FICH Doctoral Fellowship Program 2022-2023

The Chicago Center for Family Health (CCFH) and Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center offer a one-year full-time fellowship beginning September 1, 2022.  (An earlier start date is possible.)

CCFH, founded in 1991 by Co-Directors, John Rolland, M.D. and Froma Walsh, Ph.D., is internationally recognized as one of the foremost family systems-oriented training institutes. CCFH is renowned for its innovative community-based, resilience-oriented practice model to strengthen families at risk, in crisis, or facing persistent life challenges. It provides state-of-the-art post-graduate training in family therapy and family systems-based health care in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of specialists.

The Fellowship, in its twenty-fifth year, has generated leaders in the field of family-oriented integrated healthcare. Former Fellows have gone on to excel in highly productive careers in academic, behavioral science director, training, research, and practice positions nationwide and in contributions to the field through publications, presentations, and emerging leadership in national organizations (CFHA, AAMFT, and AFTA).

The primary clinical placement is with Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center Family Practice, which has a longstanding reputation of supporting family and psychosocial aspects of health care within an integrated care framework. Other partnering institutions for secondary placement have included: University of Chicago Kovler Diabetes Center and Division of Integrative Medicine, Comprehensive Cancer Centers and risk-screening programs, the MS Society of Illinois, and Gilda’s Club Chicago.

Dr. John Rolland (r) meeting with 2015-16 fellows Limor Gildenblatt (l) and Hernan Barenboim (c)

The Fellowship provides a rich learning experience in collaborative care/integrated practice and work with psychosocial and relational challenges of chronic or life-threatening illness or disability. Trainees gain state-of-the-art practice knowledge and expertise, using family, couples, group/multi-family group and individual modalities. Led by John Rolland, M.D., Steven Zuckerman, PhD, and Froma Walsh, PhD, CCFH provides seminars, workshops, and individual, group, and on-site placement supervision. Responsibilities include participation in multidisciplinary teaching conferences, teaching residents and medical students about the integration of family systems approaches in a variety of health care settings, and collaboration with healthcare providers. Incoming Fellows will be involved in a Primary Care Psychosocial/Counseling Track for family practice residents at Illinois Masonic. Fellows rotate through specialty services including newborn, memory disorders, and in-patient care, and may develop or join an ongoing clinical research project related to families and health care.

Appropriate candidates include both post-doctoral mental health professionals and Ph.D. candidates enrolled in doctoral programs in family therapy who seek to satisfy their internship requirement. Applicants should have a strong career development interest in the integration of family systems approaches in health care.

Download our Fellowship Flyer for a printable copy of the announcement, and read an invited paper describing the Center’s philosophy and programs in Families, Illness, and Collaborative Healthcare.

Testimonials From Previous Fellows