Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital
Contact Information:
Complete program descriptions, contact information and brochures for both the internship and fellowship can be found at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital Psychology Training webpage below.
Website Address:
Internship – https://www.va.gov/hines-health-care/work-with-us/internships-and-fellowships/psychology-internship-program/
Primary Geropsychologist:
Anne Day, Ph.D.
Assignment Supervisor
anne.day2@va.gov
Geropsychology Supervisor(s):
Anne Day, Ph.D.
Email: anne.day2@va.gov
Kyle Page, Ph.D., ABPP
Email: kyle.page@va.gov
Julie Horn, Ph.D.
Email: Julie.Horn@Va.gov
Rosana Vazquez-Alcaraz, PsyD
Email: Rosana.Vazquez-Alcaraz@va.gov
Membership / Certification:
_X__ APA Accredited
_X__ APPIC Member
Training Program Components:
Training Levels and Rotations: We offer geropsychology training exposure and experience for interns (in a general health service psychology program) and for a geropsychology fellow. We offer these trainings through our four geriatric programs at the Hines VA: Home Based Primary Care, Geri-PACT (geriatric primary care), Palliative Care, and in our Community Living Center (consisting of long-term care, hospice, subacute rehabilitation, and skilled nursing). Psychology interns may select rotations that fit their training needs, with rotations lasting 6 months for 50% of their time. Our geropsychology fellow selects 3 of the 4 rotations and spends 50% of their time in one rotation (the Major Rotation) all year and 50% of their time in the two others (Minor Rotations) for half a year each.
Supervision:
As an APA-accredited program, our interns and fellows are provided with 4 hours a week of supervision with our training director and rotation supervisors. We have 4 rotation supervisors who primarily work with older adults (one of whom has completed a formal fellowship in geropsychology and is board-certified in geropsychology). We also collaborate frequently with all available disciplines, including RNs, NPs, MDs (primary care, palliative care, and psychiatry), geriatrics-focused pharmacists, dietitians, social workers, and physical therapists, all of whom offer content-specific guidance in their specialty areas that help to enhance the knowledge that trainees gain while they are on our training rotations.
Case Consultation:
In addition to formal supervision and curbside consultation with direct supervisors, we hold a once-weekly “Geri Squad” meeting, which is comprised of Psychology and Psychiatry providers in the geriatric clinics. During these weekly meetings, trainees are offered the opportunity to present challenging or interesting clinical cases and receive feedback from other members of our team. In addition, interns and fellows at Hines are part of a monthly Integrated Care Grand Rounds, a series dedicated to various aspects of interdisciplinary care. In this setting, too, trainees receive consultation. Lastly, our Diversity Case Conference series allows for trainees to present on cases/issues that relate to diversity and receive feedback from a broader group of staff psychologists.
Experiential Workshops:
Each of our trainees attends a Goals of Care Conversation training workshop led by a nationally-trained coordinator for our local Life Sustaining Treatment Decisions Initiative. Trainees may also complete the REACH-VA (Resources of Enhancing All Caregivers Health) workshop.
Didactic Training Offerings:
Locally Offered Courses, Lectures, Seminars:
The following formal trainings were open to our interns and fellows since 2018 and were conducted by our geropsychology training staff and associated colleagues:
Psychology in Palliative Care
Geropsychology in the VA
Caring for the Aging Brain Part 1 and 2
Depression and Suicide in Older Adults
Introduction to Decisional Capacity Evaluations for Psychologists
Decisional Capacities in the VA System
Financial Exploitation of Older Adults
Fear of Developing Dementia
Multicultural Considerations Regarding Aging
Introduction to Legal Tools for Supporting Decision Making
Introduction to Medical Decision Making Assessments for Psychologists
Introduction to STAR-VA
Behavior Tracking in CLC
Additional Trainings:
In addition to the above offerings coordinated locally, all interns and fellows are provided with a monthly list of VA-wide, and when available community-specific, geriatric and geriatric mental health care trainings. For example, the “Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Aging Veterans: Promising Practices” series. Trainees select which ones they attend in line with their interests and goals, but these do span the continuum of topics. Some recent ones have included Mobility in Older Adults, End-of-Life Care in the Time of COVID-19, and Cultural Formulation Interview, Ethnicity, and Older Veterans.
Additional Training Structure for Fellowship:
Fellows in our Geropsychology track regularly attend the following trainings/didactics (interns rotating on gero rotations are invited to attend some of these as available):
Once Goals of Care Conversation Training Skills Workshop (8 hour version) Local Palliative Care Program Coordinator
Monthly Diversity Case Conference Houston VA Fellowship
Monthly Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Journal Club Local Palliative Care team
Monthly Integrated Care Grand Rounds Local Hines VA Staff
Bi-Weekly Multicultural Training Series Local psychology training staff
Weekly Multi-Site Geropsychology Postdoctoral Seminar Series National geropsychology staff
Weekly Geriatric Medicine Seminar that includes a Geriatric Mental Health sub-series Local Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Mental Health staff
Weekly Geri Squad Local Geriatric Mental Health staff
Experiences and Competencies Training: Our training experiences at the internship and fellowship level are designed with an emphasis on exposure, experience, and developing expertise on the application of psychological science to care of older adults. Our core training faculty actively consider the application of the Pikes Peak model and other professional recommendations on designing training programs (e.g., Hinrichsen et al., 2018). As noted above, our program relies on our core geropsychology training faculty, local mental health and interdisciplinary partners, as well as national trainings offered within the VA System to reach these aims.
Across these trainings, our trainees reflect on their attitudes about older adults and aging, gain general knowledge about adult developing and aging process (particular focus on health and functioning), learn about basic of psychological practice with older adults, knowledge of core assessment techniques and challenges, and a variety of evidence-based interventions. Development of competencies are tracked via the Pikes Peak Evaluation Tool. Trainees complete this measure at the start of their rotations and again at the end. Supervision includes attention to developing areas where additional knowledge or skill is needed, and if needed, this is coordinated via the core training faculty to ensure competencies are developing.