Purpose
The goal of the Postdoctoral MHSAS Fellowship Program is to encourage and facilitate the postdoctoral development of psychologists who maintain a professional focus on research related to mental health and substance abuse services for ethnic minorities. The program seeks to accomplish the following objectives:
- Improve the research, clinical, and policy base for culturally competent mental health and substance abuse
- Increase the number of ethnic minority mental health and substance abuse service clinicians, researchers, and policy-makers focusing on ethnic minority populations, and
- Increase knowledge and awareness of issue related to ethnic minority mental health and substance abuse treatment.
About the Minority Fellowship Program
The American Psychological Association MFP's mission is to increase the knowledge of, and research related to ethnic minority mental health and to improve the quality of mental health and substance abuse services delivered to ethnic minority populations. We do this by providing financial support, professional development activities, and professional guidance to students pursuing doctoral degrees in psychology. Our mission is consistent with Health People 2010, the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, and other federal initiatives to reduce health disparities.
About the MFP Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Postdoctoral Program
Funded by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the MFP has created the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services postdoctoral fellowship to support the training of early career doctoral recipients who have primary interests in research, delivery of services, or policy related to substance abuse and its relationship to the mental health or the psychological well-being of ethnic minorities.
An MFP fellowship is more than a simple scholarship that only provides financial support. An MFP fellowship is a professional appointment into a community of students and professionals who hold similar professional interests. Indeed, the MFP provides stipends, or living allowances, to individuals who hold the fellowships. However, we also facilitate professional development and provide professional guidance with the aim of moving our recipients towards high achievement in areas related to ethnic minority mental health research, services, or policy.
Basic Eligibility
- Applicants must be American citizens or permanent resident aliens with an alien registration card (I-151 or I-551). Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible.
- A conferred doctoral degree in psychology in the last five years
- The ability to demonstrate support from an established sponsor
- African American, Alaskan Native, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students are especially encouraged to apply.
MFP Benefits
- Financial Support (2 years maximum. Must be renewed annually)
- A small budget for travel and related expenses
- Invitation to MFP's annual workshop for mentors and fellows
- Opportunities for mentoring and networking with leading ethnic minority psychologists
- Access to information and resources
- Lifetime network of professional association with psychologists interested in ethnic minority mental health and services
How to Apply
Download the application instructions (PDF format). They are also available when you click on Help in the online application form.
Apply for this fellowship online.
(Note: Sponsor instructions and recommender instructions will be available on their respective help pages in the online system.)
The following items must be completed and submitted online:
- Applicant Packet
- Sponsor Packet
- 3 Recommendation Letters and Forms (including sponsors)
Applications are accepted in the fall and must be submitted by January 15 of the year in which support is being sought. For more information, contact:
APA/MFP
Postdoctoral MHSAS Application
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: (202) 336-6127
Fax: (202) 336-6012
E-mail: MFP
Frequently Asked Questions about the MHSAS Postdoctoral Fellowship
Q: Do I have to be an ethnic minority to apply for the fellowship?
A: No, you can apply as long as you are a US Citizen or Permanent Resident.
Q: Do I need to send my undergraduate transcripts?
A: For the postdoctoral application, it is most important that you send your graduate transcripts, so have your doctoral school send those. The undergraduate ones are unnecessary.
Q: How long does the fellowship last?
A: Each Fellow is provided a stipend for up to 2 years. However, stipend support for two years is provisional and must be renewed each year. Reappointment is contingent upon the satisfactory academic progress of the Fellow and continued support from our federal funding agency. Beyond the 2 years of stipend support, Fellows are expected to maintain a career-long relationship with the MFP for professional development, guidance, and association.
Q: How much is the stipend?
A: The stipend coming directly from the MFP varies each year and is based on levels set by SAMHSA for postdoctoral funding. The MFP also tries to ensure the financial support of it Fellows by requesting various types of "in-kind" support such as, health insurance, research, office space, research supplies, etc. from the universities at which they are training.
Q: How do Fellows renew their appointments?
A: Each Fellow currently receiving a stipend must complete a progress report and return it to the MFP in January. Progress reports are reviewed by the MFP Training Advisory Committee in March and reappointment decisions are announced in April.
Q: If I receive funding from another federally-funded training grant, may I also accept funding from the DPN?
A: No. Individuals supported by other federal training grants are not eligible for support from the DPN.
Q: What if I receive funding from a private foundation, the state, or the university?
A: Please contact our office for guidance. Funding eligibility in these instances have to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Q: What are the criteria used to select Fellows?
A: Commitment to a career in ethnic minority mental health service delivery, research, or policy
- Qualifications of the sponsor
- Fit between career goals and training environment selected
- Merit of the training proposal
- Potential demonstrated through accomplishments and goals
- Appropriateness to program goal
Q: When are selections announced?
A: The MFP Training Advisory Committee meets in March to review applications. Awards are announced in April. Students awarded fellowships may expect to begin receiving support between July and September, depending on the circumstances.
Q: I could not find information in the application instructions about an example of an “established sponsor.” I thought I had to find a company or organization that would sponsor my funding.
A: The sponsor would be the individual the applicant will be working with or the person overseeing that person’s research at the worksite. Look in the instructions under Definition of Sponsor.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Online Application System
Q: I am having trouble logging in. Can you please reset my password and question?
I forgot my password.
I forgot my login, password and security information.
A: Have you tried the: I forgot my password method on the Registration screen? If so, are you unable to login because you forgot your password and also forgot your password prompt question? If so, please email me back and let me know as we will need some additional information from you in order to reset both the login and the password.
If you are unable to log in using the challenge question to reset your password you will need to:
1. Send us an email FROM the email account you registered with and
2. Provide additional personal information such as birthday, street address, educational background (schools/dates) and one other piece of information
Q: I have submitted my application but one of my recommenders did not receive the email to complete the form what should I do?
A: You can log back into your application and resend the email to your recommender even after you have submitted your application.
Q: I registered and filled out the recommender information and clicked Send Email and my recommender has not received the link.
A: If you have not yet submitted your application you can go back into the Recommendations section and request that the email be Resent to the recommenders. Also advise them to have their Recommenders turn off any filters that might prevent them from getting emails from APA or auto generated emails. The link will also be copied to you and you may forward that link to the recommender, but the email entered for the recommender on the form must be used for the recommender to log on.
Q: The system will not let me re-register, it says there is already an applicant under my email address.
A: You do not need to re-register. You need to go to the left-hand side of the screen and just log in with the email and password you used when first logging on. We are not allowing people to register more than once as that was part of the problem with the wrong application coming up.
Other MFP Fellowships (Note: Applicants may apply to only one of the MFP fellowships)
The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Predoctoral Fellowship is aimed at those pursuing doctoral degrees in clinical, counseling, and school psychology, or other mental health services areas. Deadline January 15th
The Diversity Program in Neuroscience Fellowship is geared to those pursuing careers in neuroscience. Predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships are offered. Doctoral students in psychology or any life science discipline related to neuroscience may apply. Deadline January 15th