Residents' Interests in Spotlight Throughout Institute

Part of the mission of the Institute on Psychiatric Services (IPS) is to be a user-friendly and welcoming meeting for psychiatry residents. To that end, the institute includes many scientific sessions and social events specifically for residents.

Residents are important to the success of APA meetings, especially the IPS. To meet their needs, APA has scheduled several activities designed for residents at next month's IPS meeting. If residents only have one day available to attend the meeting, we recommend they attend on Friday, October 8.

On the agenda that day is the annual Meet the Experts Luncheon, which continues to be an important part of resident activities both at the APA annual meeting and the IPS. The luncheon features topics of interest to residents and early career psychiatrists. Topics for this year's Meet the Experts Luncheon include addiction psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, cultural competency, consultation-liaison psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, HIV/AIDS, homelessness and mental illness, public and community psychiatry, psychodynamic psychotherapy, psychosocial rehabilitation, research, and women's mental health. The luncheon is scheduled for Friday, October 8, from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m.

APA's Committee of Residents and Fellows will present a workshop for all interested residents on “Resident as Advocate: Community, State, National, and International Arena.” In the field of mental health, advocacy efforts can have a profound impact on the provision of clinical services. In this workshop, panelists will focus on how psychiatrists can become involved in efforts to promote mental health initiatives. Efforts to bridge the worlds of clinical service provision and political decision-making will be discussed. Panelists will review strategies for successful advocacy on the local, state, national, and international levels.

There will be a special emphasis on how residents can develop advocacy skills and participate in the advocacy process during and after residency training. This workshop will be held on Friday October 8 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Friday evening will close with a reception open to all residents and early career psychiatrists to network with colleagues and APA leaders. The reception is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Several resident groups will be attending and presenting at this meeting. The APA/Bristol-Myers Squibb Fellowship will present four workshops during the course of the meeting. Psychiatry chief residents who have taken part in the APA/Lilly Chief Resident Executive Leadership Program will also be in attendance, since APA believes it is imperative to expose residents to the most exciting new clinical research and the most successful public programs for the treatment of the seriously mentally ill.

Information about residents' activities including the APA/Bristol-Myers Squibb Fellowship Program and the APA/Lilly Chief Residents Executive Leadership Program, is available from Nancy Delanoche by e-mail at [email protected].▪