Social Work Training Program

Each fellowship consists of dividing time between Outpatient Psychiatry and The Swensrud Depression Prevention Initiative for Children.

In Outpatient Psychiatry, diagnostic evaluations and psychotherapy with children and adolescents, ages 3-18, parents, families and groups form the core of the fellowship. The fellow's outpatient clinical work will be at Children's Hospital Boston.

The Swensrud Depression Prevention Initiative specifically targets prevention and research in the area of childhood depression.

Fellows will learn and practice established individual, group, family and school prevention strategies. The site for these prevention efforts will be at the Boston Public Schools. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in the development of new prevention interventions and outcome research.

The fellow's time will be divided equally between Outpatient work and The Swensrud Depression Prevention Initiative. Fellows receive four weeks vacation, to be taken at the mutual convenience of the fellow and the supervisor. The fellowships run from September through August.

There is a stipend of $26,000 plus benefits.

The Division of Adolescent Medicine is a primary care medical clinic, which serves adolescents and young adults from the Boston area, as well as offering special services for eating disorders, HIV and at-risk youth.

The fellow is responsible for mental health assessment, consultation, crisis intervention and treatment, and will also receive training and experience in the evaluation and treatment of eating disorders. The fellow functions as part of a multi-disciplinary team and is responsible for consultation with medical providers and teaching of medical residents.

There are two hours per week of individual supervision. The fellow attends numerous seminars with other multidisciplinary LEAH fellows in the areas of teaching, epidemiology and statistics, research, cultural competency, adolescent development, community advocacy and outreach, nursing and mental health. She/he will attend a monthly lecture series in issues pertaining to adolescent health and mental health and learn to present and critique a research article.

This full-time fellowship runs from September through August and the stipend is is $30,000 plus benefits.

The Leadership Education in Neuro-Developmental Disabilities (LEND) program at Children's provides interdisciplinary leadership education (didactic and clinical). It prepares leaders in an emerging health care system to improve the health of infants, children and adolescents who have, or are at risk for, developing neurodevelopment and related disabilities. This program requires 1.5 days per week, with Friday as a mandatory day.

Highlights of the LEND program

• Participation in a three-day policy/advocacy conference in Washington DC that includes a legislative reception and an opportunity to advocate directly on Capitol Hill.

• Opportunity to work clinically with families (both in the hospital and in the community) who have children with special health care needs, LICSW supervision provided.

• Participation on Children's interdisciplinary comprehensive evaluation team.

• Direct in-home experience with a family whose child has a developmental disability through the Linking Hands Program at Children's.

• Didactic seminars on leadership, state-of-the-art, evidence-based practices across disciplines, interdisciplinary collaboration, cultural awareness, public health perspectives, conflict resolution, and policies and approaches from a systems perspective.

• Opportunity for ongoing work with community-based minority organization.

PACT is a multi-disciplinary team dedicated to improving symptoms and quality of life in children with advanced illness. The team includes physicians, nurses, chaplains, communication specialists, psychologists, child life specialists, social workers, etc.

The fellow will have the opportunity to work with patients and their families, as well as develop and lead groups. There will be opportunities to gain knowledge and experience with related community resources, hospice and bereavement services.

PACT provides inpatient and outpatient patient care and care in the community. The fellow functions as part of a multi-disciplinary team and is responsible for consultation with other medical providers.

Fellows receive two hours of supervision per week. The fellow will have the opportunity to attend PACT educational rounds featuring multi-disciplinary experts in the field of Pediatric Palliative Care, as well as other seminars offered at both Children's and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

There are also weekly PACT clinical rounds at which time the core team is able to plan and reflect with the larger team about patient care. All social work fellows at Children's participate in didactic seminars and a fellows discussion group.

This is an opportunity to work with one of the first pediatric palliative care teams in the country. There is a stipend of $15,600 for the nine month fellowship and the fellowship includes three weeks of vacation (nine days total).