A Day in the Life of a Yale Psychiatry Resident

My Background

My parents moved to the U.S. from the land presently known as Nigeria and after an appropriately short stint in Iowa (no offense to readers from Iowa!), they gave birth to me and my twin brother in south Florida and raised us along with my older and younger sisters in Miami. I was brought up around people with diasporic ties quite literally all over the world, namely the Caribbean, the Americas, Africa, and folx whose knowledge of their roots seemingly begin in the United States due to colonialism and the institution of slavery. Every day of my younger life served as evidence that monoliths were things of fairytales and deployed by people with harmful intentions to divide and limit humanity’s ability to love one another. Growing up I would also bear witness to the structurally disproportionate mental and physical health assaults Black people and other minoritized individuals faced and from a young age I always wanted to help ameliorate that. Charging through years of schooling and being radicalized by life along the way, I arrived at psychiatry late in medical school after dramatically leaving surgery. Although psychiatry, like the rest of western medicine, is FAR from perfect, through it I saw the most optimal space for me to continue to bear witness to injustice’s harrowing effects on one’s mind and personhood. Through it I could also facilitate love-centered healing for individuals while advocating for a better and more loving world for humanity as a collective.

Why I Chose Yale

When it became time to apply to residency, I longed for a space where I could build community with friends and colleagues who were also deeply invested in imagining, creating, and participating in whole-person as well as community healing and many of the residents at Yale Psychiatry were on that same wave. I also wanted a space that gave me the time and flexibility to think about and begin to operationalize being a physician-healer which is where the uniqueness of PREP, CASE, and flexibility of third and especially fourth year come in. Lastly, Yale Psychiatry is also a space with a diverse, tightly knit, and passionate group of psychiatry residents and as a Black person I really wanted to be in a space where I got to train and be in community with other Black people as well as folx from all walks of life and identity. Don’t get it twisted though, representation alone is not liberation but the group of residents here are truly special and for me have quickly become lifelong friends and coconspirators.

My Schedule

I’m about halfway through intern year and have done two months each in internal medicine, neurology, and adolescent psychiatry. Right now, I’m on my 3-month adult psychiatry rotation at the West Haven VA. I’m a morning person and emerging habits guy so typically I wake up early enough to journal, meditate, hit the morning skin care routine, and make breakfast. After that, I’ll get dressed for work, hop in my car to pick up my good friend and co-resident Terrance Embry, and ride out to get to the VA by 8AM. We’ll get sign-out on our patients, follow-up with each of them, and/or see any new patients who are being admitted to our unit. Throughout the day we touch base with the attendings on the unit to discuss our patients’ care as well as call to speak with and update loved ones, make consults, attend supervision, and work with the interdisciplinary staff on the unit. We also meet for lunch every other week with our diversity chiefs to discuss and address our needs as well as just kick it and enjoy a free meal from one of the local restaurants in town! The day ends around 4PM and after signing-out my patients to the evening providers, I head home to read, write, chef it up, hit the gym, kick it with my plants, hangout with friends, or spontaneously ride out to a concert or fun event. As interns we have 11 psych ED short-call shifts from 5:30-9:30 pm spread out during our 5 months of clinical psychiatry rotations so if I have one of those, I head to Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) to evaluate 1-2 patients in the ED after work.

Where I Live

I live in a plant-, food-, and music-filled apartment on the edge of downtown and across the street from Wooster Square. A solid location because YNHH and the Yale Psychiatric Hospital are a 15-minute walk away (10 minutes for me because I walk at a New Yorker pace and have ridiculously long legs), and it is close to popular restaurants, bars, and the train in case you want a quick getaway. My co-residents live in different parts of town and all of them also are happy in their spaces so if it looks like New Haven will soon be your new place of residence, definitely explore your options and be sure to ask around!

My Favorite Things to do In/Around New Haven

I won’t lie, growing up in Miami and then spending the last five years in New York City, I was a pretty wary about making the move to the much smaller city of New Haven but so far it has exceeded my expectations! What truly makes it for me are the people; ranging from my super dope co-residents to the other wonderful Yale- and non-Yale-affiliated folx I have met. You’ll hear plenty about pizza, so I’ll save you another power ranking (*whispers: the honeypot at Da Legna at Nolo is A1*), but I really appreciate the nature (beaches, trails, hikes), Elm City Sounds which has probably one of the best record collections I’ve seen, and the solid food, drink, and dancing spots around town. I’m slowly getting plugged into some community organizing spaces with co-residents as well. My favorite community space is a local Black-owned bookstore called People Get Ready which also hosts several events for folx in the New Haven community. Lastly, I’m still a city boy through and through though so from time to time you can catch me taking the super convenient metro north train down to NYC solo or with some of my New Haven homies to go to concerts or events in the city. Even as an intern I feel like there’s plenty of time to be well rested, on top of clinical responsibilities, and being “outside” (fully vaxxed, boosted, and COVID negative, of course) as the kids these days say.

Final Thoughts

The ~Match~ can be very stressful so just do the best you can, have honest conversations, and try to enjoy the time before residency as much as possible. While I’m rooting for you to join me and homies here in New Haven, there are really so many wonderful places to learn psychiatry and I’m hyped that you’re joining the best field. Please hit my line if you have any more questions about Yale!

Ashley's Background

The bulk of my upbringing was spent in Amityville, NY - a town known for the Amityville Horror House and less for the redlining which caused disparities in health outcomes, economic and educational opportunities. Keenly aware of the wealth and opportunity gap at 16 years old, I penned an article for my school newspaper entitled “Miles Away but Worlds Apart.” My Colombian immigrant father instilled in me a will-to-persevere no matter our geo-socioeconomic positioning. Determined to realize my potential, I studied Biology and Political Science at SUNY Stony Brook, while working 2-3 part time jobs, rehearsing in Marching/Pep Band and volunteering on an emergency response team. My gap years were spent working as a legal assistant and paralegal in Mortgage Default on the side of Big Banks. I quickly realized I was on the wrong side of my moral compass and was energized by the prospect of combining my interests in science and law to address societal ills from the lens of a physician-advocate.

Why I Chose Yale

As 1 of 2 self-identifying Latinx individuals in my medical school class fiercely committed to DEI efforts, I was drawn to Yale Psych’s commitment to same as reflected by their recruitment of a residency class with 8 Black residents and a thriving Black resident, fellow, and attending affinity group (YSCFA)! After meeting like-minded minoritized trainees during my interview day, I realized that I was amongst a collective of supportive residents, equally devoted to uplifting one another and fellow marginalized members of the greater New Haven community. This, combined with the Social Justice and Health Equity Curriculum and prospect of pursuing service-learning via CASE left me convinced that I would be supported in my desire to effect change for my patients beyond the frame of our clinical encounters.

My Schedule

Like Stephanie, I have mastered maximizing sleep, while making it to our various clinical sites in record speed. Depending on the rotation, I awake in time to catch a ride with a co-resident on their way to the West Haven VA. I am currently on my Emergency Psychiatry rotation at the VA where I work in an interdisciplinary team of APRNs, Social Workers, Mental Health Associates, and various rotating trainees (medical students, SW, psychology post-docs). At 8 am we run the patient list, then divide to re-assess the patients and see new patients as they enter the Psychiatric and Medical ER. In between seeing patients, documenting, making collateral calls, helping to coordinate care, I enjoy catching up with fellow trainees over peer supervision and joy rounds. By 4 pm, I am signing out patients to the incoming ED team and weighing taking the Yale shuttle home vs carpooling with another resident.

On Tuesdays, we have a half day of protected time for didactics and class-wide meetings with our PD. We also have Long Term Care Clinic therapy patients, who we see during protected time from clinical duties. These are Yale graduate students who we meet with weekly for psychodynamic therapy starting in the PGY-2 year and will continue to work with across the next few years! It is an opportunity to start learning therapy early with close supervision from a psychodynamic-oriented clinician.

Where I Live

I live in Wooster Square about 1.2 miles from the Yale New Haven Hospital in a 2 bedroom. One room is inhabited by my collection of indoor plants. I am one block from Wooster Square Park where many residents meet for impromptu hangouts. It is also an opportunity to admire the array of dogs that frequent the park. During the spring and summer, we enjoy fresh bagels, coffee, and fruits at the Farmer’s Market just down the block from the park. As a New Yorker-turned-Chicago transplant, I am not moved by the pizza here but on occasion will share a pie of Pepe’s or Zenelli’s while spending time with co-residents or family.

My Favorite Thing to do in/around New Haven

Stephanie and I have gone on many impromptu jaunts in and around New Haven: field trips to various plant shops, bubble tea walks, ice cream runs, new restaurants, pet stores, beaches, etc. There is still so much left to do.

Final Thoughts

Whatever Stephanie said. I am kidding. Trust your judgement, acknowledge your relative privilege, and remain grounded in the Match process, realizing that no matter where you land, you will receive quality education and have the distinct honor of leaving a lasting impact on many as a budding psychiatrist.

Stephanie's Background

I am a Chinese-American, second-generation immigrant. I was born and raised in the Midwest and spent much of my childhood in the suburbs of Indiana. I struggled to find a sense of belonging growing up; it wasn't until I left for college that I began to grow into myself. I always imagined myself a starving artist, thinking I might work in animation or illustration, but found myself taking a different path in college. Through my art courses, I was introduced to the question of visual representation of psychological trauma, and this has captured my imagination since. My interest in childhood and complex trauma and desire to work with women with histories of sexual trauma, led me to medical school. At my core, I remain energized by art: art influences my vision of how we can cultivate a radical pedagogy and decolonized worldview. Art has been my tool for cultivating anti-racist practices. Art ultimately led me to psychiatry, the most creative, ambiguous, compassionately curious field within medicine.

Why I Chose Yale

The residents that I met during my interview day were lovely and visibly loved on each other. I could see myself here, with these people who care so much. Many residents are deeply engaged in social justice and activism, and these are the kinds of people I wanted to be inspired by and journey with. There is the Social Justice Health Equity Curriculum that builds along multiple tracks all 4 years: structural competency, the human experience, and advocacy. Art as a tool for activism is part of our didactics! The flexibility of the schedule (1 month of PREP in PGY-1, and 3 months of CASE in PGY-2) allows everyone here to pursue their passions outside of clinical work. New Haven is also close to New York City, which makes for an easy weekend trip.

My Schedule

I spent the first three months of PGY-2 year on my CASE rotation. This time belongs to you! This is a rotation where you have the opportunity to work on a research project of your choosing, and research can truly be anything! Since engaging with visual art is one of my greatest joys, I chose to spend these months developing and leading an arts-based therapy group on the inpatient young adult unit at Yale Psychiatric Hospital. I also took time during the summer to vacation to Greece with fellow co-residents. The rest of the year I will be rotating with the Consult Liaison teams, the psychiatric ED, addictions, and geriatrics units, and at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, which is a community mental health center.

Where I Live

I live in Downtown, New Haven, in an apartment within 5-min walking distance from the main hospital building. I don't have a car, and I enjoy snoozing my alarm one too many times in the morning, so this has worked out well for me. I’m a short walk to the main hospital, to St. Raphael's campus (where I did one month of CL), and to CMHC. There's a lot of graduate students, medical students, and medical providers who live in my building.

My Favorite Thing to do in/around New Haven

Sharing space with my co-residents. Picking up breakfast sandwiches or bagels and walking over to my co-residents' apartments, where we will sip on home-made lattes, taking care of one another through food and friendship. The Downtown is very walkable with so many restaurants to try. The Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art have wonderful collections, and there's a thriving arts scene in the community. I grew up in a land-locked state, and here I get to enjoy close proximity to the ocean.

Final Thoughts

Residency can be emotionally and physically taxing. Hold onto your passions and things that bring you joy as this could be the fuel that propels you through the tougher days.

My Background

Growing up on the North Fork of Long Island, New York was a privilege that I appreciate far more now in retrospect. We were located on a peninsula where a twenty-minute walk past the vineyards and sod farms could bring you from the Peconic Bay to the Long Island Sound. I grew up with sand, salt, beaches, boats, and fishing. I was the son of a loving, hard-working, but emotionally inarticulate correctional officer who married a warm, intelligent part-time medical office administrator who later ran the church school and dabbled as librarian. My teachers knew me as gifted, but challenging. Throughout high school and parts of college, I worked at a family-run hardware store, so if it’s broke there’s a chance I might know how to fix it. I was destined for a state college (SUNY Geneseo) in order to save on costs. My plan was to become a teacher who moonlights as an author of fantasy novels that were both psychologically thrilling and existentially terrifying. The part of the plan that turned out to be accurate was the psychology. I found myself fascinated by the biological bases of human experiences and of psychiatric symptoms, and how perturbations to the system could alter consciousness. A summer volunteering at an inpatient psychiatric unit shed light on how little we about the biology of an individual’s illness or why they responded to a certain treatment. Concurrent exposures to Eastern spirituality and psychedelics helped me know myself differently. I came to appreciate that my thinking mind evolved as a tool for problem solving, and when not kept in check, it tends to find or create problems for itself through strong identification with thoughts. Easy to talk about, harder to practice, especially when working your way through medical school (SUNY Upstate). I knew from the start that I was attending medical school to become a psychiatrist. In caring for others, I noticed an immediate sense of personal satisfaction, but I also enjoyed the slow burn of research culminating in discovery and a sense of being part of something bigger, like human knowledge and the effort to improve care. Hence, I pursued the MD/PhD and I was fortunate to find an outstanding mentor (Stephen Glatt, Ph.D.), who helped me develop as a scientist while working on studies of blood-based gene-expression biomarkers for psychiatric symptoms and disorders.

Why Yale

Yale Psychiatry for so many reasons. I guess the final decision-point was the feeling I had during the interviews and lab visits. Professionally and academically, it offered high quality clinical training that came with a highly respected and recognizable moniker. The class size and call schedule seemed to prioritize learning over patient care volume. There were several groups of researchers who were working in areas that matched my interests and they all seemed interested to have me.

On a personal level, I wanted to stay in the Northeast, because my family and friends are here. I was back on the Long Island sound, but gazing out from the opposite shore. When I walked through the woods outside of New Haven, my senses told me it was the same slice of mother nature that I knew growing up. When I compared Yale and New Haven to other programs in their respective cities, I found that this was a place that compensated residents well and allowed them to moonlight to augment their training and income. It was a place where I could afford to buy a home near the place I work. It’s a place where I don’t struggle to find a parking spot and a 20-minute ride can get me to the forest or countryside. I was never drawn to big cities, but NYC and Boston are within reach for daytrips or weekends.

My Schedule

As a third year in the Neuroscience Research Training Program (NRTP), my schedule is atypical. Mondays are packed with outpatient visits with Veteran’s Affairs Hospital patients who comprise my panel of twenty-six. The panel skews older (50s-60s) and male (89%), and the primary issues are mood/anxiety (50%), psychosis (25%), trauma (20%), and substance use (5%). I manage their medications and also see some of them for therapy; a mixture of supportive, cognitive-behavioral, and dynamic, based on the individual and what they’re bringing into the session. I have scheduled group supervision with two co-residents, but I can seek out more as needed. On Tuesdays, I work in the interventional psychiatry clinic treating people with treatment-resistant symptoms, some of whom are enrolled in clinical trials of electroconvulsive therapy or ketamine. On Wednesdays, my day is divided, with research time in the morning, and long-term therapy patients and supervision in the afternoon. Thursdays and Fridays I spent my time in the lab; it’s a dry lab, so picture sitting at a computer, not handling Petri dishes and pipettes. I work broadly in human genetics; recently finished a draft of a paper examining the shared genetic risk factors and for psychiatric and immune-system-related disorders. My next project involves applications of machine learning to medical record data in order to develop algorithms that can track the severity of depressive symptoms and tell us about who is responding to which treatments. Sometimes, when its crunch-time, the work follows me home in the evening or on the weekend, but that’s rare. Of course, patient needs don’t follow any schedules, so there’s always a little clinical work and communications to manage throughout the week. I manage to make it to the gym 3 or 4 times per week; in fair weather I run around my neighborhood or find pick up soccer at Rice Field. Additionally, I’ve been in my own psychoanalysis for the past 12 months (knowing myself, yet another way), so I continue to meet with my analyst Monday through Thursday. Moonlighting a few times each month has helped pay for the analysis.

Where I Live

Before starting residency, I did some home-hunting, and ultimately bought a two-bedroom condo in Fairhaven. The balcony (where I dabble in gardening) and living room both overlook the Quinnipiac River and Grand Avenue bridge; in the mornings I see sunrises from behind a tree line that has now become a patchwork of yellows, oranges, and reds as they await the frost. On the 4th of July, the fireworks show comes to me. People say Fairhaven is kind of rough, and sure, someone stole the catalytic converter from underneath my jeep after it broke down a few blocks away, but I love this neighborhood. People fishing and enjoying the park make me happy. When I lost my cat my neighbors tried to help. I have friends here from outside the medical circles and that makes me feel well-rounded. My drive takes either 10 minutes (to YNHH or downtown) or 15 minutes (to the VA).

Things to Do

COVID-19 be damned! It was rough at the beginning. Connecticut and New Haven managed to re-open the doors of businesses quickly. This past summer, I attended half a dozen open-air socially distanced concerts at the Westville Bowl (former tennis stadium; not a bad seat in the house); I made friends with similar music tastes. The restaurants! There’s a great variety given the city size. I have gone on fun outings to breweries/wineries and to do seasonal farm-related activities [berry, apple, pumpkin-picking]. We went on a lab-group outing to a super-fast go-karting place, which I found exhilarating and addictive; you may find this useful practice if you plan to contend with Southern CT drivers. I went on many cute dates at restaurants and bars. I had a blast dancing at the gay bar – I think there may be a couple of other “club” scenes, but have not explored. In fair weather, I find myself running through one of the area’s parks, sucking wind while chasing a soccer ball, or looking for my golf ball (could have sworn it went somewhere over here).

Final Thoughts

I’m happy here.

My Background

The first fifteen years of my life were spent in the idyllic British countryside. I was surrounded by open fields filled with sheep, villages filled with flowers, and a pot filled with tea. My family made a drastic move from rural Scotland to Houston, Texas just prior to my sophomore year of high school. I attended Rice University on a golf scholarship and majored in psychology and economics before teaching middle-school mathematics for two years with Teach For America. Although I adored my students, I felt as though they needed far more support in life than they did in math. A combination of my psychology background and my experiences as a teacher led me to medical school with the aim of becoming a psychiatrist.

Why I Chose Yale

As a fourth-year medical student, I was fortunate to complete an away rotation at Yale on WS2, the adult mood disorders inpatient unit. I loved every minute on the unit and was pleasantly surprised by the weather (it was September) and small-city vibes of New Haven. I got to meet many of the residents and was impressed by their down-to-earth nature. Lastly, I was intrigued by the flexibility that Yale offered in exploring various passions and niches within psychiatry, accompanied by the diverse faculty to explore these passions with. I have chosen to focus my flexible time on medical education, leadership, and quality improvement initiatives, each of which has added significant value to my experience here at Yale.

My Schedule

The final year as a Yale psychiatry resident is a choose-your-own adventure. I chose my adventure to be busy and simulate what life might be like after graduation while still in a supportive environment. Along with spending time on the inpatient unit, I have additional roles as program-wide chief resident and chief resident for quality improvement. I wake up at 5:30am every morning, pour myself a large coffee, and enjoy an hour of peace to respond to emails and work on administrative items before my wife and 18-month-old daughter wake up. After spending breakfast avoiding tasty projectiles thrown my way from the high-chair, I spend the morning on the young adult unit helping my patients manage through a time of crisis in their lives. My afternoons are packed meeting with residents, families, committees, hospital and program administrators, supervisors, mentors, and my long-term therapy patients. The days are full, but interesting and satisfying. I generally stop work around 5pm for daycare pickup and try my best to not obsessively check emails after this time. As a fourth-year resident, we don’t have any call duties on nights or weekends, though I occasionally pick-up a moonlighting shift on the weekend, because…loans…and daycare!

Where I Live

Due to the reasonable cost of living in the area, we chose to buy a single-family home in Hamden, the town just north of New Haven. We have enough space for our small family and out-of-town guests, a backyard, a nearby park, and a quiet neighborhood to take walks. The best part is that my commute is still less than 15 minutes (9 minutes is the record coming home after a Saturday nightshift!).

My Favorite Thing to do in/around New Haven

Especially in COVID-times, the variety of nearby outdoor activities is so much fun in Southern Connecticut. A few of my favorites including hiking/walking (Sleeping Giant, Lake Wintergreen, East Rock Park), going to the beach (Hammonasset), visiting an orchard/farm (Lyman’s, Bishop’s), or a vineyard (Gouveia). The local ice cream (Arethusa) and pizza (De Legna, Modern) are to die for, and might be what eventually send me to the grave.

Final Thoughts

Whatever your background or interests, you can’t go wrong at Yale. You will be supported to pursue what you want, you will gain all the clinical skills you need to be a superb psychiatrist, and you will have fun in the process!