Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Welcomes Record Numbers of Behavioral Health Trainees
Along with six incoming Psychiatry fellows and two Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics fellows, CHLA’s Department of Psychology is welcoming 19 new Clinical-Child Psychology fellows—chosen from a record 108 applications—to its 2025-2026 class of behavioral health trainees. CHLA also welcomed 10 new Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology interns into its program, selected from 250 applications.
“Our psychology fellowship program matched the highest number of first-year incoming fellows we have ever had, and we filled every spot in our internship program,” says Ashish Buttan, BDS, MBA, Executive Director of the Behavioral Health Institute.
Importantly, this and all psychology internships and fellowships at CHLA are accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). In addition, CHLA’s psychology fellowship is distinguished by its intensive nature and the opportunity to obtain in-depth experience to enhance clinical practice skills.
“CHLA offers incredible training,” says Anya Griffin, PhD, Director of Psychology, Co-Director of the Behavioral Health Institute, and an alumna of CHLA’s psychology internship. “Our psychologists are dedicated to teaching and training the next generation of practitioners. Frequently, the best candidates had their training here at CHLA, which demonstrates the excellence of our training program.”
The Behavioral Health Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is dedicated to training researchers and clinicians who will shape the future of behavioral health care for children and adolescents.The robust class of trainees makes CHLA’s behavioral training programs highly sought after by top candidates across the country. Here is a brief look at these programs, including two newly added fellowship tracks in psychology.
Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology Internship
The APA-accredited Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology Internship provides doctoral training in psychological assessment, treatment/therapy, interdisciplinary consultation, and community involvement. Interns rotate through three concurrent 12-month placements, including one specialty track rotation:
- Child/Family Therapy Program
- Child and Adolescent Assessment Program
- Subspecialty training in Pediatric Psychology, Early Childhood, Assessment, Consultation, and Evaluation, Project HEAL Trauma Psychology, or Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
“Our interns receive a comprehensive training experience,” says Amy E. West, PhD, ABPP, Director of the Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology Internship at CHLA and Associate Director for Education, Research, and Mentorship in the Department of Psychology. “Our patients are clinically, psychosocially, and developmentally complex, and that makes us uniquely positioned to offer rigorous training in child and adolescent psychology.”
Clinical-Child Psychology Fellowship
This 25-year-old APA-accredited postdoctoral psychology fellowship is a one-year, intensive clinical program for child and adolescent psychologists. Fellows rotate through inpatient hospital units, outpatient medical and mental health clinics, and field-based sites including community clinics, schools, homeless shelters, and primary care clinics.
“The training program’s clinical focus and the sites chosen for clinical training provide rich and advanced opportunities to specialize in child and adolescent mental health working with underserved and high-risk children and families,” says Sara Sherer, PhD, MACM, Director of the Clinical-Child Psychology Fellowship at CHLA. “One of the fellowship’s strengths is that it consists of six tracks that give fellows opportunities to subspecialize and further refine the focus of their training.”
The fellowship offers the following tracks:
- Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
- Child and Family Community Psychology
- Early Childhood Mental Health
- Pediatric Psychology
- Trauma Psychology
- Combined Early Childhood and Pediatric Psychology
Consultation-Liaison and Emergency Department Psychology Fellow
This summer, CHLA is launching a new Consultation-Liaison Psychology Fellowship rotation within the Clinical-Child Psychology Fellowship Program. This fellow will provide mental health assessments and psychological interventions on inpatient units and in the Emergency Department, while working within the Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison team—including psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers, and nursing staff.
“The youth mental health crisis permeates multiple areas,” Dr. Griffin says. “We are seeing an increase in the need for behavioral health consultation, liaison, and intervention resources. It is a unique area of skills and requires specialized training. Our fellows are with us on the front lines, embedded within our medical teams and providing access to care to our most vulnerable kids.”
The National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement Psychology Fellows
This new opportunity within the Clinical-Child Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship is offered through the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement. This unique rotation will prepare psychologists to be leaders in the field and to address the impact of crisis and loss in the lives of children at both the systems level and in clinical and community settings. The program’s first fellow is starting Sept. 1.
Headquartered at CHLA, the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement provides onsite and virtual consultation and technical assistance to school administrators, school mental health professionals, and other educators during and after crisis events, such as natural disasters, school shootings, and more.
This unique opportunity, directed by Karen Rogers, PhD, will enable fellows to develop expertise in organizational systems-oriented crisis support, curriculum development, school consultation, clinical teaching, and more. Fellows will also provide mental health services focused on the impact of grief and trauma.
Pediatric Neuropsychology Fellowship
CHLA is among a handful of centers in the country offering formal training in pediatric neuropsychology. The two-year graduate-level program—which prepares fellows for attaining Board certification through the American Board of Professional Psychology and the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology—has accepted its second fellow for the 2025-2027 training cycle.
Neuropsychology fellows at CHLA participate in rich clinical training rotations, including programs in the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute and the Neurological Institute. “This program provides advanced training for neuropsychology fellows, who get in-depth experience while they are embedded in these different areas, gaining exposure to complex patients,” says Dr. West.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship
In addition, CHLA adds six senior child and adolescent psychiatry fellows each year to its outpatient behavioral health clinics. The two-year post-graduate fellowship, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), is co-sponsored by the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Los Angeles General Medical Center, and has long collaborated with CHLA across sites for training and patient care.
“Our fellows are thrilled to work in a place where they can help children and adolescents from a wide variety of backgrounds lead lives of freedom and value, even amid adversity and illness,” says Christopher Snowdy, MD, Program Director of the Psychiatry Fellowship.
Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship
CHLA will also welcome two new fellows for its Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship, a three-year, post-graduate-level program accredited by ACGME. Fellows provide evidence-based, biopsychosocial care for children with developmental-behavioral issues, working with a culturally and linguistically diverse population and conducting clinical care, research, teaching, and advocacy. The program is led by Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Chief Douglas Vanderbilt, MD, MS, MBA.
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