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For Professionals

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program

Clinical Rotations: Community & Public Psychiatry Track

First-Year Track Rotations

  • NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital
  • New York City Children's Center

1st Year Clinical Rotations for the Community and Public Psychiatry Track

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital

Total duration at location: 6 months

Residents consult with pediatric inpatient services and occasionally outpatient services at NYP Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, a tertiary care center serving patients ages 0–21 years old. Liaison services are provided to all subspecialty pediatric teams, including cardiac transplant, pain management, hematology/oncology, among others. Residents gain experience with common psychiatric diagnoses including adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders and affective disorders, as well as rarer conditions such as somatoform disorders, neuropsychiatric disorders, and brain syndromes secondary to psychiatric illness. Treatments provided include preoperative evaluations for transplantation, brief cognitive-behavioral interventions, and acute pharmacological management, as well as psychoeducation and counseling for families.

Residents provide consultation to the Pediatric Emergency Department. The most common presenting problems are suicidal thoughts and actions, disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety and depressive disorders, child abuse and neglect, and school problems. The types of treatment provided include crisis-oriented interventions, psychopharmacological management, supportive therapy, family therapy, and referrals for psychosocial support services.

Residents rotate through the Pediatric Neurology Clinic, under the direction of the Pediatric Neurology Service, while on the Pediatric Consultation/Liaison Service at NYP Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. The clinic population is culturally diverse with a variety of neurological disorders including neuromuscular disorders, seizure disorders, tumors, movement disorders, degenerative neurological diseases, strokes, and other neurological symptoms. Many disorders are complicated by neuropsychiatric problems or include a differential diagnosis of a conversion disorder, somatization disorder, or psychiatric factors complicating a neurological condition.

New York City Children’s Center

Total duration at location: 6 months

This is an acute unit for adolescents, ages 12–18 years, who present with severe and disabling psychopathology, including psychotic disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, disruptive behaviors disorders, aggression, and developmental delay. Frequently, these patients have severe forms of treatment-resistant psychotic and mood disorders or might be in the category of complex, multi-dimensionally-impaired youth who have had many hospitalizations and placements. Residents work within a multidisciplinary treatment team and are actively involved in the multimodal treatment planning for these patients. In addition to gaining familiarity with a state inpatient hospital setting, residents become familiar with facilities and organizations that span the systems of care, including ACS, PINS, c-SPOA, advocacy groups and wrap-around services.

This partial hospitalization program serves patients ages 5–20 years, who present with severe psychopathology, including severe mood disorders, anxiety disorders, disruptive behaviors disorders, psychosis, aggression, and developmental delay. Frequently, these patients are complex, multi-dimensionally-impaired youth who are at high risk for inpatient hospitalization and/or require more intensive services than can be provided in traditional outpatient or emergency psychiatric settings. Residents work within a multidisciplinary treatment team and are actively involved in the multimodal treatment planning for these patients. Residents also become familiar with facilities and organizations that span the systems of care in public child psychiatry, including ACS, PINS, c-SPOA, advocacy groups and wrap-around services.

Other Experiences

At the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain (CADB), residents spend one afternoon for 2 months (on Wednesdays following didactics) participating in comprehensive assessments of youth with autism spectrum disorders under expert supervision.

Residents spend one Wednesday per week in the Pediatric Primary Care Clinic with the goal of facilitating the collaboration and integration between Pediatrics and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. During this experience, residents gain an understanding of components of integrated care that are both knowledge- and skills-based, including psychiatric consultation in the primary care setting and methods for integrating mental health and medical care in treatment planning.

This series of workshops provides first-year child and adolescent psychiatry residents an overview of play therapy. Residents learn the benefits of play therapy for children at various developmental stages and explore the role of the therapist, including how to follow the child's lead and facilitate the development of a child's narrative. They gain exposure to play therapy techniques, including examples of structured play therapy interventions for directive, short-term work. Throughout this series, the residents discuss their play therapy cases.

Second-Year Track Rotations

  • New York City Children's Center–Robert F. Kennedy School
  • NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center

2nd Year Clinical Rotations for the Community and Public Psychiatry Track

New York City Children’s Center–Robert F. Kennedy School

Frequency: One day per week

The Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) School in Manhattan is a District 75 Committees on Special Education (CSE) program that serves children in elementary and middle school who have been classified for special education due to emotional and behavioral disturbances. New York City Children’s Center provides on-site mental health services to RFK students who might benefit from additional support in a day treatment program. Residents rotate at the day treatment program at the RFK School for one full day a week throughout the second year. With faculty supervision, they work with an interdisciplinary team of psychologists, nurses, and school staff to provide on-site psychiatric evaluation, crisis intervention, classroom assessments and school consultation to students. Comprehensive, longitudinal outpatient treatments (including individual, family, and group therapies) may also be part of some students' treatment plans.

NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center

Frequency: Two days per week

Residents perform psychiatric evaluations of children and adolescents under direct supervision. An evaluation includes an interview with the child, an interview with parents/caretakers, and acquisition of collateral history. The differential diagnosis, risk assessment, and disposition of patients are developed with a supervisor.

Residents gain experience in the treatment of patients in a variety of clinics, which are organized by disorder (e.g., Anxiety Disorders Clinic) or treatment modality (e.g., Psychopharmacology Clinic). Faculty with particular expertise in specific psychopathology and treatment modalities provide ongoing supervision to the residents. All residents receive individual or small group supervision in psychopharmacology and in various psychotherapies including Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Parent Training, and Family Therapy techniques (coordinated across the campuses). Additional case-specific supervision in Cognitive Behavioral Interventions for Tics and Exposure Response Prevention for OCD are available.

Other Experiences

Every resident has the one full day per week to pursue research and scholarly activity under direct mentorship by a faculty member of their choosing.

Residents observe children in routine nursery school programs under supervision. Time is provided for discussion of child observations.

The Center for Living is a nonprofit, community-based, outpatient program specializing in substance use treatment for adolescents, young adults and their families that operates under the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASIS). During this rotation, residents join the team at The Center for Living and participate in the comprehensive evaluation of adolescents with substance use disorders, attend team meetings, and observe community, treatment and multi-family groups.

This two-part forensic experience begins in the summer of the second year with a day-long visit to the Bronx Family Court. Residents participate in guided observation of actual court proceedings, discussion/Q&A with presiding jurists, and lecture/clinical presentation by Bronx Family Court Mental Health Service (MHS) supervisors and clinical staff. Background literature, including key legal and theoretical concepts and empirical research, will be provided by MHS. In the fall, each resident has an experiential component and observes a forensic evaluation of a child or adolescent referred by the Bronx Family Court.

Contact Us

NewYork-Presbyterian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program

Attn: Shamila Dilmaghani, MPA, Training Program Manager
525 E. 68th Street, Box 140, New York, NY 10065

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212-746-5709

Related Links

Graduate Medical Education

Columbia University Psychiatry

Weill Cornell Medicine Psychiatry

NewYork-Presbyterian Psychiatry

NewYork-Presbyterian Pediatric Services

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)

New York Council on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry