Child Inpatient Psychiatry Externship
The Inpatient Psychiatry Externship is ideally suited for a trainee who enjoys working in a fast-paced, multidisciplinary team environment with youth with emotional and behavioral dysregulation. This externship opportunity involves providing therapeutic services to children and adolescents while they are on an acute inpatient unit. The extern will work on both the Child Psychiatric Unit (CPU) and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit (APU). The APU/CPU are for children who have been deemed a danger to themselves or others.
Patients generally have a history of self-injury, suicidal behavior, severe aggression, psychosis or difficulties with emotional and behavioral dysregulation. Externs will have the opportunity to work with a wide variety of patients with complex presentations. The average length of stay for patients is between 5-7 days.
The extern will collaborate with a dynamic multi-disciplinary team with psychiatry, medical trainees, child psychiatric specialists, child life, nursing, expressive therapy and social work. Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques are generally utilized to achieve stabilization and create safety plans. The extern will be directly supervised by the attending psychologist, Deborah Zlotnik, Ph.D., and postdoctoral fellow, and will also work closely with the attending psychiatrist.