Housed in the Psychology Division of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, the Medical College of Georgia/Augusta University Postdoctoral Child and Adolescent Psychology Fellowship blends child/adolescent clinical activities, teaching/supervision, and protected research time. Under the direction of Dr. Christopher Drescher, this fellowship is designed to prepare professional child psychologists for a career in a range of settings including academic medical centers, children's hospitals, and private practice. Training experiences include delivering clinical services for children/adolescents, including diagnostic interviewing, individual and family therapies, and multifamily adolescent Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills group; psychological assessment and therapy within our interdisciplinary Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics clinic (within the Department of Pediatrics); teaching didactics and supervising psychology and medical trainees at various levels; and conducting research with clinical populations. Fellows will have opportunities to work with a broad range of clinical populations, such as patients with emotion regulation problems, mood/anxiety disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, and comorbid medical disorders. Specific clinical experiences will be determined by fellow interest/training needs and funding sources. Training supervisors are primarily cognitive behavioral in orientation and have expertise in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, DBT, LGBTQ issues, and psychological assessment. Additional training experiences include providing didactics and supervision for doctoral psychology interns, medical students, and other trainees. Scholarly activities can include endeavors designed and implemented by the fellow and/or collaborative research with Medical College of Georgia/Augusta University faculty. The fellow will have shared didactics with other psychology postdoctoral fellows, child and adolescent psychiatry fellows, and pediatric residents as appropriate.
Please email Christopher Drescher, PhD at cdrescher@augusta.edu for additional information.
The Psychology Division of the Department of Psychiatry & Health Behavior is pleased to offer a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, with options for training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and the Psychology of Women. The fellowship focuses on advanced clinical training in evidence-based approaches to problems of emotion dysregulation, suicide and self-injury, and substance abuse. The fellow will have opportunities to work in an outpatient setting with a broad range of clinical populations, such as patients with mood/anxiety disorders, PTSD and other trauma-related problems, eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, substance use disorders, and chronic medical illnesses. The fellow will work within our comprehensive outpatient Dialectical Behavior Therapy program, serving as intake coordinator to the program, providing individual DBT to adults, leading and/or co-leading adult skills groups, and participating in the weekly DBT consultation team. The fellow will also have the opportunity for training and supervision in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and other behavioral therapies. Additionally, the fellow may choose to tailor experiences to focus on the psychology of women.
Specific clinical experiences will be determined by fellow interest/training needs and funding sources. Additional training experiences include providing didactics and supervision for psychiatry trainees and psychology interns. The fellow will have shared didactics/seminars with other psychology postdoctoral fellows, including the option to participate in a Psychology of Women seminar with an emphasis on intersectional understandings of gender. The fellow will have 20% protected research time (one day per week). The research activities can include research endeavors designed and implemented by the fellow, as well as collaborative research with Medical College of Georgia/Augusta University faculty. Current research projects involving the fellows are focused on processes of change in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy groups for stage 2 DBT clients, ACT for substance use recovery group clients, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills group clients.
View details of the DBT/ACT/Psychology of Women Fellowship
The Fellowship in Forensic Psychology is offered through a partnership between East Central Regional Hospital (ECRH) and Augusta University (AU). The fellowship has two full-time positions available each year. The 2025-2026 year will be our fourteenth year and we are privileged to be part of the psychiatry department at Augusta University where a high priority is afforded to excellent clinical care and training.
Fellows are given an opportunity to evaluate individuals who have been charged with
a wide-variety of criminal offenses, including: murder, aggravated assault, rape,
and child molestation. The fellowship offers specialized training in conducting competency
to proceed to trial, criminal responsibility (insanity), and violence risk evaluations.
Fellows who are interested will also have opportunities to conduct competency to stand
trial and court-ordered psychological evaluations with juvenile offenders.
Fellows will have opportunities to conduct evaluations on diverse individuals covering
major diagnostic categories, including: psychotic disorders, mood disorders, personality
disorders, substance abuse, malingering, and intellectual disabilities. At the hospital,
there are three units that house 71 forensic individuals who are diverse in terms
of age, race, and socioeconomic status. Clinical training experiences include conducting
comprehensive assessments of competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility (insanity),
and violence risk. Fellows will be given the opportunity to testify and to observe
expert testimony provided by their supervisors. When a fellow is required to testify,
they will be accompanied to court by their supervisor. During the outpatient rotation,
fellows will conduct competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility evaluations
with adult defendants who are either incarcerated or out on bail. Fellows will also
be involved in annual civil commitment reviews, which are designed to provide the
Court with an individual’s progress over the proceeding year and to make recommendations
related to their appropriateness for continued outpatient commitment/conditional release.
View details of the Forensic Psychology Fellowship
