Psychotherapy Training

We believe that excellence in Psychotherapy is fundamental to the skill set of a Psychiatrist and comprehensive clinical management of patients cannot take place without a thorough understanding of both psychotherapeutic and pharmacotherapeutic principles.  We aim to graduate residents who can integrate theoretical principles with clinical experience in a variety of psychotherapies so that they can practice within a truly biopsychosocial framework.

The prominent focus of the Spokane Track is Clinical Excellence in Psychiatry.  As such we are working towards client centered, outcome informed therapy as a means of improving psychotherapy effectiveness.  We require each of our residents to use direct patient supervision for at least one therapy case with the use of audio or videotapes, in order to reliably assess treatment and ensure psychotherapy competency by the time of graduation. We also teach residents the critical elements of achieving clinical excellence, and ask them to put these behaviors in to practice by asking for patient feedback and assessing treatment outcomes with formal measures.

Psychotherapy Didactic Course
This has been completely reformatted over the past couple of years, and instead of a traditional passive lecture based format, now uses a Team Based Learning (TBL) approach.  TBL has demonstrated that students learn complex concepts better, and retain them longer, if they are actively involved in the learning process.  We aim to increase active engagement with the learning material, improve efficiency of learning, and help residents integrate therapy concepts in to their work more effectively. The 16-week Psychotherapy course runs every two years and include sessions on “How Psychotherapy Really Works”, Motivational Interviewing, Mentalisation Based and Dialectical Based Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder, Attachment Based Treatments using the Circle of Security Approach and Family, Group and Couples Therapy.

Psychotherapy Supervision
Clinical Faculty Supervisors are drawn from the Spokane Psychiatric and Psychological community.  We have an invested, enthusiastic, experienced group of supervisors who are committed to teaching residents.  Most of the psychotherapy supervisors are in private practice and offer a number of treatment approaches ranging from psychoanalytically oriented to short-term psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis.

Faculty Supervision Course
Psychotherapy supervision is one of the most important tools residents have in learning how to become a good therapist.  We have developed a course for our supervisors aimed at enhancing their knowledge, providing them with support and increasing commitment to excellence in psychotherapy supervision.  We strive to ensure our supervisors function effectively as mentors, remain motivated to teach and promote intellectual curiosity.  We also run a session specifically for residents, designed to teach them how to use supervision effectively.

Seminars
Residents complete the required seminars in both Supportive and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy during their time in Seattle.  Completion of the Brief Psychoanalytic Therapy (BAP) Seminar takes place in Spokane and is modeled on the Short Term Psychodynamic Therapy teachings of Habib Davenloo.  This seminar has been consistently rated as one of the most valuable experiences of the program.

Spokane Track Residents have been participating in the University of Washington Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Seminar by teleconference for the past 4 years, and are encouraged to continue to take advantage of this Northwest area of expertise in the treatment of people with Borderline Personality Disorder.