Pediatric Psychology Postdoctoral Residency (Fellowship) at Phoenix Children's - Pain Emphasis

The Pediatric Psychology program at Phoenix Children's is pleased to announce a one-year postdoctoral fellowship/residency in pediatric psychology for the 2025-2026 academic year. This fellowship offers the unique opportunity to hone skills necessary to be successful in the role as a pediatric psychologist. Phoenix Children’s Postdoctoral Training program is designed to create a natural progression from internship to the professional skills necessary for independent functioning as a licensed psychologist. The emphasis of the ’25-’26 postdoctoral experience will focus on multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary care within the multispecialty Pediatric Pain Management Program at Phoenix Children’s.

Phoenix Children’s Pain Management Program provides a unique opportunity for a Postdoctoral Resident/Fellow to work along experts in the pediatric medical field, our postdoctoral resident-fellow, will have opportunities to focus on specific disorders such as Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), hypermobility and chronic migraine as well as widely varying pain experiences from traumatic injuries, nerve disorders, cancer, genetic, autoimmune diseases and many other conditions. The Postdoctoral Resident/Fellow will have a wide range of clinical outpatient experiences including multidisciplinary care, outpatient individual and family therapy and weekly pain program (WRAPP). Additionally, the ‘25-’26 postdoctoral Fellow/Resident will have the opportunity to attend a clinical hypnosis training and work with our pain psychologists in the Comfort Ability Program. As a large medical system within metropolitan Phoenix, travel to satellite locations in greater Phoenix area may be included as part of training experience. Postdoctoral Resident/Fellows are encouraged to live in the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area as they will travel between several Phoenix Children’s locations each week. Graduate level educational programming is vital to Phoenix Children’s and as such, the postdoctoral fellowship will also offer opportunities for supervision of pre-doctoral level students.

Phoenix Children’s is a member of the Arizona Psychology Training Consortium (AZPTC). Our postdoctoral resident-fellows participate in a unique multiagency training model that provides monthly didactic programming that cover a range of topics - ethics, research, consultation and specialized training. The term resident-fellow reflects the terminology used within the AZPTC and in the state of Arizona that “fellows” are titled as “residents”. Within the training opportunities of AZPTC, travel across the beautiful state of Arizona is required to attend the training events held at various training sites. Residents will be driving to Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff and other locations. AZPTC is a postdoctoral residency member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). The residency program is not APA-accredited.

Phoenix Children’s is located in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona, currently, the fifth largest city in the United States. Our patient populations include children from the entire Southwest region of the United States. Arizona is home to a population of 7.08M people with 20.5% reporting Spanish as their household’s dominant language. Phoenix Children’s fellowship is dedicated to providing training opportunities in Spanish. These experiences include the ability to conduct evaluations, consultations and treatment in Spanish. Resident-Fellows will be encouraged to participate in Phoenix Children's Mental Health Community Support initiative among the various opportunities for participation within the Division of Psychology. Phoenix Children’s Psychology Division is committed that all individuals and groups are welcomed, supported, respected and valued as integral to our community.

Clinical Experiences:

At least 40% of the fellow/resident’s time will be spent in direct service.

Primary experience (50-75 % of supervised experience):

Pain Service, which serves a wide range of populations including but not limited to:

  • Headaches, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)/hypermobility syndrome, abdominal pain, fibromyalgia/amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome, sports injury.
    • Conduct new patient intakes in the outpatient Comprehensive Pain Clinic
    • Provide follow-up care in the 8-week WRAPP (Weekly Rehabilitation and Pain Program)
    • Follow patients from the Pain Clinic for outpatient psychotherapy.

Exposure experiences (<20% of supervised experience):

Required:

On-call Service:

  • Participate 5 to 7 times per year (with a faculty member) in the weekend on-call service to the medical floors (rarely in the Emergency Department).

Outpatient Therapy cases:

  • Additional outpatient therapy with medical patients with co-occurring emotional/behavioral problems.
  • Advocacy Project:
    • Develop mentored expertise in social media, providing media interviews, producing blog and vlog posts.
    • Purpose of this project is to promote psychological science in ways that are easily understandable to the public.

Other options exposure experiences available:

Comfort Ability Program (CAP) workshop

  • Co-lead programming designed to support adolescents, their parents/caregivers in evidence-based strategies to manage chronic or persistent pain and other forms of discomfort.

Additional expectations:

Umbrella Supervision:

Fellow/Resident will take on a peer supervision role for the current pediatric psychology intern and/or practicum student(s).

Supervision for the patients will ultimately be the responsibility of a licensed clinical psychologist on staff.

Bilingual (Spanish-English) supervision is available for bilingual candidates.