Top-tier psychiatry professionals will increase access to behavioral healthcare in Michigan
Michiganders who have trouble accessing behavioral healthcare services will now see some relief. Thanks to top-tier educational opportunities in residency and fellowship programs at Pine Rest, help is on the way for Michiganders who are seeking behavioral healthcare assistance.
Nearly all of Pine Rest’s 2022 graduating class of post-doctorate psychiatry residents and fellows have chosen to stay and work in psychiatric positions in West Michigan. Of the 17 graduating residents and fellows, 94% will practice in West Michigan, with 65% accepting positions at Pine Rest.
This new wave of psychiatrists will offer more access to those in need in West Michigan, with programs like these also providing a national pipeline for behavioral healthcare talent during the state’s crisis-level shortage of psychiatry.
“So many Michiganders, our friends and neighbors, have experienced the struggle of finding a behavioral health provider in their time of crisis – particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. The fact that so many of Pine Rest’s psychiatry residents and fellows have committed to living and working in Michigan is good news for all of us who live and work here,” said Mark Eastburg, President and CEO at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. “The Pine Rest team is passionate about improving access to behavioral healthcare and the psychiatry residency and fellowship programs are one of dozens of strategies we are working on because it impacts the people we know and love.”
Of Pine Rest’s current 51 residents and fellows, enrollees have come from across the country moving from eighteen different states. The residency program is affiliated with Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and, together with MSU, Pine Rest works to expand behavioral healthcare opportunities for students and offers training through experiences in inpatient hospital care, as well as a specially-designed outpatient psychiatry clinic, community mental health, residential, emergency psychiatry and more.
Established with MSU in 2014, the residency program expanded in 2018 to increase the number of residents training each year and starting psychiatry fellowship programs for specialties in child & adolescent, geriatric, forensic and addiction. More recently, a rural track was added in Traverse City to help train psychiatrists in Northern Michigan where the psychiatry shortage is even more serious. The program has built a great reputation in this short time, ranking as one of the top two programs in Michigan and the top 30% in the Midwest and the nation for reputation by Doximity.
“By expanding and creating residencies and fellowships across the country, like we are doing at Pine Rest, there is an opportunity to address the shortage of psychiatrists and fill the holes for patients in need,” said Dr. Bill Sanders, Chief Medical Officer at Pine Rest. “The increase of new talent in mental healthcare will make a huge impact, helping reduce wait times and provide patients with the care and treatment they deserve and expect.”
Through their psychiatry residency and fellowship programs, Pine Rest is dedicated to helping address access to needed mental healthcare services and reduce long wait times for many individuals seeking treatment. In addition, they will create new models providing psychiatry services to more patients, more quickly.
