Training Programs at Rose Hill

A comprehensive graduate, post-graduate, and professional training program in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy

Rose Hill Psychological Services is home to a comprehensive graduate, post-graduate, and professional training program in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. This program brings together the extensive experience and expertise of our founders with an illustrious faculty of domestic and international scholars to enrich the educational opportunities of an ever-growing group of motivated therapists-in-training and interested participants from the broader clinical community, established and in training.

Below is a brief description of our graduate, post-graduate, and professional training programs, followed by an overview of our general approach to training.

 
 

We Offer the Following Three Programs

  • Rose Hill offers a robust post-graduate training program for LMSWs and PhDs seeking supervised clinical experience to meet requirements for licensure. In addition to the post-graduate training curriculum outlined below, our postgrad program includes training in supervision and affords our trainees the opportunity to develop and facilitate educational activities.

    The Rose Hill postgraduate training program, including our postdoctoral fellowship program, is led by our co-founders, Dr. Vaia Tsolas and Dr. Michael Civin. Vaia Tsolas is a New York State licensed psychologist and psychoanalyst who holds faculty appointments at Albert Einstein College of Medicine as well as Columbia University, Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Michael Civin is a New York State licensed psychologist and psychoanalyst who has published, delivered papers, and taught both domestically and internationally. Collectively, Drs. Tsolas and Civin have over 50 years of clinical experience.

  • Our graduate-level social work (MSW) internship program was established in 2020 with a class of second year MSW students from graduate programs across New York City.

    The Rose Hill MSW internship program is led by SIFI-certified LCSW and LMSWs, with over a decade of combined experience in training. In addition to the post-graduate training curriculum, our MSW program includes weekly clinical and group supervision and monthly check-ins with the field supervisor and assigned mentors. The curriculum for our Fundamentals of Psychodynamic Theory and Technique seminar is developed with specific attention to the educational needs of our MSW interns, and interns also attend weekly case conference with the whole practice.

  • Rose Hill Psychological Services is recognized by the New York State Education Department as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists (#PSY-0053), psychoanalysts (#P-0047), and social workers (#SW-0619). New York State licensed clinicians who participate in our didactic training can earn continuing education credits. CEs are offered free of charge to all licensed Rose Hill staff and trainees; there is a small fee for participants from other organizations.

Our Goals and Objectives Are…

1) …to produce clinicians who demonstrate a deep understanding of psychodynamic theory and technique, with a focus on the skills of clinical listening and containment, through experiential learning in the form of direct clinical practice, supervision, and formal didactic training.

2) …to produce clinicians who are competent in assessing and treating patients a) with a variety of diagnoses, problems, and needs, and b) who are diverse in age, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, ability, language, and socioeconomic status.

Our Philosophy & Approach to Training

We focus on the fundamentals of psychodynamic theory to facilitate an understanding of what it means to listen and intervene clinically. Our trainees will learn to use the full range of their experience in the moment, to sit with the often uncomfortable feelings that these experiences evoke, and to make meaning from them. These listening skills are learned through clinical experience conveyed at three levels:

  1. Exposure to psychodynamic theory and its clinical applications through formal didactical training.

  2. Providing patient contact for trainees to work on putting theory into practice.

  3. Direct exposure through supervision to the style of clinical listening we teach. 

Through our expansive didactic curriculum our trainees will be introduced to an international array of presenters and speakers who bring unique perspectives to our work. The diverse range of racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and sexual identities held by our patients likewise contributes to the breadth of training we provide. Ultimately, we aim to develop our trainees’ ability to apply clinical listening and interpretation not only to their practice, but also to the sociopolitical concerns of our times.

Three-level Experiential Training Curriculum

1) Didactical Training

Theoretical and practice seminars are a core pillar of the post-graduate training program at Rose Hill. These seminars are held regularly throughout the week. Currently, seminars range from introductory to more advanced topics that cover topics such as, but not limited to, pain, psychosomatics, literature, psychoanalytic diagnosis, and introduction to psychodynamic theory.

2) Direct Clinical Services

Our trainees will begin receiving case assignments within their second week of training and continue to build their caseload with new assignments until reaching an average of 10 (MSW program), or 20-30 (postgrad programs) regularly scheduled sessions per week. The treatment of each new case will begin with assessment and diagnosis and will develop into long-term psychotherapy for the duration of the fellow’s training.

3) Supervision

Each trainee will receive regularly scheduled individual, group, and peer supervision. Individual supervision will be held face-to-face with one of our faculty for a minimum of 45 minutes each week. Supervisors are also responsible for reviewing and cosigning all clinical documentation via our practice management software.

Interested in Learning More?

If you are interested in applying to one of our training programs, email your CV and cover letter to

training@rhps.nyc or call (212) 221-4567