Training Sites
We are a large program that has access to a variety of clinical training sites, each of which provides residents with a unique learning experience.
The Stewart & Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA (RNPH), a 74-bed acute psychiatric hospital, is among the leading centers in the world for comprehensive patient care, research, and education in the fields of mental health, developmental disabilities, and neurology. A key part of UCLA Health System, the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital is the major psychiatry teaching facility of the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences. The staff of Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital is composed of faculty from the departments of psychiatry, neurology, medicine, and pediatrics as well as members from the professional disciplines of nursing, psychology, occupational therapy, recreational therapy, speech pathology, social work, and special education. Patients of the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital and their families participate actively in their plan for treatment, during hospitalization, and after discharge, and special procedures and personnel are employed to ensure the most effective involvement of families in the care of patients.
UCLA Health is currently in the process of relocating the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital to the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood about six miles east of the university’s Los Angeles campus in Westwood. It will include comprehensive behavioral health care services for adult, geriatric, pediatric, and adolescent patients, as well as a dedicated area for crisis stabilization services. The new hospital is planned for 119 inpatient acute care psychiatric beds. That’s 45 (61%) more than the 74 beds in UCLA Health’s current neuropsychiatric hospital. It also will include a dedicated care area for crisis stabilization services. The current timetable calls for completion and occupancy of the new UCLA behavioral health hospital in 2027. Learn more about the move to the new Mid-Wilshire location at this website.
300 Medical Plaza is an ambulatory care teaching and clinical care facility located across the street from the Semel Institute, which is a major site for outpatient psychiatric care, education, and research.
The West Los Angeles VA Medical Center is a 500-bed hospital and outpatient treatment complex affiliated with the UCLA School of Medicine where over 230 residents are currently completing training in 20 specialties. The inpatient psychiatry service includes 45-beds between 3 units, with an emphasis on acute psychiatric stabilization. The WLA VA offers a wide range of services for veterans including inpatient services, partial hospital programs, residential substance use programs, neuromodulation, housing programs, outreach services, and other outpatient services include both general and specialized clinics (for patients with schizophrenia, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, alcoholism and substance abuse, family problems, geriatric mental disorders, neurobehavioral disorders, and mixed medical-psychiatric disorders).
At the VA, our residents have the opportunity to gain experience with all of the major psychiatric syndromes, learn about the unique VA healthcare delivery model, gain exposure to a full variety of clinical treatment modalities, and collaborate with faculty on research and community initiatives.
Founded in 1955, the UCLA Medical Center became the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in 2008, reopening in a new 10-story structure (eight above ground) becoming the biggest construction project in the history of the University of California. This building houses the UCLA Medical Center, Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, and (until the move to Mid-Wilshire in 2027) the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital (RNPH) at UCLA. Our residents play the role of psychiatric consultants in this hospital, seeing patient in both in the Emergency Department and on the medical/surgical units.
The VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center, fondly known by our residents as “SACC”, is a large outpatient medical complex located in the San Fernando Valley. PGY-1 residents from all 4 tracks spend 4 weeks here participating in a variety of primary care and specialty clinics.
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is a world famous 500 bed acute general hospital that provides a rare combination of academic excellence and the rich patient flow of a major public teaching hospital. Jointly administered by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the hospital contains distinguished departments and training programs in all major specialties, and the Department of Psychiatry is in its fifth decade of research, training, and service to patients and their families. PGY-1 residents from all 4 tracks spend 4 weeks rotating here in the Psychiatric Emergency Department during their intern year. In addition, PGY-2 residents in the Greater Los Angeles Track have the option of completing one month of their child and adolescent psychiatry requirement here rotating on the Adolescent Emergency Service.
Our residents have access to each of the several psychoanalytic centers in the Los Angeles area, including:
- New Center for Psychoanalysis: newcenterforpsychoanalysis.org
- Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis: icpla.edu
- LA Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies: laisps.org
- Jung Institute: junginla.org
During the PGY-3 or 4 years, residents with an interest in global mental health can conduct 1-month rotation at the Tintswalo Hospital in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Psychiatry residents rotating at Tintswalo work daily in primary care clinics with a general practitioner who has advanced training in mental health to evaluate and treat patients with psychiatric illnesses in a rural community setting. Residents also play an active role in teaching and training nurses and physician assistants to evaluate psychiatric disorders that are commonly seen in rural clinics including depression, new onset psychosis, postpartum mental disorders, psychiatric complications of illness such as HIV/AIDS, and post-traumatic disorders. Psychiatry faculty from UCLA provide telesuperivison via online video conference to discuss cases the residents have seen in the clinic. Given that practicing psychiatry in South Africa presents numerous barriers including access to medication and treatment and understanding of the cultural perspective on mental illness, the residents will rely on feedback and instruction from local staff and health care providers to ensure that they are delivering culturally competent and evidence based care. The long-term goals of this experience are to train residents that will continue to work in community-based and international settings (academic, research, non-profit, governmental, clinical, etc.) where mental health care access is limited in the context of a profound cultural stigma against mental health.
In addition to the core training sites at UCLA and the VA, our residents also have the option of rotating in a variety of partner sites throughout the Los Angeles area. For more information, see the Community and External Clinics sections of the Clinics page.