Collaborative Nurturing Environment

We strive to support trainees as they develop clinical expertise and scholarly achievement in an environment that prioritizes collaboration, working as a team toward a common mission, and the experience of joy in the workplace. We are intentional about this goal, recognizing the need to model humanism not just for our patients, but for one another. We are excited to create a training environment where residents can feel grounded in a well-rounded life with the aim to launch uniquely fulfilling and meaningful careers in the field of psychiatry.

"I see Brigham as a place that exemplifies the process of striving with intention. With an optimistic energy that permeates the Department of Psychiatry, the Brigham functions as a rich soil to help trainees grow confidently into individualized niches that best suit their interests amidst the vast domain of psychiatry."

-Harish Pudukodu, PGY3

Resident Community

A core element of physician wellness is the experience of joy and meaning in the workplace and working together with a team towards a common mission. As a psychiatry resident at the Brigham, your collaborative team mission is two-fold. First, to take excellent care of your patients and yourself. Second, to support the collective pursuit of your peers to become exceptional physicians, scholars, leaders, advocates, educators and life-long learners.

Community building begins even before Match Day when you meet our residents through the interview process and begin to form connections. Newly matched residents are assigned a PGY2 Big-Sib who will be a point-person for any questions about life in Boston, finding housing, starting the program, etc. The PGY2 Big-Sib is part of a larger peer mentorship "family" consisting of Big-Sib-Little-Sib lineages across the four years. Mentorship families form strong bonds and may even collaborate on future scholarship.

The Residency Social and Wellness Committee, in collaboration with our Chief Residents, Education Coordinator, and Program Directors, plan many events throughout the year. We are excited to continue these annual events and hope to begin new post-COVID traditions.

Family Picnic hosted by Brigham Women in Psychiatry
Summer Welcome Party on the Lake at PD's house
Fall Overnight Retreat in New Hampshire
Boo-tastic Halloween Brunch and Pumpkin Carving
Thanksgiving Dinner
Winter Resident Coffeehouse
February Wellness Day
Resident and Faculty Boston Redsox game at Fenway Park
End-of-Year Farewelcome Retreat
Graduation at the Cambridge Boat Club

Other events, including Philosophy Salon, Book Club, Happy Hour, and many others, are frequent. In addition to residency-wide events, each class receives a stipend for social events and activities.

Family First

Family First is a core value of the residency program, recognizing that we cannot be exceptional physicians if we are not able to take good care of ourselves and our loved ones. We are always thrilled to welcome a new PGY-0 addition to the Brigham Psychiatry family, and we are committed to supporting resident parent mental health, breastfeeding and pumping, gradual transitions back to full time work, flexible scheduling, and creative use of parental leave time.

Parental Leave

The State of Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave benefit allows residents to take paid leave to manage a personal serious health condition (up to 20 weeks), care for a family member with a serious health condition, and/or bond with a child during the first 12 months following birth, adoption or foster care placement (up to 12 weeks total per academic year). The American Board of Medical Specialties requires that “member boards” must allow for a minimum of 6 weeks of time away from training for purposes of parental, caregiver and medical leave at least once during training without exhausting other allowed time away and without extending training.

Our program allows resident parents (gestational and non-gestational parents) to take 12 weeks of leave within the first year of the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child without extending training, as long as the resident is in good academic standing and meeting core competencies at the expected training level at the time of the leave. Scheduling of leave is flexible, and we will work with each resident to design a return from leave plan that best meets the needs of the individual resident.

Do residents have to make-up on-call time when on parental or medical leave?

No. The postpartum period is one of exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Residents should never have to return from leave only to take extra call. Likewise, residents will never be asked to take more on-call shifts while pregnant to "make-up call in advance." On-call time will be prorated for the amount of days worked during the academic year.

If a resident learns of an upcoming need for leave...

...in advance of the academic year when the leave will occur, the call schedule will be built with the prorated leave time in mind. The remaining call will be distributed amongst the class.
...during the same academic year as when the leave will occur, call shifts will be removed from the resident and will be offered to other residents at a competitive moonlighting rate.

Resources for Parents