Mission and Goals

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Mission

The mission of UAMS is to improve the health, health care and well-being of Arkansans and of others in the region, nation and the world by:

• Educating current and future health professionals and the public;
• Providing high quality, innovative, patient- and family-centered, health care and also providing specialty expertise not routinely available in community settings; and
• Advancing knowledge in areas of human health and disease and translating and accelerating discoveries into health improvements.

Arkansas State Hospital Mission

ASH’s mission is to provide psychiatric services that promote recovery in a safe and caring environment.

Fellowship Mission and Goals

The Postdoctoral Fellowship in Forensic and SMI Psychology at UAMS/Arkansas State Hospital is a one-year, 2000-hour training program designed to train doctoral-level clinicians in forensic assessment and in the comprehensive care of the seriously mentally ill. The goal of the program is to provide highest quality didactics and clinical training experiences consistent with the Specialty Council for Psychological Training in Assessment and Treatment of Persons with SMI/SED guidelines (2024) and the Forensic Specialty Council’s Education and Training Guidelines for Forensic Psychology (2007). UAMS/ASH offers a 12-month program under the supervision of qualified, licensed psychologists. Upon completion of the program, fellows will be prepared to work in various SMI and forensic settings and will meet requirements for licensure in the State of Arkansas (and several other jurisdictions). 

The primary emphases of the program are as follows:

• Professional behaviors essential to working in the field of psychology as well in SMI settings and forensic settings.
• Training in supervision, ethical and legal considerations, working with diverse

populations, and research and scientific practice, particularly as it applies to SMI and forensic settings

• Evidence-based individual and group interventions (including DBT, CBT, CPT, ACT, and Competency Restoration)
• Psychological testing including referral questions related to general psychodiagnostic clarification, neuropsychology, malingering, intellectual and adaptive functioning, and other potential concerns
• Forensic evaluations with 18 – 24 criminal defendants per year which focus primarily on adjudicative fitness (competency to stand trial) and criminal responsibility. Evaluations are performed with adolescents and adults.
• Interventions to assist patients in developing more adaptive and productive behaviors (including behavior modification plans, token economies, staff trainings, and milieu therapies)
• Interdisciplinary treatment team contributions as well as training of and by other disciplines
• Exposure to other psychosocial rehabilitation services such as family psychoeducation, cognitive remediation, and social skills training

The postdoctoral fellowship program is dedicated to training its fellows in accordance with the highest standards of practice. At minimum, trainees and supervisors commit themselves to complying with the ethical standards articulated by the relevant professional groups and governing bodies, including the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology, the Arkansas Psychology Board, and the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing.

The fellowship is not accredited by the American Psychological Association. The program has earned APPIC member status.

Arkansas State Hospital

The Arkansas State Hospital (ASH) is a psychiatric inpatient facility located in the heart of Little Rock, Arkansas. ASH is licensed by the Arkansas Department of Health and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services and is accredited by The Joint Commission (TJC). ASH operates a total of 222 patient beds in three service areas: General Adult, Forensic, and Adolescent. The Arkansas State Hospital has been providing quality psychiatric care to the citizens of Arkansas since 1873.

Forensic Evaluations

Forensic Services involves a subsection of professionals conducting inpatient and outpatient forensic evaluations for persons court-referred. These evaluations most often involve assessments of fitness to proceed and criminal responsibility for adults and juveniles. The evaluations may also include violence risk assessments, culpable mental state, and juvenile transfer waiver evaluations. Approximately 2500 court-ordered forensic evaluations are completed annually for the state.

Adult Treatment Services

The adult treatment units composed of four 24-bed units and three 30-bed units, with a balance of all-male units and co-ed units. Our mission is to assess and treat individuals with serious, persistent mental illness who have allegedly committed a crime and to consult with the Court of Record and Law Enforcement. All persons treated on Forensic services are court-ordered for either an evaluation or treatment. Length of stay can vary from weeks to months, or less commonly years.

Adolescent Services

Two separate units comprise the Adolescent Services treatment area. The units include an 18-bed coeducational program for adolescents 13- to 17-years of age who are in need of acute or residential care and an 18-bed program for adolescent males, ages 13-17 years, with histories of sex offenses. Patients may be referred by their guardians, local CMHC’s, other divisions of the Department of Human Services, private treatment providers, or the juvenile courts. Many patients on these units may be ordered to ASH for competency restoration in addition to those with treatment needs.

Education and Training

ASH has a strong commitment to the education of mental health providers and serves as a training site for nursing, medical, social work, and psychology trainees. Many members of our clinical staff serve on the faculties of UAMS and other local universities. Nursing students from several local schools spend clinical time at ASH, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock social work graduate students participate in clinical fellowships. ASH also has a Psychology Predoctoral Internship Program. ASH is a clinical site for UAMS’s Psychiatry Residency Program and the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship, in addition to being the primary clinical site for the UAMS Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program. ASH is also a training site for University of Central Arkansas’s psychology doctoral practicum students.

Stipend and Benefits

Stipends and Benefits

The stipend for the 12-month, UAMS appointment from 2023-2024 is $56,880. Benefits include 11 holidays, 22.5 vacation days, 12 sick leave days as needed, and optional health insurance and retirement plans. Insurance coverage becomes effective the first day of employment and ends on the last day of employment unless the fellow elects to have COBRA. More information is available at the http://www.uams.edu/ohr/benefits.asp. A limited number of educational leave days can also be negotiated with the Training Director for EPPP and conference attendance. Also, note that the UAMS pay schedule is monthly and on the final day of the month. Official employment begins September 1, 2025, and concludes on August 31, 2026. 

Program Structure, Schedule, and Requirements

The goal of the ASH/UAMS fellowship training program is to provide specialty training in the area of Serious Mental Illness (SMI). We emphasize APA’s three core competencies for postdoctoral fellowships: Science and Practice, Diversity, and Ethics and Legal. Simultaneously, the training focuses heavily on education and clinical work that is consistent with the Specialty Council for Psychological Training in Assessment and Treatment of Persons with SMI/SED (2024) and the Forensic Specialty Council’s Education and Training Guidelines for Forensic Psychology (2007). Fellows will work with the Training Director to ensure they have secured training (whether didactic or direct clinical experience) in these areas.

At the completion of the training year, our fellows are expected to have developed independent-practice level skills in diagnosis, assessment, professional documentation (including report-writing and charting), individual and group therapy, research and scientific contributions, presenting for colleagues and direct-care staff, clinical supervision, and functioning in an interdisciplinary system. 

Specialty Council Fellowship Competencies for SMI Training (2024)

The following is a general outline of key elements of an SMI curriculum:

1. Specialized assessment methods that comprehensively assess strengths and functional capability rather than solely symptomatology and deficits evidence-based and promising practices designed specifically for this population
2. Interventions modified or developed for and researched specifically with this population, as well as for those within the forensic mental health system
3. Psychiatric rehabilitation approaches
4. Leadership in settings serving people with SMI/SED
5. The practice of SMI psychology as part of interprofessional teams
6. Approaches to client-centered, recovery oriented mental health care
7. Consultation for staff, family members, and organizations working with persons with SMI/SED
8. Supervision for psychology and non-psychology trainees and staff, as well as multi-disciplinary teamwork
9. Research and scientific inquiry, including methods adapted for SMI/SED or similar populations
10. Advocacy and systems transformation methods specific to mental health systems that serve this population
11. Ethical, legal, and cross-cultural/diversity issues and concerns that impact this population
12. Supervision and teaching
13. Program management and administration
14. Continuing professional development

Education and Training Guidelines for Forensic Psychology November (2007)

1. History of Forensic Psychology

2. Law, Civil and Criminal Procedures, and Juries

3. Ethical issues in the practice of forensic psychology.

4. Researching and analyzing legal authorities (case law, statutes, regulations) to

identify relevant psycholegal constructs

5. Use of standardized assessment instruments in forensic evaluations.

6. Assessment of response style, including malingering.

7. Violence Risk Assessment/Civil Commitment.

8. Personal Injury/Civil Damages

9. Employment Issues/Disability evaluations

10. Child Custody/Child Abuse/Termination of Parental Rights

11. Civil Competencies (Guardianship/Testamentary Capacity/Right to Refuse Treatment)

12. Competence to Stand Trial

13. Criminal Responsibility

14. Confessions

15. Sentencing and disposition issues

16. Sex offender evaluations

17. Evaluations of Juveniles/Waiver to adult court/Amenability to Treatment

18. Expert testimony

19. Issues of culture, race, and gender as they impact law and psychology (this is an

     important area which should also be integrated throughout the curriculum)

Program Schedule and Training Experiences

It is important to note that individual training experiences will look different each year and be based on the needs of the fellow and specific training opportunities at that time.

Experiences:

• Forensic Assessments: Fellows will be assigned 18-24 criminal defendants for forensic evaluation during the course of the year. Evaluations are typically fitness to stand trial and/or criminal responsibility. Evaluations may at times also include juvenile waiver to adult court, violence risk assessments, culpable mental state and more. Fellows will also participate in the official Arkansas State Forensic Evaluator Training as well as a Mock Trial with local attorneys.
• Adult Clinical Treatment and Assessment – Fellows will have an assigned unit and work with the psychologist on the unit. Responsibilities of the fellow on the unit include but are not limited to the following: co-leading groups, conducting individual therapy, providing competency restoration, completing psychological assessments, developing positive behavior support plans (PBSPs), leading team-based violence risk assessments, supervising psychology interns, and contributing to treatment team meetings. Therapeutic modalities employed include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Illness Management and Recovery, Sex Offender Treatment, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Competency Restoration, and other process-based cognitive behavioral methods. Opportunities exist for applied research in the areas of treatment development, program evaluation, and staff training. 
• Adolescent Services ­–Adolescent Services treats individuals ages 13-17 in need of acute care due to behavioral, psycholegal, or psychiatric concerns. Dr. Aldea and Dr. Jones are the supervising psychologists. The most common responsibilities would be group therapy, individual therapy, PBSP management, and milieu therapy. Unit Echo serves adolescents with sexually-abusive behavior and could potentially provide relevant training experiences. There are opportunities available for minor rotation experiences.
• Supervision – The fellow will have multiple primary supervisors for the different aspects of the training week. Additionally, the fellow will be assigned a supervisor who is separate from the direct clinical supervisors. The goal of this supervision is professional development, mentorship, and supervision of long-term individual therapy cases. Long-term supervision is scheduled for one hour per week. At least two hours per week of total individual supervision will be provided. Fellows will also regular supervision with the Training Director. The content of the supervision is flexible and will at times include reading articles or presenting information.
• Didactics and Other Training – Fellows are required to attend at least 8 hours of didactics each month. There will be two weekly lectures series: the SMI Lecture Series and the Forensic Lecture Series. Fellows can also meet training requirements from a combination of Intern Seminars, Forensic Psychiatry Lectures, ASH Psychopharmacology Conferences, UAMS Psychiatry Resident Lectures, and UAMS Grand Rounds. Additionally, fellows will be expected to present at the Psychology Department meeting, the Fellowship Lecture Series, State of Arkansas Forensic Evaluator Training, and the ASH Psychopharmacology Conference. Further, fellows will receive other training experiences through co-leading at least one group per week and observing supervisors when opportunities exist. Please contact Training Director for the most recent Lecture Series training schedules.

Core Competencies

By the end of the fellowship year, we expect our fellows to have mastered the following core competencies:

• APA SMI Fellowship Core Competencies – Fellows will be able to demonstrate skills in APA’s core competency areas for postdoctoral fellowship, particularly as they apply to SMI and forensic populations. Specifically, they are expected to demonstrate competency in applying their work to diverse populations, in integrating science and practice, and in demonstrating knowledge/practice of professional ethics and relevant legal guidelines.
• Professionalism – This includes demonstrating professional behaviors essential to employment in a multidisciplinary setting where one works closely with many other disciplines and different training levels. Professionalism also includes appropriate and timely communication with supervisors and others as well as appropriate emotion regulation and stress management. Fellows are further expected to demonstrate professionalism through the timely and accurate execution of basic job duties.
• Supervision – Fellows will supervise pre-doctoral interns through the training year. This will afford them the opportunity to learn and practice supervision skills while receiving supervision of supervision and didactics focused on supervision.
• Psychotherapy – ASH emphasizes the importance of evidence-based practice. Fellows will have experience providing DBT, CBT, CPT, and ACT as well as other therapies commonly used with SMI populations including trauma therapies, Social Skills Training, Illness Management & Recovery, Metacognitive Therapy, and Competency Restoration. By the end of the training year, fellows will be able to demonstrate comfort and proficiency in a number of different modalities and with a variety of different types of clients.
• Psychological Testing – Psychological testing is needed at ASH for a variety of referral questions including, but not limited to, general psychodiagnostic clarification, neuropsychology, malingering, intellectual and adaptive functioning, academic achievement, and other potential concerns. Competency in this area requires proficiency in reviewing records, clinical interviewing, test administration and scoring, reporting writing, and communicating findings with the treatment teams.
• Forensic Evaluation – ASH places a high priority on conducting court-ordered evaluations regarding competency to stand trial, opinion on capacity to be restored to fitness, culpable mental state, violence risk, and criminal responsibility. Fellows will have an opportunity to evaluate demographically-diverse defendants and committed psychiatric patients who present with a multifaceted intersection between serious mental illness, criminality, developmental disabilities, medical conditions, substance use, and personality disorders. Not only will fellows administer, score, and interpret assessment instruments, they will also write comprehensive forensic reports that will be submitted to the courts. Lastly, they will have an opportunity to review extensive records, learn about best forensic practice and relevant case law, make collateral contact with corroborating sources (e.g., multidisciplinary treatment team, attorneys), and witness expert testimony in the Arkansas state courts. There may even be opportunities for the fellow to testify.
• Skill Development Interventions – This broad category encompasses helping patients to develop more adaptive and productive behaviors through the use of behavior modification plans, token economies, staff trainings, milieu therapies, and more. Fellows will be expected to demonstrate functional knowledge of these different approaches which are commonly utilized in psychiatric hospitals.
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration – Fellows are expected to understand and respect the skillsets of the various disciplines as well as to communicate well with the disciplines represented in the hospital. Fellows are also expected to develop proficiency in providing training to other disciplines and be receptive to training provided by other disciplines.
• Presentations and Trainings – Because education and training is fundamental to Psychology, particularly in large institutions, fellows will develop skills for presenting to department colleagues as well other disciplines. Competency in this area is demonstrated by creating presentations based on scientific evidence or other scholarly work and conveying information in a manner appropriate to the audience.
• Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services – The fellowship program aims to expose fellows to psychosocial rehabilitation services that are often outside the scope of traditional psychological interventions. As a result, fellows are expected to develop a basic working knowledge of interventions commonly utilized with SMI populations such as family psychoeducation, cognitive remediation, social skills training, Assertive Community Treatment, and managing the various systems of care. 
• Ethical and Legal – Fellows are expected to learn about the ethical and legal guidelines that govern the practice of psychology in the forensic hospital setting. In addition to professional guidelines, fellows will also be able to understand and navigate Arkansas legal statues as well as develop an understanding of important case law.

Supervision and Evaluation

The fellowship provides each trainee the required supervised experience to meet licensing regulations in most states, including Arkansas. The program is a one-year, full-time training experience. In order to comply with APPIC and state standards for supervised experience, fellows are provided with the following core supervision hours:

• – At least 2 hours per week of individual supervision with the primary supervisors
• – A twice monthly meeting with the Training Director
• – 30-60 minutes per week of group supervision (when there are multiple fellows)
• – At least 2 hours per week of other training experiences. These include didactics, as
• well as co-leading group therapy, observation, etc.
• – Supervision of all written work

The Fellowship Training Committee will discuss the fellow’s progress, strengths, and areas for growth at 2 months, 6 months, and 12 months. (See appendix for evaluation form). Any evaluation that includes a below standard rating will be supported by specific and concrete examples and will result in a remediation plan meant to support the fellow in developing in the deficient area. Fellows will formally evaluate supervisors at the same time points. Fellows are asked to participate in the formal evaluation of the fellowship at the end of the year, again one year later, and five years later. These evaluations will inform the program’s self-study process.

Fellows will also be involved in the supervision and evaluation of interns and practicum students when possible. This will result in both the fellow providing the intern feedback and receiving feedback from the intern.

See link for list of available supervisors and their specialty areas: Supervisor Bios

Recruitment, Eligibility, Application, and Selection

Recruitment and Eligibility

Prospective fellows are recruited nationally from individuals who hold a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology and who have completed a pre-doctoral internship in Clinical Psychology. Counseling Psychology applicants will be considered. Only candidates from APA-accredited graduate institutions and APA-accredited internships will be considered. To be considered eligible to begin the fellowship, the trainee must have met all requirements for their doctoral degree, including successful defense of the doctoral dissertation (which includes submission and final approval by the dissertation committee of any changes requested at the time of the dissertation defense). Provisional licensure through the State of Arkansas is also required (see below). UAMS does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, creed, service in the uniformed services, status as a protected veteran, sex, age, marital or family status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation as a criterion in deciding against any individual in matters of admission, placement, transfer, hiring, dismissal, compensation, fringe benefits, training, tuition assistance and other personnel or educationally-related actions.

The fellow must also obtain provisional licensure status with the Arkansas Psychology Board. As this can be a lengthy process, it is highly recommended that the incoming fellow begins this process once he or she has accepted the fellowship position. Additionally, the fellow will need to submit the following to the board:

1. Application for provisional license
2. Supervision agreements with each supervisor
3. Hours logs
4. Quarterly updates

Credentialing within the hospital is another essential condition of employment.

All persons selected for new employment or a change in employment within DHS/OSAMH must submit to a drug test, a criminal background check, and a maltreatment history check as a pre-condition of employment.

Application

Program applicants must submit:

• A current CV
• At least three letters of reference, with one of them being from the graduate Director of Clinical Training stating the date of the prospective applicant’s completion (or anticipated date) and standing in the program (sent directly by the author)
• An original copy of the applicant’s graduate school transcripts sent directly from the graduate program
• A personal statement regarding the applicant’s interest in the SMI/Forensic Fellowship
• One deidentified psychological report

Materials should be emailed by January 10 to Brittani Baldwin Gracey, PsyD, at [email protected]. Applicants anticipating not having all materials available by that deadline should make contact with Dr. Baldwin.

Selection

After receiving the applicant’s materials, the Training Director will review and confirm that all required materials have been received. The Training Director will then perform a comprehensive review of all submitted applications to determine interview decisions. Applicants will be notified of their application decision status on or before January 17. On-site visits are not required but encouraged; however, video teleconference interviews may be arranged. The Training Director and at least two other Fellowship Training Committee members will conduct interviews with the selected applicants. Final rankings are determined through the consensus of the Training Director and the Fellowship Training Committee Member.

Combined Forensic and SMI Fellowship Program
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