What you’ll learn

The overall goal of the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Training Program in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is to help each fellow develop the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to enjoy a productive career as a child/adolescent psychiatrist in either a clinical or a research career. In order to obtain this goal, a fellow is active in a progressive series of clinical, educational, and research experiences designed to continuously enhance the fellow’s abilities.

The fellowship provides a combination of didactic and clinical work, which is both broad enough to ensure knowledge of the wide variety of disorders of childhood and adolescence and yet intensive enough to ensure thorough diagnostic and treatment skills.

All fellows are required to gain competence in clinical child psychiatry and to address mental disorders from infancy through adolescence in terms of the individual, their family, and their social setting. Developmental considerations are at the core of the conceptual approach.

Our graduates have established themselves in a variety of professional positions ranging from private practice, community mental health, academic practice, and independent research.

 

The Washington University difference

As a child psychiatry fellow at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, you will actively engage in:

  • a remarkable inpatient setting providing the highest level of acute psychiatric care for Missouri children and adolescents
  • a psychotherapy clinic with real-time video-based monitoring and feedback
  • a phenomenal infant-preschool clinic with extensive outpatient experiences in both academic and community mental health practices
  • a consult rotation in a world-class children’s hospital
  • an extensive eating disorders rotation
  • a leadership seminar
  • a comprehensive substance use disorder rotation
  • an ever-expanding portfolio of other innovative clinical programs

Trainees also have the opportunity to participate in tele-psychiatry, the care of young children in foster care, and the modification of school-based educational and behavioral plans for children with developmental disabilities.

Continuity of care is emphasized in our program and opportunities abound for work with special populations. This range of exposure equips fellows for careers in every conceivable setting. Our highly rated didactics are innovative and learner-centered. We also offer numerous options for research training for the next generation of clinician-scientists in child psychiatry during and after fellowship.