Child & Adolescent Mental Health Programs
2025-2026 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Department of Psychiatry, BC Children’s Hospital
University of British Columbia
BC Children’s Hospital Department of Psychiatry is pleased to announce the availability of three, one-year funded fellowships in child and adolescent mental health for 2025 - 2026.
Clinical and/or research opportunities are available in the following mental health subspecialty areas. For more information please see attached advertisements regarding each fellowship opportunity and a contact for any questions.
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Emergency (CAPE) Inpatient Unit
- P2 Adolescent Psychiatry Inpatient Unit
- Eating Disorders
- Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health
- Somatization
- Substance Use and Concurrent Disorders
- Mood and Anxiety Disorders
Outstanding and highly motivated candidates at the PhD or MD level are encouraged to apply. The Fellow will participate in clinical and/or research opportunities pertaining to child mental health, in addition to related potential teaching and clinical activities as agreed upon with the Director of Child Psychiatry Postgraduate Training and the fellowship supervisor. The fellowship schedule and rotations will be developed collaboratively with the Director based on Fellow interests and training goals. Fellows may rotate through outpatient clinics as well as inpatient psychiatric programs.
Please note: This is a one-year training opportunity that does not satisfy the Royal College requirements for a designation in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Applicants wishing to pursue the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Subspecialty Training Program at UBC are redirected to: https://psychiatry.ubc.ca/education/residency-and-subspecialty-training-in-psychiatry/subspecialty-training-in-psychiatry/
Qualifications:
Successful candidates must have:
A medical degree and successful completion of a Residency Training Program AND/OR a PhD in mental health or neuroscience related fields. Strong commitment to ethical practice, high personal standards of behaviour and accountability to his/her profession Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Fellows must demonstrate a fluent command of written and spoken English. Applicants must meet the current English language proficiency requirements listed on the CPSBC website at https://www.cpsbc.ca/files/pdf/REG-ELP.pdf. If language proficiency requirements are not met, examination results must be provided. Eligibility for registration and licensure with the College and Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia or appropriate licensing board.Timeline:
- Applications will be accepted until end of business 20 January 2025.
- Successful candidates will be notified by email regarding the interview process, which will occur virtually in February 2025.
- Anticipated start date for of this position: between 1 July and 1 October 2025 for 12 months.
Application:
All interested applicants should forward the following documents to Dr. Kaveh Darabian, Director in Postgraduate Child Psychiatry Training at BCCH. Please note that there is a shared application process for all fellowship opportunities:
One letter of intent. The letter should be two pages in length at most and specify which fellowship the applicant is applying to. Please state clearly why the applicant wishes to train in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, and at our training site in particular. Please outline specific goals for the fellowship including proposed clinical and research experiences that will be explored during the interview process. Applicants should indicate their preferred clinical training experience to focus on during the one-year fellowship. An updated curriculum vitae (CV). Three letters of reference from supervisors. Each letter should be sent directly by the referee to the Director of Postgraduate Child Psychiatry Training and include a statement indicating the applicant will not know its contents. The letters should be up-to-date from the last academic year.
Please address ALL applications and inquiries to:
Dr. Kaveh Darabian - Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Post Graduate Education Director
BC Children's Hospital, Mental Health Bldg
4500 Oak Street, Vancouver BC Canada V6H 3N1
Email: kaveh.darabian@cw.bc.ca
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a global centre for research and teaching. Surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian West, UBC embraces bold new ways of thinking that attract exceptional students and faculty. It is a place where innovative ideas are nurtured in a globally connected research community, providing unparalleled opportunities to learn, discover and contribute.
Faculty members, students, staff and alumni in the UBC Faculty of Medicine are actively engaged in innovative, leading edge research, education and community service on university and hospital campuses across the Province. Together we aim to create knowledge and advance learning that will make a vital contribution to the health of individuals and communities, locally, nationally, and internationally.
Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. This position will operate out of the BC Children and Women’s Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders at BC Children’s Hospital.
UBC hires on the basis of merit and is committed to employment equity. All qualified persons are encouraged to apply. UBC is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. However, Canadian and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.
One of PHSA’s North Star priorities is to eradicate Indigenous-specific racism, which includes dismantling barriers to health care employment at every level. We welcome Indigenous individuals to apply and/or contact the Sanya'kula Team (Indigenous Recruitment & Employee Experience) for support at indigenous.employment@phsa.ca.
Indigenous-specific anti-racism initiatives are rooted in addressing the unique forms of discrimination, historical and ongoing injustices, and marginalization faced by Indigenous peoples. These initiatives align with an Indigenous rights-based approach, recognizing the inherent rights and self-determination of Indigenous communities. PHSA must uphold legislative obligations and provincial commitments found in the foundational documents such as including Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (2015), In Plain Sight (2020), BC's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2019), United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Reclaiming Power and Place Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls Calls for Justice (2019), the Declaration Act Action Plan and Remembering Keegan: A First Nations Case Study.
Fellowship in CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY EMERGENCY (CAPE) UNIT
BC Children’s Hospital
Full Time Fellowship (1 year) – Start Date between (July-October 2025)
Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders
The UBC Department of Psychiatry is inviting eligible candidates to apply for a full-time Fellowship on the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Emergency (CAPE) Inpatient Unit.
Who the Fellow will work with and what will be the core of their work:
The fellow will work closely with the primary supervisor on the CAPE unit and with the Psychiatric Emergency team members throughout BC Children’s Hospital, as well as many collaborators in emergency departments and teams throughout British Columbia. The team members primarily involved are the emergency psychiatrist, the psychiatric nurse clinicians (clinicians who assist with information gathering, connections upon admission or discharge, and documentation), the emergency department staff, and community partners in urgent psychiatric clinics.
The fellow will provide consultative service to the BC Children’s Emergency Department, with both opportunities to be supervised by expert supervisors in emergency assessment, as well as to supervise, working with third-to-fifth year core and elective psychiatric residents. The area of emergency psychiatry has a dearth of clinical research and there are ample research opportunities for descriptive, qualitative, experimental, educational, and quality-of-care-based research.
Details of the clinical/research training experience:
The core of the clinical experience will be managing psychiatric presentations to the Emergency Department at BC Children’s Hospital. In terms of demographics, the younger age group (<12, ~20% of presentations) often present with agitation, anxiety, neurodiversity, and developmental disabilities requiring psychiatric support or family crises, whereas the older age group (12+, 75% of presentations) present with mood and anxiety problems, as well as the more classical psychiatric illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. About 40-50% of our presentations are for suicidal ideation, behaviours, or attempts. On average there are 1-2 consultations per day. The core clinical experience occurs during the day so there are multiple team members to assist in the assessments.
With psychiatrists who have expertise in emergency psychiatry, there will be a clinical focus on teaching, research and clinical activities in:
Suicide risk assessment, prevention, techniques, and treatments Foundational aspects of psychopharmacology to help remove the “guesswork” from emergency psychiatric presentations of children and adolescents Effective and efficient emergency consultations Medico-legal risks and responsibilities Emergency Team Collaboration Principle based (rather than algorithmic based) emergency approaches that allow for easier clinical decision-making for the millions of combinations and permutations present in emergency presentations.
There is a severe lack of substantial research in emergency psychiatry, and the need for good research is high. This creates a fertile ground for research possibilities, from basic descriptive reports to large research projects. With a total throughput of 1400-2000 emergency psychiatric presentations per year, the large urban tertiary setting of BC Children’s Hospital would allow for almost any research-based question to be approached.
The principles of the Emergency Psychiatry Team at BC Children’s Hospital are:
Emergency assessments and treatments that meet the highest clinical scenarios As a team we support each other, in an all-for-one, one-for-all approach of collegiality We aim to minimize systemic discrimination that creates disadvantages and barriers to Indigenous, underrepresented, marginalized, racialized, and neurodiverse populations.
Please direct any inquiries about the inpatient unit or fellowship training opportunity to:
Dr. Fawad Elahi fawad.elahi@cw.bc.ca
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a global centre for research and teaching. Surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian West, UBC embraces bold new ways of thinking that attract exceptional students and faculty. It is a place where innovative ideas are nurtured in a globally connected research community, providing unparalleled opportunities to learn, discover and contribute.
Faculty members, students, staff and alumni in the UBC Faculty of Medicine are actively engaged in innovative, leading edge research, education and community service on university and hospital campuses across the Province. Together we aim to create knowledge and advance learning that will make a vital contribution to the health of individuals and communities, locally, nationally, and internationally.
Fellowship in P2 ADOLESCENT INPATIENT UNIT
BC Children’s Hospital
Full Time Fellowship (1 year) – Start Date between (July-October 2025)
Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders
The UBC Department of Psychiatry is inviting eligible candidates to apply for a full-time Fellowship in P2 Adolescent Inpatient Unit
Who the Fellow will work with and what will be the core of their work:
The fellow will work closely with their primary supervisor and other team members in the inpatient unit including child and adolescent psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, social worker, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, nurses and pharmacists. The fellow will participate in mini rounds daily with longer team meetings weekly and will have opportunities for involvement in assessment, treatment, community consultation, and teaching.
Details of the clinical/research training experience:
Clinical training experiences include diagnostic assessments, treatment planning using a bio-psycho-social approach, family meetings for support and psycho-education, as well as collaboration with multi-disciplinary team members and community care providers. Particular focus areas include cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral intervention, dialectical behavioral therapy as well as possibly exposure-response prevention. Specialized parent-child interaction therapy-informed is another area of expertise for the unit through weekly family meetings.
Applicants will have a medical degree and successful completion of a MD Residency Training Program AND/OR a PhD in mental health or related fields.
To apply for this rewarding career development opportunity, please forward a letter of application, accompanied by a detailed curriculum vitae and names of three references to:
Dr. Kaveh Darabian, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
Kaveh.darabian@cw.bc.ca
Applications will be accepted until end of business Mon 20 January 2025.
Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. This position will operate out of the Children and Women’s Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders at BC Children’s Hospital.
UBC hires on the basis of merit and is committed to employment equity. All qualified persons are encouraged to apply. UBC is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. However, Canadian and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.
Fellowship in SUBSTANCE USE AND CONCURRENT DISORDERS
BC Children’s Hospital
Part Time or Full Time Fellowship – Start Date between (July-October 2025)
Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders
The UBC Department of Psychiatry is inviting eligible candidates to apply for a part or full-time Fellowship on the Substance Use Response and Facilitation (SURF) Service.
Area of Focus: Substance Use and Concurrent Disorders
S.U.R.F. – Substance Use Response and Facilitation (SURF) Service
BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital
The Substance Use Response and Facilitation (SURF) Service provides a family and patient centered, integrated, trauma and violence informed, harm reduction approach to substance use and concurrent disorders for youth and young adults across the C&W campus. Through consultation and education, the SURF team increases awareness of substance use issues and builds confidence for successfully treating patients.
The SURF team provides timely assessment, recommendations, brief treatment and planning with community referral for patients of BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals with substance use concerns and/or concurrent disorders who are under the age of 24. SURF is an interprofessional team of addiction physicians, nursing, social workers, peer support workers and Indigenous wellness liaison workers.
SURF is expanding in September 2025 to provide outpatient bridging services for patients who are seen in the Emergency Department at BCCH and not attached to other substance use services in the community, and who may require stabilization and initial pharmacologic management including OAT with focus on community engagement and referrals. Further ambulatory expansion is scoped for fall 2024 and into early 2025. Planning for parent and teen groups is underway.
Fellowship Program Setting:
The fellow will work closely with their primary supervisor and other team members on the Substance Use Response and Facilitation (SURF) Team. The SURF service is made up of child and adolescent psychiatrists, family doctors, pediatrician/adolescent medicine specialists (all of whom have a background in substance use and addiction work), social workers, nursing, peer support workers and an Indigenous mental health and wellness liaison.
Fellowship Types Available in Program:
- Clinical
- Research
- Mixed Clinical/Research
- Mixed rotation with other clinics
Primary Clinical Focus:
The SURF Service can provide a variety of services including:
Assessment of substance use disorder severity, stages of change, and facilitation of addiction treatment Prescription of medications such as Opioid Agonist Therapies Help to manage withdrawal Reduce the risk of patient-initiated discharge (for patients who are admitted to hospital) Motivational interviewing to enable meaningful discussions with the patient about their future plans for recovery and relapse prevention, including community referrals Community referrals for transition of care for ongoing management
Primary Research Focus:
Research/Academic Project Opportunities:
There are an estimated 200 - 300 emergency room visits at BC Children’s Hospital annually relating to primary substance use presentations, not including the estimated 1400/year primary mental health BCCH ER visits, where concurrent substance use is a frequent comorbidity. The gap in BC is also significant and we are not prepared to engage youth and offer an effective treatment program for the long term, making sure that they recover and are able to develop their potential. We do not have an adequate and effective system of prevention and early intervention for these adolescents to engage them early and intervene in their trajectory of use. Care is fractured, siloed, difficult to access and with lengthy wait times for outpatient appointments and treatment beds. Without a continuum, youth lose trust in the healthcare system during critical moments of motivation for recovery, resulting in reduced access to care, increasing severity of substance usage and risky behaviours, worsening of health and mental health factors that are often under- or un-treated, leading to a substance use trajectory that is harder to treat and mental health challenges that may be more refractory to standard treatment approaches. There is an urgency for the development of a systematic and evidence-driven approach, and in order to support the development of a model of care, increased understanding about the needs of BC youth with respect to substance use and integrated mental health treatment.
1. BC Youth Substance Use Services Needs Assessment
The needs-assessment will include the development of a provincial cohort of youth presenting with high-risk substance use to monitor service use, health care integration and patient outcomes on a continuing basis. This could include identification of the individual demographics, social and environmental factors that influence health and wellbeing, substance use patterns, ED and community treatment utilization of youth presenting to BCCH with substance related concerns and to further identify other key factors that impact engagement with effective interventions of high-risk adolescent substance users. We recognize the importance of youth and family voices in the development of youth mental health and substances use services. To this effect, an approach will be developed to consistently receive feedback from youth and family about service delivery, models of care, and service gaps; youth and young adults with lived experience need to be systematically engaged to understand their identified needs, preferences in treatment delivery and towards building engaging and effective programming. This will involve linkage of local and provincial health administrative data sources held by Population Data BC, including the Open Data from the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD), the Medical Services Plan (MSP) database, the PharmaNet database, the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS) and the Vital Statistics database. This cohort dataset will provide information on the rate of emergency department use among youth who engage with youth mental health and substance use services, the level of complex concurrent needs, suicidal behaviours or self-harm and identification of subgroups with greatest risk of overdose.
2. Development of an Academic Model of Care for Youth and Young Adult Substance Use Services
The mapping will include a review of several ongoing pilot projects at BCCH (ie. ED mental health nurse team) and abroad, such as the Boston Children’s Hospital Adolescent Substance Use & Addiction Program (ASAP), Massachusetts General Hospital Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS), University of California San Francisco Youth Outpatient Substance Use Program (YoSUP), and SickKids Hospital Substance Abuse Outreach Program, among other evidence-based programs.
3. Universal Screening for Youth Substance Use in Acute Care Psychiatry at BC Children’s Hospital
To address current barriers in care for youth substance use, the objectives of this project are to support universal screening of all patients admitted to inpatient psychiatry for substance use, to increase referrals to subspecialty substance use care, and to improve the inclusion of substance use considerations in treatment planning. This project aims to understand existing screening practices, identify needs to be addressed and barriers to implementation and provide insight as to how Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) components should be tailored. A survey will be provided to inpatient staff to explore baseline practices, experiences, and training. They will then be provided with educational and training toolkits for alcohol and other drug use, a suggested brief intervention script, and information on referring patients to substance use specialty care. The impact of education and training on screening practices for admitted patients will be monitored. We anticipate that these interventions will support practice change towards universal screening for youth substance use for admitted patients, increase referrals to the Substance Use Response and Facilitation (SURF) team, allow for more frequent identification of substance use disorders, and increase confidence among mental health staff in working with substance-using youth.
4. Other writing projects: systematic review on pharmacologic management of youth alcohol use disorder, standardization of addiction education among pediatric training programs, etc.
Fellowship Supervisor:
Martha J. Ignaszewski MD, FRCPC, Dipl ABPN Dipl ISAM Dipl ABAM
Clinical Lead, SURF
Dr. Martha J Ignaszewski is a Harvard and UCSF trained psychiatrist with board certification in Adult, Addiction, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Canada and the USA. She is the Senior Medical Director of Substance Use and Concurrent Disorders and the Clinical Lead of the Substance Use Response and Facilitation (SURF) Service at BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital, and works as the Education Lead and as a Consulting Psychiatrist with the Complex Pain and Addiction Service (CPAS) at Vancouver General Hospital. She is also an early career researcher and a Research Scientist Co-Lead of the Substance Use Disorder Clinical Research Unit at the Hope to Health Research & Innovation Complex with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Dr. Ignaszewski is passionate about medical education and working with learners across the educational spectrum. Reducing the stigma of addiction and psychiatric conditions, and providing an understanding about the developmental perspective and impacts of social determinants of health on substance use disorders, and the intersection between addiction and concurrent disorders are areas of focus with learners and clinically.
Dr. Ignaszewski has held many leadership positions including ongoing roles with the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). She has received many awards in recognition of her work including the 2023 Early Career Leadership in OUD Care Award from the Western Canada Addiction Forum, 2022 Psychiatry On-Call Teaching Award at BC Children’s Hospital, and ASAM Ruth Fox Scholarship Award, the AACAP Educational Outreach Program Award for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residents and the Stuart J. Goldman Psychiatry Education Award, among others. She is a founding member of the Canadian Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (CAAP), which will be hosting its first annual conference in October 2024.
Dr. Ignaszewski has been a speaker at national conferences including the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, the California Society of Addiction Medicine, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Meeting, and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, and served on the Scientific Program Committee for the 2020 Virtual Annual Conference. She is an early career researcher with focus on youth substance use and concurrent disorders and has authored 33 peer reviewed publications and abstracts in notable journals.
Other Teaching Faculty and Interdisciplinary Team Members:
Physicians: Drs. Zuzana Dankova, Jimmy Wang
Intake Nurse: Rita Grewal
Nurse Clinician: Jennifer Toomey
Social Workers: Candice Estranero, Jocelyn Hollands, Madeline Chow
Indigenous Mental Health and Wellness Lead: Courtney (mat leave)
Peer Support Workers: Braeden Codd, Alexia Fast
There is the possibility to interface with the Addiction and Concurrent Disorders Research Group within the Institute of Mental Health at UBC under Dr. Michael Krausz
https://acdresearch.med.ubc.ca/
Please direct any inquiries about the inpatient unit or fellowship training opportunity to:
Dr. Martha J. Ignaszewski martha.ignaszewski@cw.bc.ca
Please address completed applications to:
Dr. Kaveh Darabian
Post Graduate Education Director
Email: kaveh.darabian@cw.bc.ca
Fellowship in EATING DISORDERS
BC Children’s Hospital
Full Time Fellowship (1 year) – Start Date between (July-October 2025)
Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders
The UBC Department of Psychiatry is inviting eligible candidates to apply for a full-time Fellowship in Eating Disorders.
Who the Fellow will work with and what will be the core of their work:
The fellow will work closely with their primary supervisor and multi-disciplinary team members in the eating disorders program including child and adolescent psychiatrists, pediatricians, nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists, social workers, dietitians, registered clinical counsellors, occupational therapists, nursing staff, and research assistants. The fellow will participate in weekly rounds and will have opportunities for involvement in assessment, treatment, community consultation, teaching and/or research. The program works collaboratively with the BC Children’s Hospital Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine (Department of Pediatrics), and has strong partnerships with community eating disorders programs and the Looking Glass Residence (residential eating disorders treatment facility in Vancouver for ages 16-24).
Details of the clinical/research training experience:
Clinical training experiences include multi-disciplinary diagnostic assessments, as well as individual, family and group-based treatment approaches for eating disorders in outpatient, day treatment, and inpatient treatment settings. The day treatment program is informed by dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and supports youth and their families to learn skills to work towards a life worth living. Clinicians from the outpatient and inpatient programs are trained in a variety of evidence-based therapies for pediatric eating disorders, including family-based therapy (FBT), enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-E), cognitive remediation therapy, and CBT for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (CBT-ARFID).
Fellows with a background in pediatrics/family medicine will have the opportunity to gain expertise in acute medical management and stabilization of children and youth with eating disorders.
The Eating Disorders Program also has an active research team, with a variety of on-going research studies focused on predictors of treatment outcome in children and youth with eating disorders.
Please direct any inquiries about the clinic or fellowship training opportunity to:
Dr. Jennifer Coelho: jennifer.coelho@cw.bc.ca
Fellowship in MOOD AND ANXIETY DISORDERS
BC Children’s Hospital
Full Time Fellowship (1 year) – Start Date between (July-October 2025)
Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders
The UBC Department of Psychiatry is inviting eligible candidates to apply for a full-time Fellowship in Mood and Anxiety Disorders.
Who the Fellow will work with and what will be the core of their work:
The fellow will work closely with their primary supervisor and other team members in the mood and anxiety disorders clinic including child and adolescent psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, social worker, graduate students, fellows, residents, and research assistants. The fellow will participate in weekly team meetings and will have opportunities for involvement in assessment, treatment, community consultation, teaching and mood and anxiety disorders research.
Details of the clinical/research training experience:
As a tertiary care outpatient clinic, we specialize in psychiatric assessment, follow up, and therapeutic interventions for treatment-resistant and complex presentations of mood and anxiety disorders. Among our close-knit interdisciplinary team, clinical training experiences include diagnostic assessments, individual and group-based treatment approaches for mood and anxiety disorders. Particular focus areas currently within the clinic include parent-led approaches to the treatment of mood and anxiety challenges as well as cognitive behavioural groups for children and parents including mindfulness components for parents. Specialized parent-child interaction therapy-informed group selective mutism treatment is another area of expertise for the clinic, as is combined attachment based and behavioural work for parents of children and youth with significant anxiety, mood difficulties and/or avoidance. We regularly run CBT groups childhood anxiety, as well as interpersonal therapy groups for teen depression. We are piloting a teen selective mutism group given the lack of research to guide treatment in this area. There are opportunities for research as interests and expertise align with clinic priorities, as well as for knowledge translation and community capacity building opportunities. We also work closely with other subspecialty clinics such as OCD and neuropsychiatry and there would be opportunities for collaboration across clinics in areas of shared expertise.
Applicants will have a medical degree and successful completion of a MD Residency Training Program AND/OR a PhD in mental health or related fields.
To apply for this rewarding career development opportunity, please forward a letter of application, accompanied by a detailed curriculum vitae and names of three references to:
Dr Kaveh Darabian: kaveh.darabian@cw.bc.ca
Fellowship in SOMATIZATION
BC Children’s Hospital
Full Time Fellowship (1 year) – Start Date between July-October 2024
Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders
The UBC Department of Psychiatry is inviting eligible candidates to apply for a full-time Fellowship in Somatization.
Who the Fellow will work with and what will be the core of their work:
Our services focus on somatization in children and youth (DSM5 Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders). Typical presentations include complex pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, functional neurological disorders, persistent-post concussion symptoms, persistent fatigue, and post-viral presentations. Stress is a large contributor to symptoms and functioning. The fellow will work closely with their primary supervisor and other team members in the Consultation-Liaison Service and the Teaching Clinic, including clinical psychologists, child and adolescent psychiatrists, a nurse-clinician, psychiatry residents, psychology graduate students, and research assistants. The fellow will participate in weekly team meetings and will have opportunities for involvement in assessment, treatment, community consultation, teaching and research.
Details of the clinical/research training experience:
This fellowship can be tailored to the fellow’s interests, passions, and career goals. The core of their work can involve any combination of clinical and research activities. Clinical work will include inpatient and outpatient diagnostic assessments, community consultation, family therapy, and individual therapy. Co-facilitating the Mind-Body Together group, which was developed at BCCH and is now implemented at pediatric centers across Canada, is a specific experience many learners have found innovative, beneficial to their growth. Treatments in our services target epistemic mistrust, identity development, parent-child relationships, emotional dysregulation, and behavioural activation. Inpatient clinical teams round daily; outpatient teams round weekly. A research or academic project can culminate in peer-reviewed research or the creation of knowledge translation products and resources for communities. Currently, all research is embedded in clinical services offered (e.g., creation and evaluation of treatments, long-term follow-up of previous patients). Both qualitative and quantitative projects may be supervised.
Please direct any inquiries about the clinic or fellowship training opportunity to:
PhD Inquiries to Dr. Amrit Dhariwal: amrit.dhariwal@cw.bc.ca
MD Inquiries to Dr. Andrea Chapman: achapman@cw.bc.ca
Fellowship in INFANT AND EARLY CHILDHOOD MENTAL HEALTH
BC Children’s Hospital
Full Time Fellowship (1 year) – Start Date between (July-October 2025)
Mental Health and Concurrent Disorders
The UBC Department of Psychiatry is inviting eligible candidates to apply for a full-time Fellowship in Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health.
Who the Fellow will work with and what will be the core of their work:
The fellow will work closely with their primary supervisor and other team members in the Infant Psychiatry Clinic including child and adolescent psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, social worker, occupational therapist, speech/language pathologist, and behaviour analyst. The fellow will participate in weekly team meetings and will have opportunities for involvement in assessment, treatment, community consultation, teaching and research.
Details of the clinical/research training experience:
Clinical training experiences include diagnostic assessments, individual and group-based treatment approaches for infant/early childhood mental health conditions. This clinic offers transdiagnostic opportunities across both neurotypical and neurodiverse populations, for both challenging externalizing behaviours and internalizing emotional difficulties. We offer attachment-based parenting and dyadic programs (e.g., Circle of Security, Watch Wait Wonder, VIPP-SD) to build parental reflective functioning and support healthy parent-child relationships. We also offer behaviour-based parenting interventions to support evidence-based strategies for managing disruptive behaviours, managing anxiety (including selective musitm) and enhancing emotional regulation skills in preschoolers. We regularly incorporate caregiver supportive approaches (e.g., Emotion-Focused Family Therapy, DBT Skills). We also work closely with other subspecialty clinics such as the Mood and Anxiety and Neuropsychiatry Clinics, and Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre. As such there would be opportunities for cross-clinic collaboration and resource development for knowledge dissemination. Research training experiences focus on clinical research that has direct impact on early childhood mental health. Project opportunities include exploring parenting beliefs/attitudes related to treatment matching, and developing/evaluating innovative virtual interventions; other areas of interest are welcome.
Please direct any inquiries about the clinic or fellowship training opportunity to:
PhD Inquiries to Dr. Janet Mah: jmah6@cw.bc.ca
MD Inquiries to Dr. Megan MacFadden: mmacfaden@cw.bc.ca
Labor Agreement Requisition #Fellow-CAMH-2427371 Work Site Job TypeTemporary, Full-Time Temporary Duration12 months FTE Hours of Work Work Days Expiry Date01-Feb-2025