Post-Baccalaureate Child and Adolescent Clinical Fellowship Program
The Simches Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at McLean Hospital offers a two-year Post-Baccalaureate Clinical (PBac) Fellowship Program for college graduates interested in pursuing a career in mental health.
This guided, entry-level professional experience is shaped by the four pillars of McLean Hospital’s mission: excellence in clinical care, groundbreaking state-of-the-art scientific investigation, training the next generation of mental health professionals, and serving the hospital and our communities.
Led by Fairlee C. Fabrett, PhD, the PBac Fellowship Program includes a two-year, full-time paid position in one of the following programs:
- McLean-Franciscan Child and Adolescent Inpatient Program, located in Brighton, Massachusetts, provides acute stabilization and treatment for children and teens
- McLean-Franciscan Community Based Acute Treatment Program, located in Brighton, Massachusetts, offers short-term residential mental health care for children and teens
- 3East DBT Intensive Residential Programs, located in Arlington, Massachusetts, specialized residential care for teens struggling with self-injury, emotion dysregulation, and suicidal ideation
- 3East DBT Partial Hospital Program, located in Arlington, Massachusetts, provides specialized care for adolescents struggling with self-injury, emotion dysregulation, and suicidal ideation
- OCDI Jr., located in Belmont, Massachusetts, a specialized residential program for children and teens who have a diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder
- Belmont Adolescent Partial Hospital Program, located in Belmont, Massachusetts, a day program for adolescents struggling with mood and anxiety, and other diagnoses
- McLean SouthEast Adolescent Acute Residential Treatment Program, located in Middleborough, Massachusetts, a residential program for teens who struggle with everyday functioning, such as going to school, difficulty maintaining friends, sadness, substance misuse, etc.
- McLean SouthEast at Oak Street Child and Adolescent Inpatient Program, located in Middleborough, Massachusetts, for teens who need crisis evaluation and stabilization, including medication management
- Arlington School, located in Belmont Massachusetts, an accredited high school for students with mental health challenges
Fellows assigned to the McLean-Franciscan programs are employed, paid, and have the benefits of Franciscan Hospital. All fellows are expected to work 40 hours (unless specified by their program) and as such receive all the benefits of regular employees, such as paid vacation hours, health insurance, and sick days.
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McLean’s PBac Clinical Fellowship: What You Want To Know
While the programs share the mission of caring for children, adolescents, and their families, each has a different approach to treatment and set of interventions based on the population and diagnoses they treat. Some of our programs are known for their fast-paced, acute environment with quick decision making. Other programs, while also acute, offer different levels of care and rely on other, more specialized therapeutic interventions.
Each program also has a different set of expectations and schedules. Inpatient programs have day, evening, and overnight shifts, while other programs are a mix between day, evening, and weekends shifts.
Based on the applicant’s interest and interview process, accepted fellows are assigned to a program where they spend the two years of the fellowship.
During the first week of orientation, the fellows learn about a variety of topics such as the different levels of care in a mental health environment, understanding how to work with a multidisciplinary team, essentials of group therapy, and professional boundaries and ethics.
Throughout the year, the fellows participate in program-specific training and supervision along with other program colleagues.
In addition to opportunities at their program, fellows join in a monthly professional development and education seminar where they learn from world-renowned clinicians about different therapy modalities, therapeutic strategies, and diagnoses. The seminars also provide professional development guidance, exposure to professionals of different disciplines, and support around graduate school applications.
If interested and available on their assigned program, fellows also participate in scholarly activities which may include a poster presentation in a conference, collaborating in manuscript writing, or other exciting opportunities.
This fellowship relies heavily in mentorship, as it is very important for academic and career development. We offer a peer mentorship program where our second-year fellows mentor first-year fellows, offering support and guidance. In addition, fellows are also matched with a clinician within their program who provides career-related mentorship as well as supervision, if needed.
Finally, fellows participate in community service, or even help plan, events in coordination with the NAACP, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and McLean’s own nationally recognized Deconstructing Stigma project—to name just a few of the exciting opportunities.
A crucial mission of the PBac Fellowship Program is to be a part of diversifying the field of mental health professionals to be better prepared and able to meet the needs of patients of color.
Fellowship leadership have gathered a group of committed psychologists to support mindful and thoughtful recruitment of students of backgrounds typically underrepresented in medicine.
Our group of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) advisors include:
- Alessandro S. De Nadai, PhD, McLean Hospital
- R. Meredith Elkins, PhD, McLean Hospital
- Freda Liu, PhD, University of Washington School of Medicine
- Diana Naranjo, PhD, Stanford University
- Marcus A. Rodriguez, PhD, Pitzer College
How to Apply
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter indicating your program of interest, CV, and a letter of recommendation from a current supervisor, professor, or anyone who might be able to talk about your work ethic and/or experience.
Interviews take place in February/March, with offers extended in April/May. The fellowship begins in early June 2024.
For more information, please contact Fairlee C. Fabrett, PhD.
