I was fortunate to spend the past weekend continuing my work
as Faculty-in-Training at the
REACH Institute,
a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming children’s health services
by empowering their care providers – parents, doctors, teachers, counselors,
and therapists – to know and use the most effective methods for identifying and
assisting children with mental health conditions.
My involvement
with this organization began in 2011 when I had the opportunity to participate
in an intensive Mini-Fellowship,
Patient-Centered Mental Health in Pediatric Primary Care. The Mini-Fellowship was designed to address the growing
shortage of pediatric psychiatrists by providing pediatricians, family
physicians, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, psychiatrists and
neurologists with up-to-date training in the use of psychiatric
medications
for children and adolescents.
Since 2011, The Yellin Center’s involvement in children’s mental health and
psychopharmacology has grown steadily. Therefore, I was thrilled when I
was invited to apply and was subsequently accepted in the REACH Institute’s Faculty
Training Program. Having completed the first two phases of training, I am
hopeful that I will complete the process of becoming a full-fledged member of
the REACH Institute’s National Faculty within the next few months. My
work with them already has had a significant impact on my practice and I look
forward to ongoing collaborations with experts to ensure that my knowledge and
skills continue to grow and remain current. I also am excited about the
prospect of participating in the critical work of addressing the growing
shortage of pediatric psychiatrists and increasing access to high quality
mental health services for our nation’s children and families.
