Post-Doctoral Residency ​and Psychotherapist Training

For those with a Ph.D. or a Psy.D. interested in creating their own private practice...

Dr. Jordan offers an 12 month Post-Doctoral Residency program. During this time you will learn the essential skills to build and maintain a private fee-for-service practice. Dr. Jordan will provide weekly consultation on your cases as well as share her skills in practice building and networking. The residency is designed to help you enrich your understanding of psychodynamic theory, attachment research and the neurobiology of psychotherapy through recommended readings, training videos and workshops.

The Post-Doctoral Residency is structured to allow you to build your own practice without incurring any overhead. This way you can begin your business debt-free. It is recommended that you have an additional source of income during the first 4 months of this residency while you build your clientele. The average earnings for the 2022-2023 residents were $85,000 for the 121 month contract. Earnings vary depending on client availability but are either typically consistent with, or greater than, this figure.

Dr. Jordan has previously served on the Board of Examiners of Psychologists as a Clinical Psychology Examiner and as such provides support throughout the licensure process to assist Post-Doctoral Residents licensing . Dr. Jordan has also served on the American Board of Professional Psychology as an ABPP Examiner in the area of Clinical Psychology, and can provide mentoring for this credentialing process as well (for qualified applicants).

If you are interested in discussing additional details about the Post-Doctoral Residency training program, please email Dr. Jordan a copy of your current vitae and a letter of interest describing your professional goals. Positions are available on a year-round basis, space permitting.

Description of Post-Doctoral Training Program:

Dr. Jordan is deeply committed to the process of training psychologists in the areas of psychodynamic psychotherapy, interpersonal neurobiology and attachment theory. This is an integral part of her practice and as such she has dedicated at least one full-time position in her practice each year for a trainee. Dr. Jordan’s goal is to provide a comprehensive, structured, multifaceted training that will allow a post-doctoral resident to develop the confidence to create his or her own fee for service practice during the training year. Once a post-doctoral resident has completed their training the clients that they currently hold on their caseload “leave” with them and are the basis for the new practice of the newly licensed psychologist.

Trainees are selected on the basis of education and experience as well as interpersonal “fit”. Decisions are irrespective to age, gender, race, religion, culture, national affiliation, disabilities, language, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation or gender identity. Applicants are selected each year based on submitted CV’s, letters of personal interest/personal statements, an initial phone interview and an in-person interview. All candidates must come from an APA-accredited internship and must hold a PhD in either Clinical or Counseling psychology. Applicants must supply copies of their diploma as well as certificates of completion from the APA-accredited internship prior to starting the Post-Doctoral Residency.

Formal Training Hours

  • Weekly individual clinical supervision: 1 hr
  • Weekly group supervision: 1 hr
  • Weekly PACT/couple consultation group: 1 hr
  • Quarterly PACT/couples consultation with PACT faculty via web: 1 hr

Post-doctoral residents are expected to work 40 hours/week. This can be a combination of face-to-face client care as well as marketing, practice management and training. Post-doctoral residents wanting to be trained in the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy are required to attend the Level 1 PACT training during their post-doctoral year. These trainings are provided by the PACT Institute under the direction of Dr. Stan Tatkin.

The above are only the routinely scheduled training hours. Additional training may be scheduled and required. Client loads range from 10-20 clients per week in part due to the discretion of the clinician and in part due to available clients being referred.

Clients available to see come from greater Austin Metropolitan area from various socioeconomic, racial, religious, cultural and educational backgrounds as well as various sexual orientations and gender identifications. Ages range from 17 to 75. Clients are fee for service with fees set on current compensation averages in Austin (currently $150-$180/hr). Post-Doctoral Residents have access to Dr. Jordan 24/7 in the event of a client crisis or emergency. Should any type of emergency occur Post-Doctoral Residents are REQUIRED to notify Dr. Jordan immediately and follow her directions in handling the crisis.

Skills taught:

  1. Integration of science and practice utilizing recent research in the fields of interpersonal neurobiology, attachment, communication, social psychology, social anthropology, developmental psychology, neuropsychology, primatology, biology, chemistry and evolutionary psychology.
  2. Development and maintenance of rapport, even with difficult clients.
  3. Psychoanalytic and DSM-V diagnostics including differential diagnoses.
  4. Ruling out medical conditions that can present as psychological difficulties.
  5. Identifying and addressing cultural issues that impact psychotherapy work.
  6. Managing crises with clients after hours.
  7. Psychodynamic psychotherapy including work with transference, counter-transference, enactments, projections, projective identifications, dream interpretation and various defense mechanisms.
  8. Use of interpersonal neurobiology in psychotherapy.
  9. Use of attachment theory in psychotherapy.
  10. Use of appropriate self-disclosure in psychotherapy.
  11. Use of somatic/implicit responses to clients to inform therapy work.
  12. Managing flight-risk patients, terminations and acting out clients.
  13. Learning how to set appropriate boundaries for self-care to prevent burn out.
  14. Establishing boundaries of professional competency and knowing when to seek additional consultation and/or supervision or refer a case elsewhere.
  15. Understanding professional conduct, ethics, law and related standards for the practice of psychology in Texas.
  16. Issues of cultural and individual diversity relevant to psychotherapy for individuals and couples.
  17. Using brief psychological assessments to launch an individual therapy to include MMPI-2 advanced interpretation skills and report writing skills.
  18. Using assessments to track progress in individual and couples therapy.
  19. How to use videotaping with the PACT model of couples therapy to enhance learning.
  20. How to establish and maintain professional relationships across discipline such as Medicine, Physical and Occupational Therapy.
  21. How to establish and maintain professional relationships within the mental health field including social work, licensed professional counsellors, clergy, life coaches, psychiatrists and other psychologists.
  22. How to identify local, state and national organizations that can provide peer support, opportunities for consultation or supervision and professional enrichment.
  23. How to market effectively for a fee-for-service practice.
  24. Basic private practice management skills including software, basic options for setting up the legal organization of a practice (i.e. S-corp, C-corp), accounting and payment options, management of electronic or paper files and creating essential documentation such as consents for treatment.

Assessment: These skills are assessed after the first six months of training and then again at the conclusion of the Post-Doctoral Residency (see evaluation form attached). In order for a Post-Doctoral Resident to successfully complete the training program s/he must show proficiency in all of these skills at a level of at least 75% (see Post-Doctoral Residency Evaluation Form). If the initial assessment at 6 months identifies areas that fall below 50% the Post-Doctoral Resident will be placed on an intensified supervision schedule (90 additional minutes of individual supervision combined with review of no less than 4 videotaped sessions per week). They will then be re-tested in 8 weeks.

Required Reading:

  1. Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Nancy McWilliams
  2. 101 Defenses
  3. Psychological Assessment with the MMPI-2, Friedman, Lewak, Nichols, Webb
  4. In Our Client’s Shoes, Steven Finn
  5. The Personality Disorders Through the Lens of Attachment Theory Neurbiological Development of the Self, James Masterson, Ed.
  6. Love and War in Intimate Relationships, Stan Tatkin
  7. Your Brain on Love, Stan Tatkin
  8. The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation, Stephen Porges
  9. How People Change: Relationships and Neuroplasticity in Psychotherapy, Daniel J. Siegel

Labeling of Oneself in the Post-Doctoral Residency Training Period: All Post-Doctoral Residents must identify themselves by this label and ONLY this label during the period of employment and training. Any time that the name of a Post-Doctoral Resident appears it MUST be followed by the exact wording “supervised by Krista Jordan, Ph.D., ABPP”. This applies to all marketing materials including websites, brochures, business cards, etc. When communicating orally with ANYONE who has not yet been informed of your post-doctoral status you must inform them orally that you are being supervised by Dr. Jordan. Clients must sign the Post-Doctoral Residency Information, Acceptance and Consent form (see attached).

Process for Grievances: If you have a complaint with Dr. Jordan you have the following avenues of recourse–

  1. Approach Dr. Jordan directly.
  2. Request a meeting with any licensed psychologist in good standing as well as Dr. Jordan for a peer review of the issue (Dr. Jordan has agreed in advance to this procedure for all trainees and the trainee has the full freedom to select the licensed psychologist).
  3. Contact the Texas State Board of Examiners.
  4. Contact the American Board of Professional Psychologists.

Please note that there is a policy of non-retaliation that is on file and signed by Dr. Jordan in the event that you make a complaint against her (see Forms section in the Manual for Post-Doctoral Residency).

Manual for Post-Doctoral Residency: A copy of the post-doctoral residency manual can be shared with you via email upon request.