GWU Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

The Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) is a 127 bed, JCAHO approved psychiatric hospital administered by the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services. As the prototype for Virginia's regional psychiatric facilities, the NVMHI provides a continuum of patient care, including:

The average length of hospitalization is 39 days for acute to subacute patients but can be longer for forensic patients mandated by the courts. Patients who are admitted reflect the multi-ethnic populations of Northern Virginia. Treatment discourages institutional dependence and emphasizes early, gradual resumption of family and community responsibilities with outpatient treatment. The hospital is located on the grounds of Fairfax Hospital, which provides medical and surgical support. The facility is accessible to GW by car (20 minutes) and by public transportation via train and bus lines.

The Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute is a key component of inpatient psychiatry training during the PGY-II year, offering training on interdisciplinary teams with intensive treatment of patients diagnosed with psychotic, dissociative, mood, and severe personality disorders. Residents participate in forensic evaluations involving involuntary commitments for hospitalization, including court proceedings. A PGY-IV resident can serve as Chief Resident, directing a multi-disciplinary treatment team, treating psychiatrically complex disorders, and teaching junior residents and medical students.

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CENTER FOR MULTICULTURAL HUMAN SERVICES

The Center for Multicultural Human Services (CMHS) in Falls Church, Virginia, provides extensive community mental health services for immigrant and refugees in Fairfax County, Virginia, a county in which 180 countries and 100 languages are represented in the public schools. CMHS provides broad programs of social services including housing assistance, English as second language classes, job skill training, psychological assessments for refugees seeking political asylum, and mental health counseling in 28 different languages. A program for survivors of torture and severe trauma is funded by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement and the United Nations.

Psychiatric services for CMHS are provided by GWU faculty, residents, and medical students as an on-site extension of the GWU Department of Psychiatry clinical programs. Faculty and residents treat both patients with post-traumatic disorders associated with torture, political violence, or war in their countries of origin, and patients with mental disorders unrelated to trauma. Most clinical work is conducted with translators. Currently, five PGY-III residents conduct outpatient clinics at CMHS under the supervision of GWU full-time psychiatry faculty.

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THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH

The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWISH) is a university-based organization that is working towards a more compassionate system of healthcare. The research, educational, and advocacy programs of GWISH bring increased attention to the spiritual needs of patients, families, and the healthcare professionals. GWISH has sponsored the John Templeton Foundation Curricular Awards that have supported the implementation of spirituality and health in the curriculum of numerous medical schools and psychiatry, family medicine, and OB-GYN residencies throughout the United States. GWISH is collaborating with the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) in development of ethical guidelines for teaching spirituality, end-of-life, and cultural issues in medical education. Dr. Christina Puchalski, Director of GWISH, is co-convener of the spirituality task force for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Last Acts Campaign and Associate Course Director for the Harvard Medical School and Mind/Body Institute's annual Spirituality & Healing in Medicine Conference. The GWU Department of Psychiatry and GWISH collaborate closely in multiple educational and clinical research endeavors.

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GALLUADET UNIVERSITY MENTALHEALTH CENTER

The Mental Health Center (MHC) at Gallaudet University is located on the campus of the world's only four-year liberal arts university for deaf and hard of hearing undergraduate students. Gallaudet University offers graduate-level programs available to deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing students. In addition, summer and continuing education coursework, as well as sign language classes, are offered.

The Gallaudet University MHC's primary goal is to serve the mental health needs of a wide range of clients, both the students of Gallaudet University and deaf and hard of hearing adults in the Washington metropolitan area. Mental health services are provided by an interdisciplinary team of psychotherapists, counselors, and psychiatrists. Gallaudet MHC is a training site for graduate student-trainees in psychology, social work, and other mental health disciplines. A program of clinical research furthers an understanding for how mental health services can best respond to the problems of deafness.

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INOVA FAIRFAX HOSPITAL

Inova Fairfax Hospital and the George Washington University School of Medicine are primary academic partners across all medical and surgical specialties. Inova Fairfax Hospital, located in Falls Church, VA, is a 950-bed regional medical center with a nationally renowned medical staff, highly skilled nurses, and a full range of medical, surgical, and support services. The hospital includes Northern Virginia's only Level 1 trauma center. Inova Fairfax Hospital is one of only six community hospitals in the nation offering the full spectrum of organ transplantation. The Inova Heart and Vascular Institute houses 156 beds as the region's only facility dedicated exclusively to heart and vascular care. The 153-bed Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children is the only children's hospital serving critically ill children in Northern Virginia. The obstetrics program is the fifth busiest in the nation.

The Department of Psychiatry at Inova Fairfax Hospital is nationally renowned for its leadership in consultation-liaison psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine. GWU psychiatry residents complete rotations during their PGY-I, PGY-II, and PGY-IV years on the 30-bed INOVA Fairfax psychiatric inpatient unit, Comprehensive Addiction Treatment Services (CATS), day treatment, and consultation-liaison services.

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VIRGINIA HOSPITAL CENTER

Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) for nearly 60 years has been the major medical center in Northern VirginiaÕs Arlington County, providing medical, surgical, mental health, and emergency medical care. As a general hospital, it has fulfilled a dual mission, supporting private practices for a broad array of medical specialties, while also providing care for the medically-uninsured through the Arlington Foundation. In 2004, VHC moved into its new $150 million dollar, nine-story facility with 334 beds, including a 20 bed general psychiatry unit.

PGY-II residents at VHC learn inpatient psychiatry with a primary care patient population in which diagnoses of mood disorders, alcohol and substance dependence, and disorders of aging predominate. Residents learn how to utilize electroconvulsive therapy. They participate in a program for alcohol and substance abuse that includes both acute detoxification and rehabilitation. They conduct psychiatric consults on the medical and surgical services, including liaison rounds in the medical and respiratory intensive care units. A PGY-IV Chief Resident teaches and supervises PGY-II residents and GWU medical students, while also serving as consultation-liaison psychiatrist for the hospital.

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WASHINGTON PSYCHOANALYTIC INSTITUTE

The The Washington Psychoanalytic Institute (WPI) trains mental health clinicians for careers in psychoanalytic practice, teaching, and research. The WPI was founded in 1914 at St. Elizabeths Hospital, with William Alanson White as its first Chairman. Frieda Fromm-Reichmann and Harry Stack Sullivan were founding faculty. From its Freudian origins, the WPI has gone on to integrate object relations and self-psychology approaches, as well as more recent intersubjective and constructivist views. The WPI provides a broad range of conferences, workshops, and lecture series on topics relevant to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically-informed psychotherapy, including a popular "Psychoanalytic Perspective on Theater" with post-performance discussions of plays at metropolitan area theaters by a psychoanalyst.

The GWU Department of Psychiatry and the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute formalized an educational and research partnership in 2002. WPI classes and administrative meetings are conducted within the facilities of the GWU Department of Psychiatry. The Department of Psychiatry and WPI co-sponsor scientific and educational conferences, such as the 2003 conference on "The Psychology of Terrorism." GWU psychiatry residents with specific interests attend WPI classes, and selected residents train jointly in psychiatry residency and psychoanalytic training. Many WPI members teach medical students and psychiatry residents or supervise residents' psychodynamic psychotherapies.

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WOODBURN MENTAL HEALTH CENTER

The Woodburn Mental Health Center provides a broad range of mental health services in Falls Church, Virginia, for the treatment of mental illnesses and for prevention and early intervention to reduce the incidence and severity of emotional and behavioral disorders. Woodburn MHC programs assist children, adults, and families of the mentally-ill in becoming valued and contributing members of the broader community. Approximately 2,400 people each year receive assistance through their services.

Woodburn MHC provides for the GWU psychiatry residency a weekly half-day PGY-III community psychiatry rotation that focuses upon the assessment and treatment of patients with severe mental disorders. A flexible range of options for training experiences is offered, depending on the career goals of each resident