Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Residency Program

Program Mission

The mission of the San Francisco VA (SFVA) Nurse Practitioner (NP) Residency programs is to provide a robust one-year post-graduate training period for Primary Care and Mental Health nurse practitioners using Veteran-centric clinical and didactic learning experiences to increase competence and confidence for NP practice. The SFVA NP Residency (NPR) training programs support learners to work in and lead interprofessional teams delivering quality, patient-centered, team-based care to our nation’s Veterans. 

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Statement  

 As a health care system, the San Francisco VA and its training programs strive to support a learning environment that is diverse, inclusive, and equitable for all trainees and staff, including those who identify with one or more groups that are underrepresented in the health professions. We aim to recruit and retain trainees and faculty from diverse backgrounds and to support a learning environment that welcomes, honors, and respects the identities of patients, trainees, faculty, and staff through continuous dedicated training and systems improvement.   

The program goals are:  

• Practice-Based Learning and Improvement: Advance NP residents’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes in an environment that promotes the analysis of clinical situations, self-reflection, and opportunities for continuous improvement.  
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills: NP residents demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills for effective exchange of information, team-based collaboration, and shared decision making.   
• Systems-Based Practice: Establish and maintain a clinical learning environment that supports NP residents to develop patient care plans that mobilize resources, engage interprofessional teams, and work effectively across the healthcare system.   
• Interprofessional Collaboration: Prepare NP residents to deliver and optimize collaborative care on interprofessional care teams.  
• Personal and Professional Development: Facilitate NP resident leadership roles on interprofessional care teams and in a collaborative learning environment. Provide an environment that encourages professional development as a nurse practitioner.   
• Knowledge for Practice: Provide a robust nurse practitioner (NP) residency program that advances recent NP graduates’ skills in evidence-based and patient-centered primary or mental health care to Veterans.   
• Patient Care: Deepen the preparation of NP residents in the provision of patient-centered care that is guided by patients’ identities, values, beliefs, needs, and preferences.   

Expected program outcomes include:  

• Program participants will indicate growth in confidence and meet competence expectations as autonomous nurse practitioners by the conclusion of the one-year residency.  
• The program aims to retain its Nurse Practitioner Residents within the VHA upon completion of the residency. 
• Participating residents will complete a quality improvement project and disseminate their findings by the end of their residency program.

Program Structure 

• This is a 12-month program 
• Residency Curriculum includes:  
  • Clinical rotations on interprofessional teams 
  • Learner-selected quality-improvement project 
  • Didactic sessions frequently occur in conjunction with other UCSF-SFVAHCS resident training programs to promote interprofessional learning 
  • Core clinical rotations include longitudinal learning experiences in general outpatient psychiatry, addiction and recovery treatment, PTSD, and women's health 
  • Block clinical rotations include the psychiatric emergency service, community mental health, TMS, and psychotherapy groups 
  • Residents are assigned a faculty mentor and advanced practice nurse preceptors during clinical care rotations to serve as resources and provide support as they transition to performing as autonomous PMHNPs 
  • Upon successful completion of the residency a certificate is awarded 
  • Candidates who successfully complete the residency training program will be given the opportunity to apply for available vacancies at the SFVAHCS 

Applicant Qualifications 

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or naturalized U.S. Citizen 
• Must have graduated from an advanced practice psychiatric nursing program within the 12 months preceding the residency start date  
• The residency must be your first position serving as an NP in the same specialty as the program’s focus  
• ANCC PMHNP board exam completion prior to program start*  
• Have current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a Registered Nurse in a State, Territory or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico) of the United States, or the District of Columbia, before program start  
• Nurse practitioner state licensure with prescriptive/furnishing license and DEA number must be obtained prior to program start* 
• Current BLS certification 
• Proficient in written and spoken English  
• Completion of the following by program start: security/professional background investigation as required by the San Francisco VA, pre-employment health screening, tuberculosis skin testing, up-to-date vaccinations for healthcare workers as recommended by CDC and VA or applicable waiver according to VA policy, possible random drug testing 

• *If you are unable to meet this deadline due to your graduate program completion date, please indicate on your application. Licensure and certification deadline extension/waiver may be possible.  

  Am I eligible?  

Application Requirements

• Curriculum vitae 
• Graduate school transcripts 
• Personal Statement: 
  • What experiences (personal, professional, educational and/or clinical) informed your choice of advance practice psychiatric-mental health nursing as a profession? [Maximum: two (2) pages] 
  • What are your goals and aspirations for this specific residency program, and how do they fit with your early and long-term career plans as a PMHNP? [Maximum: two (2) pages] 
  • Discuss your interest in working with Veterans in the SFVAHCS. [Maximum: one (1) page] 
  • Three (3) letters of recommendation (structured form to be filled out by recommender) submitted directly from letter authors. Please do not submit more than three letters. One must be from a faculty member of your graduate program, one from a clinical preceptor, and one from an employer/supervisor/coworker that can speak to your abilities as an advanced practice provider. 

Benefits 

• Stipend:  $99,309
  • Salary is paid by the VA Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) and rates may change depending on the current year allocation rate)
• A benefits package that includes health insurance, optional dental/vision,  and paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
  • Hiring preference for open positions at any VA on completion of the residency 

Apply Today! 

Application Deadline: Saturday, February 1, 2025 

Residency Start Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2025 

Submission:  Please send CV, cover letter, personal statements, an unofficial transcript, COMBINED INTO ONE PDF, via email to v21sfcpmhnpresidencyandtraining@va.gov. 

*Please have letters of recommendation emailed directly from the authors 

Faculty

Gabrielle Jacobs, DNP, PMHNP-BC 

Residency Program Director

Email: Gabrielle.Jacobs@va.gov

Marissa Boeding, PMHNP-BC

Residency Program Coordinator

Email: Marissa.Boeding@va.gov

Nga Ly, PMHNP-BC

Residency Program Faculty

Email: Nga.Ly@va.gov

Andrew Penn, PMHNP-BC

Residency Program Faculty

Email: Andrew.Penn@va.gov

Clarissa Bush, PMHNP-BC

Residency Program Faculty

Email: Clarissa.Bush2@va.gov

Victor Rodionoff, PMHNP-BC

Residency Program Faculty

Email: Victor.Rodionoff@va.gov

The NP residency at San Francisco VA Health Care System is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (www.ccneaccreditation.org).