This training experience has chosen to follow the APPIC Postdoctoral Selection Guidelines.
Sentience Psychological Services – Geropsychology Residency Training Program
Sentience Psychological Services is an Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS)-licensed counseling facility providing psychological services to assisted living communities, independent living communities, behavioral health units, and skilled nursing facilities throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. We specialize in serving older adults with complex medical conditions and co-occurring mental health disorders. Residents have the opportunity to work with individuals experiencing mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, neurocognitive disorders, personality disorders, chronic pain, grief, and adjustment-related concerns. Our clients represent diverse backgrounds in terms of age, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and physical and cognitive abilities.
The Direct Service experience consists primarily of individual psychotherapy (approximately 80%), with opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and exposure to long-term care systems. Residents receive both **individual and group supervision** and are trained within a supportive, competency-based environment that emphasizes progressive autonomy and professional development.
Training Model
The Sentience training model is best characterized as a Practitioner–Scientist framework grounded in the Pikes Peak Model for Professional Geropsychology. Within this model, Geropsychology Residents spend the majority of their training year providing evidence-based psychological services while developing competencies across assessment, intervention, consultation, ethics, professionalism, supervision, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Residents receive extensive training in evidence-based interventions including:
* Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
* CBT for Psychosis (CBTp)
* CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I)
* CBT for Chronic Pain (CBT-CP)
* Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)
* Motivational Interviewing (MI)
* Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
* Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
* Behavioral Activation
* Cognitive Processing Therapy concepts
* Trauma-informed care
* Geropsychology-specific interventions
Residents may also have opportunities to provide **telepsychology services**, helping expand access to behavioral healthcare for underserved older adults throughout Arizona.
Residency Structure
This is a **full-time (40 hours per week) residency designed to provide broad and intensive clinical training while supporting a healthy work-life balance. Residents have the flexibility to create their own weekly schedules, allowing them to balance facility visits, documentation, supervision, and personal responsibilities while meeting training expectations. Caseload expectations are 26 clients per week.
Residents receive:
* 40-hour per week residency
* Flexible scheduling with the ability to develop an individualized weekly schedule
* Paid Time Off (PTO)
* Paid sick leave
* Weekly individual supervision
* Weekly group supervision
* Regular didactic training
* Opportunities to attend work-sponsored continuing education trainings, workshops, and professional development events
* Exposure to interdisciplinary treatment teams across multiple levels of care
* Progressive clinical autonomy throughout the training year
Competency Expectations
Consistent with the Pikes Peak Model, residents are expected to demonstrate progressive competence across the core domains of professional geropsychology.
Assessment and Diagnosis
Residents develop competency in conducting comprehensive, developmentally informed psychological assessments that integrate medical, psychiatric, cognitive, functional, and psychosocial factors. They learn to assess suicide risk, self-neglect, abuse, cognitive decline, and decision-making capacity while formulating accurate diagnoses supported by clinical interviews, screening measures, collateral information, and thorough documentation.
Intervention
Residents provide individualized, evidence-based psychotherapy tailored to the unique needs of older adults living in long-term care settings. They develop sophisticated case conceptualizations, implement individualized treatment plans, and learn to adapt interventions for individuals experiencing cognitive impairment, communication deficits, chronic illness, sensory limitations, and physical disabilities. Throughout the year, residents are expected to demonstrate increasing independence in clinical decision-making while maintaining high standards of care.
Professionalism and Communication
Residents are expected to maintain timely, accurate, and legally defensible clinical documentation. They communicate professionally with supervisors, nursing staff, physicians, social workers, rehabilitation teams, administrators, and family members while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries and ethical standards.
Lifelong Learning and Supervision
Residents actively participate in weekly individual and group supervision, present cases thoughtfully, incorporate supervisory feedback into their clinical work, and engage in ongoing self-reflection regarding professional growth, countertransference, and clinical competence. Self-directed learning and continued professional development are emphasized throughout the residency.
Individual and Cultural Diversity
Sentience values culturally responsive, inclusive, and equitable psychological care. Residents are expected to demonstrate cultural humility and thoughtfully integrate clients' cultural identities, religious beliefs, socioeconomic experiences, gender identities, sexual orientations, disability status, and generational perspectives into assessment, treatment planning, and intervention.
Interdisciplinary Systems and Consultation
Residents work closely with interdisciplinary treatment teams within long-term care settings. They develop consultation skills through regular communication with physicians, nursing staff, rehabilitation professionals, social workers, case managers, and facility administrators while learning to advocate effectively for residents within complex healthcare systems.
Ethical, Legal, and Professional Standards
Residents are expected to practice in accordance with the APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct as well as geropsychology-specific ethical guidelines. Training includes issues related to informed consent, decisional capacity, guardianship, mandated reporting, risk assessment, documentation, confidentiality, and ethical practice within long-term care environments.
Professional Identity and Competence
Throughout the residency year, trainees progressively develop their identity as competent, ethical, and independent geropsychologists. By the completion of training, residents are expected to demonstrate readiness for independent practice through sound clinical judgment, effective consultation, ethical decision-making, and advocacy for older adults.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide an inclusive, supportive, and academically rigorous training environment that prepares future geropsychologists for independent clinical practice. We strive to develop psychologists who deliver ethical, culturally responsive, evidence-based care while becoming leaders and advocates for older adults within long-term care and community healthcare settings.
Through intensive supervision, interdisciplinary collaboration, flexible scheduling, evidence-based training, and ongoing professional development opportunities, Sentience Psychological Services is committed to preparing residents for successful and rewarding careers in geropsychology.
The Geropsychology Residency is a full-time, 40-hour-per-week training experience designed to provide extensive direct clinical services while ensuring adequate time for supervision, professional development, documentation, and case preparation. Residents are encouraged to create a weekly schedule that meets training requirements while promoting flexibility and work-life balance.
The anticipated distribution of training activities is as follows:
* 75% Direct Clinical Services (approximately 32 hours/week):** Individual psychotherapy with older adults residing in assisted living facilities, skilled nursing facilities, behavioral health units, and independent living communities. Residents will provide evidence-based interventions, complete clinical assessments, develop treatment plans, and participate in interdisciplinary treatment planning.
*15% Supervision and Didactics (approximately 4 hours/week):** Participation in scheduled individual supervision, group supervision, case consultation, and educational seminars. Residents are expected to actively engage in case presentations, clinical discussion, and the integration of supervisory feedback into their practice.
*15% Administrative and Professional Activities (approximately 4 hours/week):** Completion of clinical documentation, treatment planning, case preparation, review of medical records, interdisciplinary communication, outcome monitoring, professional reading, and other administrative responsibilities necessary to support high-quality clinical care.
This distribution is intended to maximize clinical learning while ensuring residents have protected time for thoughtful documentation, consultation, and professional growth. As residents develop increasing clinical competence and autonomy throughout the training year, they are expected to demonstrate efficiency in managing both their direct service responsibilities and administrative duties while maintaining the highest standards of ethical and evidence-based practice. This site offers individual and group supervision, as well as case conferences.
The Geropsychology Resident will have an opportunity to provide psychological interventions to older adults experiencing depression, anxiety, psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, pain, grief, neurocognitive disorders, and personality disorders. We provide training in Evidenced Based Therapies such as CBT for Psychosis, CBT for Insomnia, CBT for Chronic Pain, and Prolonged Exposure Therapy. The Geropsychology Residents may also have the opportunity to provide telepsychology services to increase the services for an already underserved population.
Our goal at Sentience is to provide an inclusive atmosphere to train ethical, culturally sensitive, independent Geropsychologists, who have the skills and knowledge to develop, implement, and evaluate services provided in Long Term Care.