Richard Metzner Psychotherapy Scholarship Fund

Teaching the value of the doctor-patient relationship and the importance of the practice of psychotherapy by psychiatrists is vital to the PCFA mission. The PCFA encourages residents to establish, as part of their professional identity, the skills and capacity to conduct psychotherapy and to be able to effectively use the therapeutic relationship for healing and change.

In support of these efforts, the PCFA is pleased to offer the Richard Metzner Psychotherapy Scholarship Fund in recognition of Dr. Metzner’s generous support of the PCFA and his commitment to the value of psychotherapy in psychiatric training. The fund supports psychotherapy training that a resident wishes to undertake but that is not offered through the training program. The Metzner Scholarship is meant to facilitate a unique and memorable learning experience that enhances the knowledge and skill of residents, deepens their identities, and encourages them to advance the practice of psychotherapy by psychiatrists.

The fund supports trainings in any established form of psychotherapy. These include -- but are not limited to -- psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, and others not typically represented in psychiatry training, such as acceptance and commitment, emotion-focused, somatic experiencing, Gestalt, Internal Family Systems, positive psychology, hypnosis and motivational interviewing.

❯ Criteria

A resident or fellow in any of the UCLA- affiliated psychiatric training programs is eligible for the scholarship. 75% of the training cost, up to a maximum of $1250, is currently available per application. If a student discount is available for the training, this will be required for scholarship eligibility.

All applications are required prior to the commencement of the training (ie., applications should not request retroactive funding). Applicants may submit multiple applications over their training but can receive only one scholarship per year. Preferential consideration will be given to those who have not received a prior scholarship.

The Metzner Scholars will be required to contribute their acquired knowledge to the UCLA community. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as an article for the annual PCFA newsletter, a lunchtime presentation to residents, mentoring of interested medical students, or hosting an experiential workshop.

❯ Examples of psychotherapy training courses

• Certfication through the Academy of Cognitive Therapy
• DBT Training from Behavioral Tech
• Training at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families

❯ Apply for funding

• Download the application
• E-mail the completed application to Lela DeGolia

❯ List of Scholars

(in chronological order)
• Sophie Rosseel (2019) -- Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, New Center for Psychoanalysis (NCP)
• Elizabeth Dohrmann (2019) -- Acceptance Commitment Therapy/Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
• Sophie Feller (2019) -- Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
• Wenqi Feng (2019) -- Mentalization-Based Therapy
• Greg Gabrellas (2019) -- Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, NCP
• Laura Obler (2020) -- Mentalization-Based Therapy
• Erika Hsu (2021) -- Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
• John Horton (2022) -- Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
• Mary Youssef (2022) -- Mentalization-Based Therapy
• Jennifer Cohenmehr (2022) -- Mentalization-Based Therapy
• Jennifer Ghandi (2022) -- Mentalization-Based Therapy
• Keenan Withers (2023) -- Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, NCP
• Taylor Smyth (2023) -- elective at Austen Riggs Center
• Dennis Dacarett Galeano (2023) -- Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, NCP; Transference-Focused Psychotherapy, NCP
• Piyush Nayyar (2024): MAPS MDMA-Assisted Training Retreat

Richard Metzner

Like most members of our clinical faculty, Richard Metzner has spent his career as a solo private practitioner treating patients with both psychotherapy and medications. His UCLA teaching and PCFA activities have reflected his dedication to maintaining psychotherapy as an essential component of clinical psychiatry. Since his own residency at Stanford and his subsequent post-graduate work at NIMH, Dr. Metzner has utilized audiovisual and computer technology to facilitate psychiatric training. He is currently using a short-range video streaming system of his own design, funded by PCFA to enable residents, interns and medical students to observe and review live patient interviews at Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital. His philanthropic focus reflects his conviction that no other professional organization is more dedicated to protecting and enhancing the role of psychotherapy in psychiatry than PCFA.