Professional Training Sites

SUNY Upstate Medical University

The SUNY Upstate Medical University is one of only 128 academic medical centers in the United States. Academic medical centers -- which are built around medical schools and teaching hospitals -- lead the nation in conducting medical research, educating health professionals, and providing the most advanced care to patients.

Outpatient Department of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

The Psychiatry and Behavioral Science Building is the hub of the training program. It provides individual office space for Child & Adolescent Fellows and faculty and also houses modern, well-equipped Outpatient Psychiatric Clinics for both adults and children. The two clinics serve both the general community and the various medical center departments as a setting for individual and group treatment.

The clinics' faculty and complement of trainees represent the disciplines of clinical psychology, psychiatry, and psychiatric social work. As such, the clinics provide a matrix of interdisciplinary training and offer varied training formats that promote collaboration and exchange. Child & Adolescent Fellows participate in a model of training that reflects the working situation they will encounter as professionals.

University Hospital

University Hospital, a 350-bed facility, is the primary teaching hospital of the SUNY Upstate Medical University. This modern complex houses a broad range of inpatient and outpatient services, plus laboratories and research facilities directly connected with Upstate Medical University. A 24-bed intensive care psychiatric unit was opened in 1969. In September 2003, University Hospital announced plans for an $84 million vertical addition that would feature the Central New York Children's Hospital and a new patient care space for cardiovascular, neurology, oncology, and psychiatry services.

Hutchings Psychiatric Center

Hutchings Psychiatric Center , a 150-bed facility operated by the New York State Department of Mental Health, is a training facility for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. This hospital provides experience in the area of community health organized around sections run by multiprofessional teams. The hospital serves as a model community mental health center providing continuity of service for adults, children, and adolescents, including inpatient units, outpatient clinics, crisis intervention "walk-in" clinics, halfway houses, and a large voluntary day care program. An effort is made to maintain the patient's community ties and involvement. Child & Adolescent Fellows may elect to spend a three-month, half-time rotation in this facility.

Kasson Road School

Kasson Road School is an Onondaga-Cortland-Madison counties BOCES educational program that provides a restrictive educational placement for children, ages 5-15, with serious emotional difficulties. The classroom size has a maximum enrollment of either six or eight students depending upon the child's educational and mental health needs. All of the children are educated in a structured classroom which uses behavior management and time outs. Approximately 30% of the children who attend Kasson Road School receive mental health treatment from a collaborative team from the Child Psychiatry Department to address their therapeutic needs. The goal of the program is to help stabilize the children and their families so that the child may enter a less restrictive educational placement. The Child Psychiatry Fellows have the opportunity to participate in intake, group therapy, family therapy, classroom observation, school consultation, crisis management, and psychopharmacological treatment for these children.

Scaffolding Kids Abilities Through Education

The Scaffolding Kids Abilities Through Education (SKATE) program is an Onondaga Cortland Madison counties BOCES educational program that provides a restrictive educational placement for children with autism spectrum disorder. The classroom size is limited to six children and each child has an aide. These are children who have significant developmental delays, mental health issues, and typically medical problems. Children are taught using the TTEACH program and some behavior management principles are applied. All of the children receive comprehensive assessment and treatment from a Child Psychiatry collaborative team. Our goal is to help the children and their families address their multi-dimensional needs in an effort to help them gain greater independence. The Child Psychiatry Fellows have the opportunity to participate in intake, classroom observation, therapy both at school and in the homes, and psychopharmacological treatment for these children.

Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Center

Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Center provides psychiatric consultation to the children and adolescents at Hillbrook who range in age from 10 to 16 years. Continuity of care is provided to children who are in active psychiatric treatment in their community. Services include; psychiatric assessment and intervention to children who are in acute distress or who threaten to harm themselves or others as well as to children and adolescents who are currently experiencing psychiatric symptoms or who have a history of psychiatric disturbance. The psychiatric team works collaboratively with the medical staff, social workers, and unit staff. When possible, the child's current treatment providers and parents are included as collateral informants for assessment as well as when discussing proposed changes in a treatment plan.

Onondaga County Department of Mental Health
Day Treatment Program for Children (AKA: Cedar Street)

The Psychiatry Department Child & Adolescent Resident will work under the Supervision of Laura Dibble, M.D. at the Onondaga County Department of Mental Health Day Treatment Program for Children (Cedar Street). The resident will work in the day treatment program as part of a multidisciplinary team. Residents will evaluate, manage and treat psychiatric patients. The resident will participate in team meetings and case conferences. Supervision will include clinical evaluation, diagnosis and management of patients. The resident will be exposed to multimodal treatment approaches including psychiatric, psychopharmacologic, educational, individual, family, group and milieu therapies.