Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Curriculum

Texas Children's Hospital is a tertiary care pediatric facility and is Baylor College of Medicine’s primary affiliate for the program. This site is a key training site for other medical personnel and mental health students, contributing to a useful and exciting environment. It is located inside the Texas Medical Center and is in easy walking distance from Baylor College of Medicine. Fellows typically spend six months full-time during the first year at Texas Children’s Hospital, a required rotation focused on ambulatory clinic activities that includes rotating with the TCH Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Pediatric Clinic. Fellows in their second year work full time for 2 months on the consultation and liaison service, 2 months with the mood disorder clinic, and 2 months on special populations (includes Child Psychiatry Access Network, Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine Substance Abuse Clinic, Mind Body Clinic and Complex Care Clinic, Harris Health Substance Abuse Clinic, and Harris Center rotations in forensic and Dual Diagnosis Clinic for individuals with intellectual disabilities). Finally, second year residents have a 2-month Elective Rotation where they focus on a maximum of two specialty areas within children’s mental health at TCH (Mood Disorders, Autism, Attachment, Integrated Care, Eating Disorders, etc.).

The Menninger Clinic is a specialty inpatient psychiatric hospital. Its primary focus is the treatment of patients who have failed multiple previous treatments known as the Adolescent Treatment Program Track A with an average length of stay 4-6 weeks. Track B is a partnership with TCH providing short-term stabilization for adolescents seen in the TCH emergency room with an average length of stay 2 weeks. The site provides training for psychologists, social workers, and psychiatry residents. Fellows spend 3 months during their second year of fellowship at The Menninger Clinic on ATP Track A, a required rotation. An average case load is 6-8 patients. Fellows can select to spend an additional month exclusively working with youth and families in the short-term stabilization program referenced above.

The HHS system has several community clinics and its premier flagship hospital, Ben Taub General Hospital. BTGH is a county hospital providing medical, surgical, and psychiatric care to a predominantly indigent population. It is located inside the Texas Medical Center and is within easy walking distance from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital. The Pediatric Psychiatry Ambulatory Clinics (KIDS Clinic within Ben Taub and Pasadena Clinic) provide an opportunity for residents and fellows to learn psychiatric management, including medication evaluation, prescription, and follow-up, as well as the provision of eclectic individual and family therapy for a wide range of psychiatric disorders.

The The Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) provides high-quality, efficient, and cost-effective services so that persons with behavioral health needs may live with dignity as fully functioning, participating, and contributing members of our community. Both first- and second-year fellows work within the Harris Center. In the first year, each first-year resident will have ½ day for 6 months focusing on specific populations of care: Forensics and Quality Improvement Projects. Each second-year fellows will spend two half days for 2 months within clinics that are for patients with Intellectual Disability in addition to Mental Health Disorders and Providing Competency Evaluations for court.

As a Federally Qualified Health Center, Legacy provides essential preventive and primary healthcare services at low or no cost. Legacy’s 11 clinics, located in Houston, Baytown, and Beaumont, served 85,430 patients through 256,108 patient visits in 2013. Legacy offers adult primary care, pediatrics, dental care, vision services, behavioral health services, OB/GYN and maternity, vaccinations and immunizations, health promotion and community outreach, wellness and nutrition, and comprehensive HIV/AIDS care to all Texans, including those who have traditionally faced barriers to care. The mental health clinics where the fellows work are located outside the Texas Medical Center within a 20-mile radius. The Legacy mental health clinics provide an opportunity for fellows to learn psychiatric management, including medication evaluation, prescription, and follow-up, and the provision of eclectic individual and family therapy for a wide range of psychiatric disorders.

Sun Behavioral Hospital is an acute care inpatient psychiatric facility designed to assess, diagnose, and treat children ages 6-12 years of age with acute psychiatric emergencies. Fellows can select Sun Behavioral for a 1-month rotation in their second year of training. The fellows will be assigned 6-8 patients and provide assessment, management, and psychoeducation to the patients and their families. The fellows will work within the multidisciplinary team.

The Continuity Clinic is the program’s primary site for ambulatory continuity training for fellows (and other trainees) and specializes in the provision of psychotherapies; continuous care for children, adolescents, and families; and practice management knowledge and skills. Fellows are assigned to one of the following for the entirety of their fellowship: TCH Clinic locations, HHS KIDS clinic, or the Legacy Clinic for one ½ day on Monday afternoons. These activities are part of a fellow’s week regardless of primary rotation site and are coordinated with primary attendings. In addition to the child psychiatry fellows, there are social work fellows/interns and psychology trainees who are assigned to these clinics.