Rigorous pursuit of excellence. I think that’s a defining feature of MGH/McLean psychiatry residency and why I chose to be a resident here. I was born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, a region that is among the poorest, if not the poorest, in the US in nearly every socioeconomic measurement. I chose this program because I wanted to have an unlimited toolset to be able to practice at the top of my potential in any area, I wanted mentorship in further development of my ideas for systemic change, and I wanted to gain more leadership skills within psychiatry to achieve my goal of becoming a practicing psychiatrist with a focus on child preventative community strategies and increasing access to mental health care in low resource areas.

I knew that I needed to train at the top with the top clinical and research faculty. So far, my experience at MGH/McLean has reflected exactly that. Starting from my first year as an intern in the child fast track, I completed a rigorous training year that challenged me. Once I reached my psychiatry portion of my training, I was glad to be constantly challenged with a diverse set of tasks, patient populations, breadth of cases, and care settings. Here, there’s a clear emphasis on learning, not just passively, but by doing, and the residency certainly feels like a full contact sport. Make no mistake, you’ll work long hours and really go in depth with many of your patient cases. But this intensity and breath of exposure allows you to see in high volume, not only the common bread and butter, fundamental cases in psychiatry, but also the rare and complex disorders that really differentiate a good psychiatrist from a world-class one. Furthermore, the real advantage of being at a place like this is being able to staff and learn from world class attendings how to approach cases, consider alternative treatments, and understand the intangibles.

Another reason why I chose this program was the access to a wide network of researchers developing projects in the community. The researchers I have been working with enthusiastically welcomed me to join them and helped me to navigate getting involved in an area that means so much to me while juggling rotations and residency requirements. I remember looking into opportunities as a medical student, and being pleasantly surprised at how much of a web the HMS system is and the numerous opportunities to work in whatever field you’d like with most importantly, enthusiasm from the top researchers to include you, mentor you, and support your growth as a future leader in psychiatry. Additionally, there are many scholarly opportunities that are thrown at you throughout residency to help you, regardless of previous experiences in these realms. This is one of the key ways MGH fosters future leaders in psychiatry.

Finally, I’d like to tell you about something I was pleasantly surprised by during my residency, and that’s the sense of family between residents and faculty. It’s probably hard to imagine, but with the clinical rigor and expectations, comes a strong sense of belonging and support from my fellow residents and faculty members.