Our Mission:

Through the use of health promotion, prevention, and intelligent intervention we strive to use the Family Based Approach with a long term goal of helping the well remain illness free, preventing at risk children from developing psychiatric illness and intervening comprehensively on behalf of the children and families challenged by emotional or behavioral disorders.

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Please View our Mission Video to Learn More

Director, Steven Schlozman, MD


 

 

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Education

As a department, we are immersed in education at every learner level. Our faculty teach at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels, at the Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont and within the Psychiatry Residency and Child Psychiatry fellowship. We play a key role in educating those interested in taking care of children and families.

 

 

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Patient Care

Providers at the Pediatric Psychiatry Clinic promote the Vermont Family Based Approach (VFBA) to best take care of our patients and their families. With our proximity to the community, we strive to make partnerships and support community members working with children and families across Vermont and upstate New York. Our providers also participate in the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry & Psychology Consult Service (CAPPCON) at the University of Vermont Medical Center, and the Vermont Child Psychiatry Access Program.

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Research

Our research aims focus on improving the health and wellbeing of the developing child. Faculty research programs include child dysregulation and irritability and the risk and resilience of children and adolescents. We partner with the Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families (RCCYF), the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP), and the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit (CNRU). Within the research community, we also partner with individual investigators that align with our research focuses.



Highlighted news from the Child Psychiatry department:

Gibson, McGowan Interviewed by WCAX about Eating Disorder Treatment in Vermont

September 24, 2024 by Lucy Gardner Carson

(SEPTEMBER 24, 2024) Erica Gibson, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, and Haley McGowan, D.O., assistant professor of psychiatry, were interviewed by WCAX-TV for a story on a renewed push for experts equipped to tackle eating disorders in Vermont.

(Photo: Adobe Stock)

(SEPTEMBER 24, 2024) Erica Gibson, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, and Haley McGowan, D.O., assistant professor of psychiatry, were interviewed by WCAX-TV for a story on a renewed push for experts equipped to tackle eating disorders in Vermont.

State data shows about one in 10 Vermonters will suffer from an eating disorder at some stage of life. Young women are especially vulnerable, although anyone can have an eating disorder.

“Some young people became quite ill before they came to the attention of their care providers. Or even if changes were subtle and slow over time, a family might not have noticed how bad things were getting,” said Gibson. “Things became a bit like a boiling pot and these issues skyrocketed for us. It was challenging to provide the level of support they needed given our small state and our smaller number of resources,” she said.

McGowan, who is director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Consult Program at the University of Vermont Medical Center and medical director of the Child, Adolescent and Family Unit at the Vermont Department of Mental Health, says it is parents who are pushing state leaders to do more.

“It was their collective voice that led to the development of the eating disorder workgroup. And so what that really did was create a blueprint for us of how to move forward,” McGowan said.

The eating disorder workgroup was established in 2022 under Act 115. It’s focused on studying and improving Vermonters’ access to eating disorder services. One goal is to train more experts to recognize the signs before patients reach a breaking point.

“That’s gotten us to a place where we are really critically looking at what we can do at all different levels, ideally to help prevent, to identify and intervene early,” said Gibson.

Read full story at WCAX-TV