Goldberg, Ph.D.
Director of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Fellowship Hub Site
VA Maryland Health Care System
10 N. Greene St.
Attn: MIRECC, Annex Bldg., 7th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
Richard.Goldberg@va.gov or (410) 637-1851

Ralf Schneider, MA CPRP
Coordinator of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Fellowship Hub Site
VA Maryland Health Care System
10 N. Greene St.
Attn: MIRECC, Annex Bldg., 7th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
Ralf.Schneider@va.gov or (443) 421-5889