Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship – Curriculum

A core feature of our fellowship focuses on the experience in our child and adolescent psychiatry clinic. First year fellows will be able to see outpatients in the UT Health East Texas at North Campus Tyler clinic for the first year along with seeing patients at our Smith County Local Mental Health Authority, The Andrews Center, for two mornings each week of the first year. In addition to learning about psychopharmacology, fellows will be able to retain patients for psychotherapy, continuing as needed for the duration of their training.

We view psychopharmacology as one tool among many in child psychiatry. Fellows will learn about evidence-based psychotherapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy and applied behavioral analysis. As a part of this experience, the fellows will meet with psychiatry and psychology faculty individually for one hour, twice a week to discuss issues regarding individual cases, evidence-based psychotherapeutic techniques, indications for the use of targeted pharmacotherapy, limits of confidentiality, and the challenge of establishing a therapeutic alliance with both patients and their families.

Also, during the first year of the fellowship, fellows will serve as consultants to our local school districts through our TCHATT program for one half day per week. Fellows will also have opportunities to offer continuing medical education activities for our colleagues in pediatrics and family medicine as part of their scholarly project. 

The second year of the fellowship includes various specialty rotations to enhance the knowledge base of the fellows. The inpatient child and adolescent experience occurs at Terrell State Hospital . Fellows will rotate there along with residents in the adult program for four months during the second year of the fellowship. TSH offers programs for geriatric patients, adults, children and adolescents. The fellows will also get the opportunity to provide consult/liaison  services to the pediatric clinics in Tyler. During the C/L rotation, fellows will partcipate in child abuse exams at Maggie’s House and accompany practioners to court when appropriate in addition to spending time at a pediatric neurology clinic.

Fellows also have the opportunity to rotate with the Tyler ISD Head Start Program and the Lindale ISD Special Programs Department which offers a unique experience within the school system to observe the normal development of children, witness the early identfication process of at risk children, and gain an understanding of the special education process. Fellows will gain forensic experience by rotating at the Smith County Juvenile Services and get a substance use disorder experience with a rotation at Azleway Substance Abuse Program for males ages 13 to 17. 

Clinical Rotations

 

 

Fellows will participate in two afternoon clinic sessions a week throughout training, includes psychotherapy and group supervision.