Online IOP for College Students and Emerging Adults in MA
Fellowship for Psychiatrists & Psychologists
Expand your expertise through the Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program and Fellowship in Hospital-Based Psychotherapy for psychiatrists and psychologists.
We offer an Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program and Fellowship in Hospital-Based Psychotherapy for both psychiatrists (post-residency) and psychologists (postdoctoral). Psychiatrists are also eligible to apply for a two-year Fellowship. Psychology Fellows are eligible for licensure after completion of the first 24 months of the postdoctoral Fellowship.
Our psychoanalytic training program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPEinc) and is an approved institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA). This program is part of the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center. Our training includes a systems perspective, emphasizing individual development across the lifespan from within familial and cultural contexts. Fellows learn to work with disturbances in patients’ interpersonal and treatment contexts that reflect and illuminate patients’ intrapsychic struggles, fostering a more integrative approach while developing leadership skills and consulting skills.
The Fellowship Includes Training In:
- Adult psychoanalysis
- Psychoanalytic psychotherapy
- A hospital-based systems perspective
- Family therapy work
- Psychological testing (for psychologists)
- Psychodynamic psychopharmacology (for psychiatrists)
- Work within a therapeutic community program, where learning is focused on the application of psychoanalytic understanding to group phenomena, and on the development of leadership skills and consulting skills
Fellows Benefit From:
- Clinical supervision
- Weekly didactic seminars by a distinguished faculty from Riggs, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, and other prestigious institutions
- Financial support for two years (300 hours) of personal analysis
- Opportunities to engage in clinical research related to complex mental illness
- Support for external education and conference attendance, and use of the superb Riggs on-site library and library services
- Opportunity to be candidate members of APsA and the IPA
- Recognition as a graduate psychoanalyst from an APsA-approved member institute following completion of the Fellowship
- Eligibility to be full clinical-psychoanalyst member of APsA and the IPA following graduation
- Eligibility to be board certified as psychoanalysts following graduation (either by the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology or the American Board of Psychoanalysis)
Our Program Prepares Fellows To:
- Work effectively with patients with complex psychiatric difficulties
- Understand a psychodynamic systems perspective in a therapeutic community program
- Teach and supervise others
- Contribute to the body of knowledge about disturbed development and its treatment
Satisfactory completion of the first two years of the Austen Riggs Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program and Fellowship in Hospital-Based Psychotherapy meets postdoctoral supervised practice requirements for licensure in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for Psychology Fellows.
Fellows are evaluated annually by supervisors (written and oral report) and throughout the academic year by individual instructors (written report).
Prerequisites
- Prerequisites for psychiatry applicants include completion of a psychiatric residency.
- Psychology applicants must have a doctoral degree in psychology from an APA-accredited program and a year of clinical internship at an APA-accredited or APPIC-listed site.
- In addition, three letters of recommendation and a personal statement are required.
Select applicants will be invited to Riggs for in-person interviews. The Austen Riggs Center provides an excellent and competitive salary and benefits package, including support for two years of personal psychoanalysis.
Our psychoanalytic training program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPEinc) and is an approved institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA).
Frequently Asked Questions
A series of videos with our training directors answering questions about the Fellowship.
What is the Austen Riggs Center Fellowship and who is it for?
How is the Fellowship different from other analytic training programs?
What is the theoretical orientation of the Austen Riggs Center?
What are Fellows' core responsibilities?
What are the primary training opportunities afforded to the Fellows?
What does a typical week look like for a Fellow?
How long does it take to complete the Fellowship?
What does the trajectory of the four years look like for Fellows?
How are Fellows evaluated?
How does the Fellowship differ for psychiatrists and psychologists?
What are some of the key benefits Fellows enjoy?
What scholarly work do Fellows engage in?
What does the Fellowship prepare Fellows for in their professional lives post-graduation?
What types of patients would the Fellows see?
What is the treatment environment like at Riggs for Fellows?
What is life like in the Berkshires for Fellows?
Are there things trainees can do to become more competitive for the Fellowship?
What is the application and interview process for prospective Fellows?
Application Process
Applications are accepted year-round for psychiatrists and are due by December 1 for psychologists.
Apply Now
Fellowship Curriculum
In addition to carrying out intensive individual psychotherapy, group consultation, family treatment, and therapeutic community work, the Fellows participate in case conferences and didactic seminars addressing psychopathology, clinical theory and technique, developmental theory and research, psychopathology, history of psychoanalysis, and group and family processes.
Individual Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Clinical Assessment
Fellows engage in intensive and often long-term, four-times-weekly psychotherapy with patients who have been labeled treatment-resistant. Fellows are assigned three psychotherapy patients, with an option for a fourth, and receive weekly clinical supervision with an experienced psychotherapist per case.
Team Meetings
As members of multidisciplinary teams, Fellows learn to integrate their work with the perspectives of other disciplines as they help organize their patients’ treatment.
Case Conference
Clinical case conferences are a central aspect of the psychoanalytic training experience at Riggs and take place twice a week. These two-hour meetings offer space for the clinical staff to integrate assessments and develop a psychodynamic understanding of unconscious processes, transference, countertransference paradigms, conflicts, and defenses. Further integration occurs in team and clinical staff meetings.
Group and Family Consultation
Family therapy work and group consultation are important elements of treatment at Riggs. Learning to consult to families, small groups, large groups, and organizations are skills acquired by Fellows, who work as co-therapists with the patient’s social worker and become consultants to one or more groups in the therapeutic community.
Additional Curriculum Elements
Fellows also meet regularly as a group with the Medical Director to discuss clinical and systems issues. Lectures by internationally respected clinicians and theoreticians are held regularly. Fellows may also choose elective training in psychodynamic research and organizational consultation.
Faculty
Our faculty is a robust group that includes experts and thought leaders in psychoanalytic theory and practice.
Medical Staff
Steven Ackerman, PhD
Michael Blake, PsyD
Marilyn Charles, PhD
Heather Churchill, PsyD
Sandra Delgado, PsyD
Donna Elmendorf, PhD
Heather Forouhar Graff, MD
M. Gerard Fromm, PhD
Kathryn Gallagher, PhD
Samar Habl, MD
Nicholas A. Holliday, MD
Daniel Knauss, PsyD
Megan Kolano, PsyD
Kristin L. McLaughlin, PhD
David Mintz, MD
Cathleen Morey, PhD, LICSW
Margaret Parish, PhD
Eric M. Plakun, MD
Molly Reider, LCSW
Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD
David Rosenthal, LICSW
Edward R. Shapiro, MD
Jennifer L. Stevens, PhD
Jane G. Tillman, PhD
S. Daltrey Turner, LICSW
Beth Turner, LICSW
André Zandoná, LICSW
Michael Blake, PsyD
Marilyn Charles, PhD
Heather Churchill, PsyD
Sandra Delgado, PsyD
Donna Elmendorf, PhD
Heather Forouhar Graff, MD
M. Gerard Fromm, PhD
Kathryn Gallagher, PhD
Samar Habl, MD
Nicholas A. Holliday, MD
Daniel Knauss, PsyD
Megan Kolano, PsyD
Kristin L. McLaughlin, PhD
David Mintz, MD
Cathleen Morey, PhD, LICSW
Margaret Parish, PhD
Eric M. Plakun, MD
Molly Reider, LCSW
Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD
David Rosenthal, LICSW
Edward R. Shapiro, MD
Jennifer L. Stevens, PhD
Jane G. Tillman, PhD
S. Daltrey Turner, LICSW
Beth Turner, LICSW
André Zandoná, LICSW
Adjunct Faculty
Barri Belnap, MD
Christine Burbank, MSW, LICSW
A. Jill Clemence, PhD
Steven Cooper, PhD
Darlene Bregman Ehrenberg, PhD
Melinda Gellman, PhD
Claudia M. Gold, MD
Jesse A. Goodman, MD
Jay Greenberg, PhD
Frank Lachmann, PhD
Lucy LaFarge, MD
Nancy McWilliams, PhD
Jack A. Miller, MD
John Miner, MD
David Olds, MD
Craig Piers, PhD
Ellen Rees, MD
Anne Rocheleau, PhD
Marie G. Rudden, MD
Hannah Wallerstein, PhD
Elizabeth F. Weinberg, MD
Lyn Yonack, LICSW
Joanne Yurman, PhD
Christine Burbank, MSW, LICSW
A. Jill Clemence, PhD
Steven Cooper, PhD
Darlene Bregman Ehrenberg, PhD
Melinda Gellman, PhD
Claudia M. Gold, MD
Jesse A. Goodman, MD
Jay Greenberg, PhD
Frank Lachmann, PhD
Lucy LaFarge, MD
Nancy McWilliams, PhD
Jack A. Miller, MD
John Miner, MD
David Olds, MD
Craig Piers, PhD
Ellen Rees, MD
Anne Rocheleau, PhD
Marie G. Rudden, MD
Hannah Wallerstein, PhD
Elizabeth F. Weinberg, MD
Lyn Yonack, LICSW
Joanne Yurman, PhD
Distinguished Faculty in the Erikson Institute
Senior Erikson Scholar
Senior Erikson Scholar Emeritus
Additional Information
We have established the following contact protocols regarding Due Process and Complaints pertaining to the Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program and Fellowship in Hospital-Based Psychotherapy.
Due Process
A Due Process procedure is available to all Fellows from the director of training. For additional information on the policy or the Fellowship, contact director of training Daniel Knauss, PhD, at daniel.knauss@austenriggs.net or 413.931.5304.
Complaints
Formal complaints about the professional conduct of Fellows or Full Faculty of the Erikson Institute may be made by writing or calling: Jane G. Tillman, PhD, ABPP, Evelyn Stefansson Nef Director of the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center, 25 Main Street Stockbridge, MA 01262 or 413.931.5213.
What Former Fellows & Scholars Have to Say
Related Resources
News
Riggs Training Program and Fellowship Earns Approved Institute of APsA Designation
October 15, 2024
Our psychoanalytic training program is now an approved institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA).
Resource
Overview of the Fellowship Program
June 10, 2022
Megan Kolano, PsyD, gives an overview of the Fellowship Program at the Austen Riggs Center.
Resource