First Year

The first year commences training in diagnostic evaluations, long-term psychotherapy and psychopharmacological management in our outpatient Child Psychiatry Continuity Clinic. Evaluations and multi-modal treatments are offered to patients and families under the direct supervision of senior faculty, who assist the fellows in acquiring comprehensive evaluation and treatment skills.

During the first year, fellows will concentrate on the treatment of children, adolescents and their families in the following areas:

• Pediatric psychopathology
• Psychopharmacology
• Pediatric psychosomatic medicine
• Emergency pediatric and adolescent psychiatry
• Pediatric patients requiring psychiatric consultation/liaison services
• Multiple psychotherapeutic modalities including psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, play, supportive, family, group and dialectical behavioral therapies. 

First year fellows rotate in:

• Outpatient Clinic
• Consultation/Liaison Service
• Psychiatric Emergency Service
• Adolescent Depression and Suicide Program (ADSP)

Service meetings and rounds—held at the clinic and with the ADSP team—ensure fluid communication in the outpatient services, as well as the development of collegial relationships with other disciplines. First year fellows have the opportunity to teach and mentor adult PGY2 residents, as they rotate on child psychiatry. This allows them to form strong bonds with their junior colleagues and begin to develop their clinical teaching skills.

A first year fellow serves as Chief Resident for the year, coordinating activities of both child psychiatry fellows and adult psychiatry residents in Child/Adolescent Psychiatry, while acting as liaison to the faculty.

We also offer two first year fellows a one-month elective rotation in child global mental health in Uganda or Colombia.

DIDACTIC:FIRST YEAR CURRICULUM

The core curriculum of the first year is designed to meet the training goals of competence in:

• The clinical assessment of children, adolescents and their families
• Basic psychopharmacology of children and adolescents,
• Multiple treatment modalities including individual, group, family psychotherapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy
• Knowledge about pediatric consultation-liaison and emergency psychiatry.

First year fellows attend classes two days per week and meet weekly with three assigned outpatient supervisors, in addition to direct supervision on their service rotations. 

The curriculum for the first year is comprised of introductory classes in:

• Child psychopathology
• Adolescent psychopathology
• Psychopharmacology
• Family therapy
• Working with parents
• Psychotherapy with children and adolescents

We also include a broad topics course that covers such selected areas as child abuse, adoption, genetics, ethics, neuroscience, play therapy and cultural influences on child psychiatry.

In addition to the core curriculum, a monthly case conference at the outpatient clinic gives fellows the opportunity to present particularly challenging outpatients to senior faculty.