I'm wondering which psych residencies do not have training at VA hospitals or have increased training with younger populations. I'm very interested in C&A psych with more specific interests in anxiety, ADHD, and eating disorders. I know that I should get plenty of experience during a fellowship, but why not be able to do more of what I love? Also, I think I'd like to go into academics, so big research within my above interests would be a plus. Location is not an issue.
Not sure where you are in the application cycle, but you could also consider getting triple boarded in peds/psych/c&a psych. Also, you could look for places with strong child programs (have fellowship, own inpatient unit, good clinics) and do your electives there. Brown comes to mind
If you choose a university-based program, which you should based on your academic interests, you could see if you can structure some of your outpatient therapy and meds clinics to emphasize those "younger" issues. For example, I was at a major midwestern university, and I arranged an elective rotation with the student counseling center for a good part of a year--good place to see mood and anxiety disorders in the 18-25 year old age range.
Unless someone is really interested in the C&L side of C&A, is there a real added benefit to the peds part of the triple boarding? Curious about your insight. Unless there's a compelling reason to do additional boards, I'm not sure I see the payoff for the time investment (or the many hours needed over the years to keep current in another field).
It only takes 5 years to get triple boarded, so there's no extra time involved. The OP expressed a desire to spend more time working with kids, and you'd certainly do that in a 5 year triple board program.
I know this is a tangent from the OP...But I could never understand how anyone could be adequately trained in 5 years to be good at both pediatrics and psychiatry. 5 years to squeeze in pediatrics, adult psychiatry, AND C&A psychiatry? Just my 2 cents (and all the best to those who go for this), but it just seems like one's training would be too spread thin.
In addition to what the great and wise OPD said, try going to a program that allows you to do pediatrics in your 1st year. A lot of program will let you substitute IM for pediatrics. If you're 100% certain you want to do C&A, you might want to check out the UMass combined program. You can do all pediatric specialty training in your 1st year.
