Viola Bernard Initiatives

In 2015, the trustees of the Viola W. Bernard Foundation established the Viola W. Bernard Fund for Innovation in Mental Health Care (Viola Bernard Fund) at Yale Child Study Center (YCSC). A child and adult psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Viola W. Bernard, MD, tirelessly advocated for practical solutions for child and adolescent well-being and health.

In addition to an annual named Grand Rounds lecture series dedicated to addressing issues of fair treatment, opportunities, rights for all people, and related health care topics, the fund has supported several significant initiatives at the center, including a first-of-its kind medical-legal partnership providing legal support for YCSC children and families facing legal barriers that impede their health and well-being.

The Viola Bernard Fund also supports an annual prize for social innovation in mental health care delivery in addition to a special annual fellowship project for YCSC trainees focused on improving access to mental health care. Each of these initiatives encourage innovative work to decrease health disparities and benefit children, youth, and families facing economic or social adversity.

Combined with a small grant from Yale Law School in November 2020, support from the Viola Bernard Fund allowed for the creation of a special medical-legal partnership (MLP) offering legal support for children living in the New Haven area receiving services at YCSC and facing legal barriers that impede their health and well-being. Learn more about this unique collaboration between YCSC and the Center for Children’s Advocacy.

Established in 2022, the Viola W. Bernard Prize provides research and/or salary support of up to $25,000 for one eligible YCSC faculty member, fellow, or master’s prepared trainee per year, with a focus on pilot testing an innovative mental health care delivery model in a community setting. The award is open to applications on an annual basis and encourages rapid prototyping, implementation, and testing of potential new mental health care delivery models.

The application process is intended to provide a critical opportunity for child mental health fellows and faculty early in their careers to receive grant awards, develop and present ideas in public fora, and hone their grant writing skills. This initiative does not fund recruitment of individuals from outside of YCSC. Rather, it provides funding to advance and retain talented individuals at the center whose projects show great promise in improving mental health for children and families, especially among populations facing adversity or marginalization.

Candidates for the prize must be enrolled in a YCSC social work, psychiatry, or psychology clinical training program or serve as lecturers, instructors, or assistant professors on the faculty with a primary appointment in department. Awardees work on their project with a faculty mentor, and successful submissions must show evidence of a promising collaboration among mental health professionals, a community partner, and—when possible—the business community.

An invitation for applications is typically announced internally over the summer each year, including deadlines for letters of intent and full applications. Awardees are typically announced by early fall. Application details and requirements are provided on the department’s intranet.

Launched in June 2023, the Viola W. Bernard Fellowship provides an opportunity for up to three YCSC trainees per year to consider and address the mental health care needs of children and families facing economic adversity, with a focus on access to health care. The fellowship dovetails with the department’s efforts to improve access to mental health care and decrease related health disparities. Intended to enhance YCSC training experiences, the fellowship also prepares and better positions fellows to weave these concepts into careers in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and social work.

Current trainees entering their second year or higher with at least one year left in their programs are invited to apply annually. Each Viola Bernard Fellow serves as a point person within their programs for the year and works together to engage their cohorts in informing their initiatives.

The fellowship encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation within the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and New Haven communities. These relationships support the development of providers who center community engagement to inform practice and initiatives, while promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation to help meet the needs of families served.

Viola Bernard Fellows are tasked with developing a project that centers the voices of those in the community they serve with an aim to enhance their development as respectful and responsive providers of equitable care. This helps fellows gain deeper insight into the mental health needs of children and families impacted by a variety of barriers to accessing mental health care, as well as how programs can be adapted to meet their needs.

Viola Bernard Fellows use five hours of elective time for activities related to this role. Each receives a stipend of $1500 and a discretionary budget of $4000 to be used over 12 months to support programming and activities. These funds can be pooled to benefit the three programs and used for specific program needs. Application details and requirements are provided on the department’s intranet.