General Adult Psychology Track - Psychology Internship Program

General Information

(APPIC/NMS program code = 161913)

Track Coordinator:
Adam Carmel, PhD: adultpip@uw.edu

Current General Adult Track Psychology Residents

UW Medical Center – Outpatient Psychiatry Center (OPC)

The University of Washington Medical Center Outpatient Psychiatry Center (OPC), located near the University of Washington campus in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood, is an outpatient specialty mental health clinic staffed by faculty and residents in psychology and psychiatry. The clinic serves adults from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, and demographic backgrounds who present with a broad range of clinical concerns, including mood, anxiety, trauma-related, substance use, adjustment, and personality disorders. Residents provide evidence-based psychological assessment and treatment, primarily through individual psychotherapy, with opportunities for group interventions and interdisciplinary collaboration. Specialized training opportunities include cognitive-behavioral therapies, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), exposure-based treatments, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Residents may also participate in the Suicide Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Team, led by Dr. Katherine Comtois, a multidisciplinary specialty service providing suicide-focused assessment, treatment planning, and evidence-based interventions for patients referred from across the UW Medicine health system.

Harborview Medical Center – Outpatient Psychiatry/Psychology Clinic (5 East Clinic)

The Harborview Medical Center Outpatient Psychiatry/Psychology Clinic (5 East Clinic), located in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood, is an outpatient specialty mental health clinic staffed by faculty and residents in psychology and psychiatry. As a regional safety-net hospital and Level I trauma center, Harborview serves patients from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, and demographic backgrounds, including individuals experiencing significant psychosocial stressors, complex psychiatric conditions, and barriers to accessing healthcare. Patients present with a broad range of clinical concerns, including mood, psychotic, trauma-related, substance use, sleep, and functional neurological disorders. Residents provide evidence-based psychological assessment and treatment, primarily through individual psychotherapy, with specialized training opportunities in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBT-P), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and hypnosis in psychotherapy. The clinic receives referrals from primary care, specialty mental health programs, neurology, sleep medicine, and other Harborview services, providing opportunities for interdisciplinary consultation and treatment of patients with complex clinical presentations.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center – Psychiatry and Psychology Services (FHCC)

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (FHCC), located in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, is a comprehensive outpatient cancer treatment center providing specialized oncology care to patients with a wide range of cancer diagnoses and stages of treatment. The Psychiatry and Psychology Service serves adults from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, and demographic backgrounds who experience psychological and behavioral health concerns associated with cancer diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and advanced illness. Patients present with a broad range of clinical concerns, including depression, anxiety, adjustment difficulties, demoralization, sleep disturbances, cognitive concerns, treatment adherence, grief, and end-of-life issues. Residents provide evidence-based psychological assessment and treatment, primarily through individual psychotherapy, with specialized training opportunities in psycho-oncology, cognitive-behavioral interventions, mindfulness-based approaches, and motivational interviewing. Residents also participate in interdisciplinary consultation and collaborative care with psychiatrists, psychologists, advanced practice providers, clinical social workers, and other oncology professionals, gaining experience integrating psychological services into comprehensive cancer care.

Training Experiences & Treatment Modalities

The educational model across the three Adult Track training sites emphasizes an evidence-based scientist-practitioner approach to psychological assessment and treatment. Residents develop competencies in diagnostic assessment, case conceptualization, treatment planning, and the delivery of psychological interventions for adults with diverse clinical presentations and healthcare needs.

Individual psychotherapy constitutes the majority of clinical training, with additional opportunities for group treatment, specialized interventions, and interdisciplinary consultation depending on the training site. Faculty provide training and supervision in a range of evidence-based approaches, including cognitive-behavioral therapies, exposure-based interventions, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based interventions, and other treatments tailored to patients’ clinical needs.

Training emphasizes the integration of research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient characteristics and preferences in treatment planning and delivery. Residents are encouraged to develop specialized clinical interests while maintaining a broad generalist caseload and gaining experience collaborating with professionals across disciplines.

Resident Expectations

The General Adult Psychology Track is designed to provide broad, generalist training in psychological assessment and treatment within outpatient mental health and medical settings. Residents are expected to develop increasing independence and competence in clinical decision-making, evidence-based interventions, interdisciplinary collaboration, and professional practice throughout the internship year.

Residents work collaboratively with supervisors to establish individualized training goals that reflect their clinical interests, prior experiences, and areas for professional growth. While opportunities exist to develop specialized clinical skills, residents are expected to maintain a diverse clinical caseload and demonstrate flexibility in responding to patient needs across training settings.

Treatment: Individual psychotherapy comprises the majority of the clinical caseload. In coordination with the OPC/5East Clinic/FHCC Triage Team, we balance residents’ preferences for particular training experiences with the needs of the clinic. For example, residents may elect to have the majority of their caseload devoted to specific related disorders, such as anxiety, substance use. However, they are also expected to carry a diverse caseload and be willing to take on cases that need care or that expand their existing skill set. Considerations of differential diagnosis, case conceptualization, and treatment planning continuously evolve over the course of care. Clinic supervisors are predominantly, but not exclusively, cognitive-behaviorally oriented. Training books, manuals, video and audio tapes, and validated measures of therapist adherence and competence in specific treatments may be used to facilitate feedback and learning by the psychology resident. A typical caseload for each day will involve approximately 4-5 hours of direct clinical contact.Even though a resident is providing individual therapy, many patients receive medication management services from psychiatry residents and faculty in tandem with psychotherapy services provided by the psychology resident. Thus, the resident is part of a treatment team and must coordinate care with other providers across multiple disciplines.
Assessment: Psychology residents can administer a range of self-report indices in the outpatient clinic or refer/consult with the UWMC/HMC for more comprehensive assessment batteries (e.g., neuro-psychological assessment). The decision to obtain testing and, if so, which tests, is made in consultation with the supervisor on a case-by-case basis. In this way, residents learn the indications for testing and the clinical utility of testing results in treatment planning. There is also an option for the psychology resident to conduct full intake assessments for the clinic, often alongside a psychology or psychiatry attending.

Individual psychotherapy comprises the majority of residents’ clinical responsibilities, with additional opportunities for group psychotherapy, specialized interventions, and interdisciplinary consultation depending on the training site. Clinical assignments are coordinated with supervisors and clinic referral teams to balance residents’ training goals, patient care needs, and opportunities to develop new competencies.

Residents typically provide approximately 4–5 hours of direct clinical care per clinical day, depending on the training setting and assigned responsibilities. Caseloads include patients with a range of clinical presentations, diagnostic complexity, and treatment needs. Residents gain experience providing both brief and longer-term interventions, developing individualized treatment plans, monitoring treatment progress, and modifying interventions based on patient response and emerging clinical information.

Residents are expected to demonstrate increasing competence in clinical documentation, risk assessment and management, ethical decision-making, and coordination of care. Because many patients receive services from multiple healthcare professionals, residents also develop skills in interdisciplinary communication and collaboration with psychiatry, primary care, oncology, and other specialty providers.

Supervision

UWMC OPC/HMC 5 East CLinic

Psychology residents will receive individual supervision with two of the attending psychologists. They will also participate in a 1 hour per week combined psychology and psychiatry resident group supervision, moderated by the OPC/5 East Clinic training faculty (one attending psychologist and one attending psychiatrist). Group supervision is a combination of didactic presentations, readings and faculty/peer consultations. Supervisors are also available on an as needed basis. DBT supervision is provided in the form of one-on-one individual supervision with a clinical psychologist and participation in a multi-disciplinary consult team (psychiatry, psychology, social work).

FHCC

Psychology residents will receive individual supervision from one attending psychologist at 1 hour per week. They may also participate in 1 hour per week attending our FHCC collaborative care group meetings, which consist of psychiatrist and social workers case review. The social workers have been trained in behavioral activation as the primary intervention to help their clients and the psychology resident can assist with psychological interventions supervision during these team meeting.

Last Modified: October 26, 2026