Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship
Our mission is to improve the mental health and well-being of children and families across Western North Carolina through the training of skilled, compassionate, and thoughtful child and adolescent psychiatrists. We are dedicated to supporting our fellows in achieving excellence in clinical care, scholarship, and professional growth by providing the opportunities, mentorship, and resources needed to thrive.
Our fellowship is designed to provide a broad and diverse range of clinical experiences that prepare trainees to become well-rounded, generalist psychiatrists with specialized expertise in child and adolescent mental health. Fellows develop the skills to care for patients across the lifespan and practice effectively in a variety of settings—from outpatient clinics to hospitals, schools, and community systems.
Our curriculum emphasizes early identification and prevention of mental illness; evidence-based treatments; and integrated, team-based care. This training is grounded in developmental theory, an understanding of complex social systems, and a commitment to ethical clinical practice.
We seek applicants who are dedicated to serving the communities of Western North Carolina and who are passionate about providing comprehensive, family-centered, mental health care.
We invite you to explore our program, reach out with any questions, and consider joining us in this important work!
Sincerely,
Nick Ladd, DOProgram Director, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship
Faculty, Psychiatry Residency
Chloe Bolon, MDAssistant Program Director, Psychiatry Residency
Assistant Program Director, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship
MAHEC is committed to inspiring and equipping the next generation of healthcare professionals and expanding access to care for all. Our vision is to create a healthier community in Western North Carolina and beyond.
The didactic curriculum provides an overview of the psychiatric field of knowledge and the many other topic areas that affect the delivery of psychiatric care. This includes the fundamentals of the child and adolescent psychiatric interview along with utilization of different models of formulation. Development will also be covered, including the multiple facets of normal and abnormal development. For each psychiatric disorder, we will cover the diagnostic criteria, clinical presentation, pathophysiology, epidemiology, natural course, preventive approaches, psychopharmacology, and non-pharmacologic treatments of the disorder. Fellows are taught and exposed to a wide range of therapies including cognitive behavioral therapy, supportive psychotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, motivational interviewing, parent-child interaction therapy, and interpersonal therapy.
Special attention will be paid to the many and varied systems that child psychiatrists work within, and how these influence mental health. These include the school, healthcare, legal, economic, political, and sociocultural systems. We will cover the foundations of ethical and professional practice including how to be active in the different professional organizations that help to shape and guide our field. Practicing as a physician requires not only the skills to be a good clinician, but also the ability to navigate the business and administrative sides of medicine.
We also recognize that the healing role of a child psychiatrist extends beyond direct clinical work, which is why we have a project-based advocacy curriculum that extends throughout both years of fellowship.
To help fellows be successful in obtaining their board certification, a portion of didactics will be devoted to understanding the Child Psychiatry Board exam. Fellows will also participate in an ongoing journal club to help keep up with and critically evaluate the developing knowledge base of child and adolescent psychiatry.
Fellows are expected to participate in research projects beginning in their first year, with the results of that work submitted for publication or presented in poster sessions. Financial support is available to travel for research-related activities. Fellows also participate in quality improvement projects and study systems of care throughout their training.
The first year of the fellowship follows a block schedule and focuses on inpatient work at specialized child and adolescent-focused sites. This will include time on the Mission Child & Adolescent inpatient units, Broughton Inpatient Adolescent unit, Mission Children’s forensic team, and Mission Peds ED and consultation liaison teams. One afternoon per week will also be dedicated to didactics, and one afternoon per week will be spent in MAHEC Psychiatry’s outpatient continuity clinic focusing on psychotherapy.
The second year of the fellowship follows a longitudinal schedule and focuses on outpatient work at MAHEC as well as a variety of sites, including:
One full day per week will be spent in MAHEC Psychiatry’s outpatient continuity clinic (one half day doing medication management and one half day doing psychotherapy). Fellows will also continue to have one afternoon per week dedicated to didactics, in addition to one half day per week dedicated to a research/QI project.
Fellows are encouraged to tailor their education to their personal interests through an elective rotation, which allows them to gain additional experience in one of their scheduled rotations or to pursue additional interests in a different patient setting.
Our outpatient psychiatry clinic, the Center for Psychiatry and Mental Wellness, is housed at UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC along with branch campuses of the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Our fellowship program is located on the same campus with our dental, family medicine, transitional year, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pharmacy, psychiatry, and surgery residencies, which provides an optimal environment for cross-fertilization of ideas and collaboration. Additionally, fellows will have the opportunity to participate in the education of fellow learners—including residents from different programs and medical students.
| Orientation & Onboarding | 0.5 block (2 weeks) |
| Mission Hospital Child Unit & Peds ED | 4 blocks (16 weeks) |
| Mission Hospital Adolescent Unit & Peds C/L | 3 blocks (12 weeks) |
| Broughton State Hospital Adolescent Unit | 2 blocks (8 weeks) |
| Mission Child Safety Team | 1 block (4 weeks) |
| Electives | 2 blocks (8 weeks) |
| Didactics | Tuesday Afternoons |
| MAHEC Psychotherapy Clinic | Wednesday Afternoons |
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AM | Meridian Behavioral Health - Community Psychiatry | Research/QI | MAHEC - Medication Management clinic | UNC TEACCH | Blue Ridge Health - School-Based Clinic |
| PM | (continued) | Didactics | MAHEC - Psychotherapy clinic | Pediatric Collaborative Care Consultation (monthly) | (continued) |
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AM | Meridian Behavioral Health - Community Psychiatry | Blue Ridge Health - Pediatric Neurology | MAHEC - Medication Management clinic | Eliada Home - Residential Therapies | Blue Ridge Health - School-Based Clinic |
| PM | (continued) | Didactics | MAHEC - Psychotherapy clinic | Research/QI Pediatric Collaborative Care Consultation (monthly) |
(continued) |
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Monday On Monday, I start the week at North Henderson High School for our school-based psychiatry clinic. I rotate between North Henderson High and its feeder school, Apple Valley Middle, both located in Hendersonville—about 30 minutes south of Asheville. During the school day (8am–3pm), students are pulled from class for medication management visits with me and for therapy at the integrated Blue Ridge Health clinic. After clinic, I call parents and guardians to share updates and gather their perspectives. Being able to collaborate directly with school-based therapists is incredibly valuable, and providing care within the school setting helps overcome common barriers like transportation and scheduling that can limit access in traditional outpatient clinics. |
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Tuesday Tuesday mornings are dedicated to conducting research and administrative time—returning calls to schools, therapists, and families, and catching up on documentation. I also can schedule personal appointments during this time. Today, I am going for a run at The Biltmore, just a few minutes from MAHEC campus, before our didactics in the afternoon. Over this year, I completed research studying the effect of lunch related behaviors on resident/fellows wellness and burn-out. Tuesday afternoons we have didactics. Today, our CAP fellows presented a case to PGY-2 residents on identifying and treating anxiety in children and adolescents. We also had a neurobiology lecture on anxiety from Dr. Victor Dostrow, a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society, followed by a joint session with MAHEC Family Medicine Addiction Fellows focused on adolescent addiction. |
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Wednesday On Wednesdays, I’m at MAHEC’s main campus seeing child and adolescent patients for medication management in the morning. My colleagues and I often eat lunch together at The Hive, a café above the clinic. In the afternoon, I provide individual therapy and conduct family therapy sessions. I also have my weekly therapy supervision with faculty to discuss my current cases. |
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Thursday Thursdays vary depending on the rotation. Currently, I’m at the UNC School of Medicine TEACCH Autism Program. Here, I observe and participate in comprehensive psychological assessments, including evaluations for autism spectrum disorder, intellectual functioning, and adaptive skills. The day typically begins with family visits and testing, followed by scoring and interpretation over lunch. When families return, we review the findings together and discuss diagnosis and next steps. |
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Friday On Fridays, I travel about 30 minutes west to Waynesville for a rural child and adolescent clinic with Blue Ridge Health. This site serves as a critical point of access, as many of my patients travel over an hour from points further west. Our medical assistant supports clinic flow by managing vitals, check-ins, and calls. Therapists are co-located, making in-person collaboration easy, and we usually grab lunch from a local deli nearby. |
It’s been a full and rewarding week. One of the greatest strengths of this program is the opportunity to work with children and families in a wide range of settings—truly meeting them where they are. This experience has also helped me build strong connections across the region and ultimately led me to a job I’m excited to begin after graduation.
— Gabrielle Terán, MD
Class of 2026
Sweeten Creek Mental Health and Wellness Center in Asheville serves as a primary training site for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellows. This new, state-of-the-art behavioral health facility includes dedicated child and adolescent inpatient units where fellows provide care for youth with depression, anxiety, mania, trauma, PTSD, and other acute psychiatric conditions. The center features a variety of therapeutic spaces—including outdoor courtyards, a gymnasium, basketball court, garden, and cafeteria—supporting a holistic treatment environment. Fellows work as part of multidisciplinary teams and gain robust experience in inpatient psychiatry as well as exposure to emergency and consult-liaison psychiatry at Mission Children’s Hospital. A new adolescent IOP opened at Sweeten Creek, which is available as an elective rotation.
Broughton State Hospital is a key training site for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellows, offering experience within North Carolina’s state psychiatric hospital system. Located in Morganton, Broughton serves the 37 westernmost counties and provides specialized inpatient care for patients whose needs cannot be safely managed in community settings. Fellows work with adolescents ages 12-17 with severe and persistent psychiatric illness, complex diagnostic presentations, and treatment-resistant conditions, often requiring longer lengths of stay and coordination across multiple systems of care. The program delivers comprehensive medical, psychiatric, psychological, social, and educational services. Training at Broughton allows fellows to collaborate within interdisciplinary teams while developing expertise in systems-based care, community partnership, and the management of complex adolescent psychiatric cases.
Our Center for Psychiatry and Mental Wellness, located on MAHEC’s Biltmore Campus, is the region’s only Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). The center is dedicated to providing high-quality, comprehensive mental health care to residents of Western North Carolina regardless of financial circumstances. The interdisciplinary team includes psychiatrists, advanced practice providers, therapists, nurses, and peer support specialists who deliver a full spectrum of psychiatric and behavioral health services for children, adolescents, and adults. As a core training site of the fellowship, the Center for Psychiatry and Mental Wellness offers fellows robust clinical experience in both psychotherapy and medication management. Fellows work directly with children and their families, developing skills in delivering compassionate, evidence-based care within a collaborative team-based environment.
Olson Huff Center is an outpatient developmental pediatrics practice that provides comprehensive diagnostic evaluations and behavioral health services. The interdisciplinary team includes psychologists, nurse practitioners, licensed clinical social workers, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and physical therapists. This collaborative team supports children in developing social skills, communication abilities, and executive functioning. Fellows observe and participate in psychological evaluations for neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorder. Additionally, fellows work closely with PT, OT, and SLP clinicians, gaining exposure to a wide range of therapeutic approaches for children with diverse developmental and behavioral needs.
Blue Ridge Health – Behavioral Health is an outpatient Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) training site located in Waynesville (30 minutes west of Asheville). This rotation offers exposure to a more rural clinical setting and the unique needs of patients living outside an urban environment. The clinic supports integrated, team-based care, with psychiatrists, advanced practice providers, and therapists working within the same facility.
Blue Ridge Health – Pediatric Neurology is an outpatient practice in Arden (20 minutes south of Asheville). Second-year fellows participate in rotations at this site and gain longitudinal experience in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions in children, such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy, headaches, and sleep disorders.
Blue Ridge Health - School-Based Health includes Apple Valley Middle School and North Henderson High School, located in Hendersonville (30 minutes south of Asheville), which are public schools that integrate medical and behavioral health services. In this setting, fellows are integrated within a school-based clinic and work alongside an interdisciplinary team that includes school-based therapists, nurses, teachers, and administrators. This model offers a unique opportunity to deliver psychiatric services directly within the school day, reducing common barriers to care such as transportation and scheduling while improving access and continuity of treatment for adolescents.
Asheville TEACCH® Center is the regional location of the UNC TEACCH® Autism Program, where Fellows observe and participate in diagnostic evaluations for autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental conditions. TEACCH® offers services including diagnostic evaluations, individual and group therapies, parent training, vocational assistance, and a variety of support services to autistic individuals and their families.
Eliada is a non-profit based in Asheville that provides a continuum of programming and services to over 600 children annually. The main property is a large working farm with horses, goats, chickens, and a pig. Eliada maintains a 5-Star Child Development Center (childcare, pre-k, afterschool, and summer camp), Residential mental health programs, Respite Services, and Workforce-Ready housing assistance. Fellows work in a variety of different treatment settings within Eliada, including at the Child Development Center, Eliada Treatment Center (a residential assessment center), Reuter Transitional Cottage (Level 3 facility), and day-treatment at Eliada Academy. Eliada also offers Intensive In-Home programs, Foster Care services, and Therapeutic Foster Care. As part of the rotation, Fellows observe a unique variety of therapies, including groups, agricultural therapy, and equine-assisted therapy.
There is no in-house overnight or weekend call.
Fellowship Year 1
Fellowship Year 2
We are excited about your interest in our fellowship and look forward to learning more about you through your application! After we receive your ERAS application, we will carefully review this to determine if we would like to offer an interview.
Applicants must have satisfactorily completed a Psychiatry residency program or sufficient residency training to meet residency graduation requirements upon completing the first year of fellowship, have DEA certification, and be eligible to obtain a license to practice medicine in North Carolina through the North Carolina Medical Board. Additionally, applicants will be required to submit:
MAHEC does not directly sponsor residents or fellows that need a J-1 Sponsorship VISA. Non-U.S. citizen applicants needing visa sponsorship must secure this directory from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). The ECFMG is authorized by the U.S. Department of State to sponsor foreign national physicians for the J-1 Exchange Visitor visa for the purpose of participating in U.S. programs of graduate medical education or training. ECFMG is designated by the U.S. Department of State as a BridgeUSA sponsor for J-1 exchange visitor physicians enrolled in accredited programs of graduate medical education or training, or advanced research programs (involving primarily observation, consultation, teaching, or research). Although many universities and research institutions in the United States are authorized to sponsor exchange visitors as research scholars, ECFMG is the sole sponsor of J-1 physicians in clinical training programs.
Questions regarding VISA Sponsorship should be directed to the GME office at 828-232-2946 or gme@mahec.net.
Ben Frost
Symone Simmons
John Nicholls, MD, JD
Don Buckner, MD
Sheneen Daniels, PhD
Matt Edwards, MD
Dara Fazelnia, DO
Laura Hopkins, LCMHC
Nina Leezenbaum, PhD
Karin Nylund, MD
Brittany Vasquez, MD
Sarah Wells, MD
Melissa Zimmer, MSW, LCSW, LCAS, CSI
Angus Bennett, MD, MFA
Carol Tran, MD
Ellen Williams, MD