I write this letter to support Virginia state licensure eligibility among students who graduate from programs accredited by the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS). I attended Virginia Tech (a PCSAS accredited program) as a PhD student from 2011 until 2016 in the Department of Psychology, Clinical Science Area.

The structure and functions of the Virginia Tech clinical training model is a helpful place to begin. The practicum training sequence utilized a set of developmentally-based competencies in the general areas of professional conduct, ethical conduct, assessment, interviewing, relationship skills, case conceptualization skills, intervention and treatment skills, supervision, and consultation, along with individual and cultural differences. Throughout training, I was provided group and individual supervision. My first two years of practicum experience was in the Psychological Services Center (PSC), the program’s in-house, community-based training clinic. Throughout the first two years, I was under the direct, live, and close supervision of a faculty supervisor and an advanced practicum student. The practicum experiences themselves were graded in complexity, moving from coursework, didactics, role playing, observation of advanced students, and/or co-therapy to one highly supervised case with a client, and then to multiple assessment and/or treatment cases. A third level of professional functioning was with the external ‘externship’ practicum. My externship involved a placement at the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 2013.  I gained an additional practicum placement in neuropsychology at Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem, Virginia working under close supervision of a board certified clinical neuropsychologist.  In my fourth year, I returned to the PSC to obtain additional psychotherapy training experiences and obtain supervisory experience working with less advanced practicum students.

My training at Virginia Tech balanced both depth expertise development (through targeted training experiences in trauma and neuropsychology), as well as breadth to achieve core-competencies in other areas that are integral to being a well-rounded clinician (e.g., child psychology; family systems; interpersonal processes). Regardless of the practicum supervisor, the consistent thread across all training experiences was that clinical work should be strongly informed and guided by evidence. I have absorbed this core ethos, demonstrated by the manner in which the clinic that I am now developing at the University of Utah is organized: (1) clinical care begins with thorough assessment using standardized measures and evidence-based clinical interviews, which (2) provides the foundation for accurate diagnosis, conceptualization, and treatment planning that is further informed consultation and supervision within a team context, which (3) provides the foundation for effective delivery of evidence-based interventions.  Further, outcome tracking through session-by-session assessment is an integral part of my practice, a model that I have brought with me from my training at Virginia Tech.

My training as both a clinician and researcher has formed the foundation for my capacity to play an influential role in the healthcare system. Following PhD training, I was able to obtain an APA Accredited internship at the VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System, followed by my current postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology and neuroscience at the University of Utah School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. In September of 2018, I will transition to a tenure-track faculty appointment in the U of Utah School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. As part of my new position, I will direct the Occupational Trauma Program, a program that I am building from the ground-up to serve the mental health needs of first responders (e.g., fire departments, law enforcement agencies) in the Salt Lake City area through education, consultation, clinical services, and research. Additionally, in September of 2018 I will begin my joint appointment as a staff psychologist in the VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System, providing clinical services to veterans in the Primary Care Mental Health Integration area. My ability to provide efficacious evidence-based assessment and treatment approaches—the foundation of which were formed at Virginia Tech— make me a valuable asset to patients and healthcare systems alike.

Finally, my transition from Virginia Tech to internship and postdoc has demonstrated how incredibly well prepared I am as a clinician, a position that I have come to understand through feedback from internship and postdoc supervisors and observations of the consequences of training from other APA accredited doctoral programs around the country attended by my fellow trainees. In November of 2017, I passed the EPPP exam and Utah state licensure exams on my first attempt, and currently hold an active license as a clinical psychologist in the state of Utah. Moreover, I am quite prepared to contribute to the advancement of science in practice, the development and dissemination evidence-based practices, and the training of future clinical psychologists. There is no doubt that PCSAS accredited programs such as Virginia Tech more than adequately prepares its students to be effective and valuable clinical psychologists.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or if I can be of any assistance.