Training Sites for the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Residency

Residents spend most of the two training years on the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital clinical services, but residents may also select opportunities for elective experiences at a number of affiliated institutions around Boston and Massachusetts. At all locations, residents and faculty are highly interactive, working with and learning from one another.

Massachusetts General Hospital

The Mass General Department of Psychiatry includes more than 60 specialty clinical and research programs relating to virtually every aspect of psychiatric disorders. Mass General offers an exceptional range of patient services for both inpatients and outpatients, including:

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• Emergency psychiatric care
• General and specialty outpatient care for children and adolescents
• Psychological and educational assessment services
• Dedicated inpatient and outpatient psychiatry services for children with both psychiatric and medical illness
• A specialized addictions program for adolescents and young adults
• Clinical and research programs in autism spectrum disorders (Bressler Clinical and Research Program, Lurie Center for Autism)
• A clinical and research program dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders
• Clinical and research programs in pediatric psychopharmacology
• Forensic psychiatry services

McLean Hospital

McLean Hospital, founded in 1811, is the largest psychiatric teaching facility of Harvard Medical School. McLean Hospital operates the largest psychiatric neuroscience research program of any Harvard University-affiliated facility and of any private psychiatric hospital in the country.

The Child and Adolescent Program at McLean Hospital is one of the foremost clinical programs for helping young people and their families cope with psychiatric illness and the challenges it often brings.

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McLean Hospital offers a full spectrum of services, including:

• Residential psychiatric and substance abuse programs
• A residential program providing intensive Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) treatment
• A neuropsychological, psychologic and academic testing program
• A residential eating disorder program
• An intensive outpatient program specializing the treatment of anxiety disorders
• The OCD Institute, a residential treatment program
• A college mental health program
• A school-based program focused resiliency and prevention in at-risk youth

All of McLean Hospital's treatment programs are designed to emphasize each young person’s strengths and promote recovery through a continuum of care. Rapid, state-of-the-art diagnosis is integrated with thorough psychosocial assessment so that treatment is tailored to each child’s needs.

Franciscan Hospital for Children

The Franciscan Hospital for Children is a 100-bed facility providing both acute pediatric services and pediatric rehabilitation. The Franciscan also has a large outpatient rehabilitation service and a special education school for handicapped children and a ventilator unit for children no longer requiring acute care. The hospital has broad expertise in physical rehabilitation, as well as speech and language assessment and therapy, psychological and neuropsychological assessment, dentistry and corrective surgery.

The McLean Unit, the only psychiatric inpatient unit at Franciscan, is a discreet 20-bed unit staffed with psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. The unit has the capacity to treat co-morbid medical conditions and has a specialty track for developmentally disordered youth in psychiatric crisis. It has established an acute residential program for latency age children to provide a continuum of care with the inpatient unit.

Arlington School

This 11-month day school with full approval status by Department of Education serves up to 50 college-bound middle and high school students who have significant psychiatric challenges.

Boston Juvenile Court Clinic

The Boston Juvenile Court Clinic is one of the oldest juvenile court clinics in the country. The clinic provides evaluation and some treatment services for about 900 individuals annually. Court referrals typically involve cases of delinquency, status offense and child abuse matters, with problems related to a high prevalence of exposure to various types of trauma, as well as associated anxiety and mood disorders, substance use problems, disruptive behavior disorders, learning disorders and personality disorders. The clinic has an active research program, largely examining post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and an eight-year longitudinal study of abused and neglected children. Residents have opportunities to visit the courtroom, consult to attorneys, probation officers, judges and social service agency workers and may serve as expert witnesses in cases evaluated.

Pathways Academy

This year-round day school serves up to 32 students ages 6 to 22 who have Asperger’s and related disorders, as well as co-morbid psychiatric conditions. Small classrooms feature a social and language pragmatics approach with a full-time occupational therapist, speech and language therapist and developmental neuropsychologist. The school is designed to meet the specific sensorimotor needs of this population.

Shriners Hospitals for Children

The Shriners Hospitals for Children is an international referral center for burn injuries and a major center of research on burn injuries in children and adolescents. There are two inpatient units: a 12-bed acute burn unit and an 18-bed plastic and reconstructive surgical unit. Approximately 7,000 children who have survived burns are followed at the hospital, seen in the clinic and periodically readmitted. Many patients are under 5 and all ages through 19 are represented. All patients have acute or postoperative pain management problems. There are extensive opportunities for child and adolescent psychiatric research: diagnostic, psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological.

The faculty play a fundamental role in the residency program, as faculty members are responsible for the comprehensive professional development of residents. Most primary faculty members have appointments at Mass General or McLean Hospital. A large number of additional clinicians and researchers are available as teachers from affiliated institutions, Harvard University and institutions throughout metropolitan Boston.