TRAINING SITES

PRIMARY TRAINING SITE 

The Vermont Center for Children, Youth, and Families  (VCCYF) is the home of the Division of Child Psychiatry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.  The primary teaching hospital of the College is Fletcher Allen Health Care, which contains Vermont Children’s Hospital. 

This health care system is the largest in Vermont and the state’s only tertiary care hospital.  As such, we receive referrals and requests for consultation across the state in addition to neighboring New England states and Northeastern New York.  

The outpatient clinic at the VCCYF in 2007 received approximately 455 referral and consultation requests.  Primary diagnoses include disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety and affective disorders, and pervasive developmental disorders.  Children of all ages from infancy through adolescents are seen here.

Vermont Children’s Hospital is part of Fletcher Allen Health Care and is the site of the Consult/Liaison and Pediatric Neurology rotations.  Vermont Children’s Hospital is the only dedicated children’s hospital in the state and contains 31 general medical beds, a pediatric intensive care unit, a neonatal intensive care unit, as well as general and specialty outpatient services.  There is also an affiliated childcare center where some of the child observation didactic takes place.

AFFILIATED TRAINING SITES

Child Development Clinic  

The Child Development Clinic is funded by the Vermont Department of Health to provide evaluation, follow-up, and referral services for children with possible developmental disorders.   It is located in downtown Burlington, Vermont less than one mile from the main hospital. Residents learn to assess developmental disorders including mental retardation, pervasive developmental disorders, and specific learning disabilities through a collaborative approach from multiple specialists utilizing data from clinical interviews, observation, and neuropsychological tests.  

HowardCenter

HowardCenter is the Burlington area’s main community mental health center (CMHC) and the largest one in the state of Vermont.  In addition to its role serving its own catchment area, it also takes referrals from other CMHC for more specialized and comprehensive care.  The center offers a broad array of clinical and social support services to children and their families, including two on-site residential units that serve children aged 6-14 throughout the state.  HowardCenter is the site for one of the acute care rotations and for the emergency child psychiatry rotation at First Call – a mobile crisis service for children that performs urgent evaluations and interventions at schools, offices, and homes for children requiring immediate assessment who may require admission to more intensive treatment settings. 

Northeast Family Institute

Northeastern Family Institute (NFI) is one of the primary sites in northern Vermont for adolescents needing acute stabilization and care.  This 6 bed facility is equipped to deliver care to severely affected adolescents as long as they are voluntary admissions.  The program is licensed to perform restraints but rarely does so.  The program serves adolescents from ages 10 to 18 with an average length of stay is 6-7 days.  NFI accepts patients from local crisis centers, emergency departments, and outpatient clinicians.  The clinic emphasizes multidisciplinary approach with a strong family emphasis to acutely stabilize the patient and help transition them back to less acute settings.   Treatment modalities include individual psychotherapy, family therapy, psychopharmacology, group therapy, CBT, and milieu therapy.   It is located in Winooski, Vermont approximately 2 miles from the medical school.

Spectrum Youth & Family Services is a community-based agency that offers an array of clinical and social support services to youths and families including outpatient clinics, shelters, and social services.   The clinic focuses on adolescents with substance use disorders which occur with other psychiatric disorders, in particular mood, anxiety, and disruptive behavior disorders.  Many of these youths are homeless, runaway, or disconnected from their family.  Residents learn empirically based assessment and treatment of substance uses disorders grounded a strengths-based-approach.  Principles of motivational interviewing and contingency management are practiced and treatment for substance use disorders is addressed with other psychiatric problems in an integrated approach that incorporates the entire family.  The clinic is located in downtown Burlington less than 1 mile from the medical school.

The Stern Center is a private non-profit center dedicated to helping children and adults with learning differences reach their full potential.  It is one of the premier assessment centers of this type in the state.  The center conducts cognitive, linguistic, academic, psychological, and neuropsychological assessments in response to requests from schools, clinicians, pediatricians and individual families.  It also serves as a consultant to schools in designing specialized curriculum for children with complicated learning needs.  The Stern Center specializes in developing innovative learning strategies for students who learn in nontraditional ways.   Funding for their services comes from schools or from individual families.  Primary diagnoses include learning disabilities, ADHD, cognitive disorders, as well as nonverbal and developmental disorders.  Fellows will learn how to use and apply the results of educational evaluations.  The Stern Center is located about 7 miles from the medical school. 

Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center

Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center is a division of the Vermont Department of Children and Families.  It provides an alternate educational and clinical setting for children who are on delinquent status within the justice system.  The program serves students from the 6th to 12th grade.  Many of these adolescents have been victims of trauma and neglect and are diagnosed with a number of disorders including conduct disorder, substance abuse disorders, as well as affective and anxiety disorders.   It is located in Colchester, Vermont about 6 ½ miles from the medical school.