Postdoctoral Master of Science in Clinical Psychopharmacology

Next Cohort Begins January 2009 Scroll down on this page for more information or click here for our Program Brochure and Application   We at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University are proud of having created the nation’s first and most successful Postdoctoral Master of Science Program in Clinical Psychopharmacology.   Since the program’s inception in 1998, our students and graduates, as well as state and national professional organizations, look to us as leaders in the field. For example, we were selected by APA Division 18 (Psychologists in Public Service) to work with them in providing training in psychopharmacology for 100 public service psychologists across the United States. Over 400 psychologists in 32 states have graduated from or are currently enrolled in our program.

Dr. John Bolter, CSPP Psychopharmacology program graduate and program director at the Louisiana site, writes the first prescription ever to be written by a state licensed psychologist.

Program Overview
 

The overall goals of the program are to educate practicing psychologists to work collaboratively with other health care professionals who prescribe medication, and to integrate medication and its management in the biopsychosocial treatment of mental disorders. The program provides:

• In-depth, systematic training in the scientific foundations and clinical applications of psychopharmacology
• A postdoctoral Master of Science degree
• APA-approved Continuing Education credit for most courses

Program Objectives
 

This program will prepare psychologists to:

1. Provide continuity of care within the changing health care delivery system;
2. Function effectively within multidisciplinary health care settings, using the psychological model of pharmacotherapy to integrate psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions for psychological and substance abuse disorders;
3. Continually update their knowledge of current developments in the biological sciences that affect the mental health field; and
4. Prescribe safely and effectively in states and Federal agencies that allow psychologists to do so.

Teaching Methodologies

All of the program’s classes are delivered through a combination of in-person and distance learning:

• Videoconferencing that brings the students and the instructor together for face-to-face, real-time communication using video and audio equipment to see and hear each other. The instructor and the students, although separated by geographical distance, actively participate and interact.
• Moodle, an e-Education platform, on which course materials such as presentation slides, instructors’ class notes, exam study guides, take home exams and articles or other readings are posted for students to access before, during and after each class.