Psychiatry Residency Wellness Initiatives

At University of Maryland and Sheppard Pratt Psychiatry Residency Program, we are committed to improving the wellbeing of our psychiatry residents.

We incorporate structural changes and support to assist trainees in maintaining their mental health.

Our biggest resource in this program is our peers and mentors.

For our junior residents, we have available in-house senior residents with attendings and chief resident readily available over the phone for anything from questions about policies and procedures to medically acute events to making decisions about discharging/transferring patients overnight. In this program, you have support available to you 24/7. Listed below are the other ways that we support our residents: 

• Protected didactic time for all residents 
• 1 wellness day per every 6 months in addition to vacation days; Many residents use this for their own appointments 
• Re-structured and improved maternity/paternity leave for residents (NEW!) 
• Big Sib–Little Sib program: incoming interns are paired with more senior resident for peer support during PGY 1 year
• Wellness Committee run by PGY 3 resident for social events: potlucks, happy hours, trivia nights, river tubing (pre-covid)
• • Annual Welcome Picnic 
  • Annual Resident Retreat in September 
  • Annual Holiday Party 
  • Psychoanalytic Movie Nights
• House Staff Association events: Happy hours, Annual Valentine’s Day Dinner Dance, Annual Halloween Party among others
• Program Evaluation Committee: residents and education office meet frequently to re-assess and improve program for residents.  Resident feedback for rotations is taken very seriously. Changes based on that feedback is implemented whenever possible.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): counselors available for all trainees free of cost. Referrals can be made through EAP for longer term mental health care.
  • A list of local therapists from social workers to private practice psychiatrists made available to all residents
• RISE program: Resilience in Stressful Events: available for all trainees for adverse events
• COVID-19 Support: Peer Support Line created specifically for COVID 19 related stress
• •   Ensuring appropriate PPE is available for all residents