Postdoctoral Master of Science in Clinical Psychopharmacology

Program Brochure

Join the Next Cohort in September 2010 Click here for our Program Brochure and Application   We invite you to take the first class, Clinical Biochemistry, as a stand-alone CE course if you are not sure about applying for the master's program. Clinical Biochemistry Dates: September 11-12 & October 2-3, 2010 Fee: $395 • 24 hours CE credit This course covers cell structure and function, amino acids and proteins, and DNA, RNA and mutations. Taught by Dr.David Presti, a psychologist and molecular biologist, the complex content of the course is both accessible and engaging. Psychologists who take the class and pass the exam may transfer the course into the Master of Science program for academic credit, and tuition paid for the CE course will be applied to the tuition for the degree program. To register for this CE class, contact Continuing Education at Alliant: www.ce-psychology.com • 800.457.1273 • ce@alliant.edu

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.

Why should psychologists take psychopharmacology coursework if their state does not authorize psychologists to prescribe?

1. To improve your practice.
   
   The more you know about psychopharmacology, the better able you will be to answer patient questions regarding medication.
   
   The more you know about psychopharmacology, the better you can communicate with physicians, and the more referrals you are likely to get from physicians.
   
   
2. To support the efforts to gain prescription authority.
   
   It is unlikely that state legislatures will pass prescription authority legislation unless there are psychologists in their states who have gone through postdoctoral psychopharmacology programs.

Program Overview
 

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.

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 online distance learning via:

• Elluminate, an online class delivery site that brings the students and the instructor together for real-time communication using video and audio capabilities at the students desktop. 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.
  
  

Psychopharmacology in the News