Billings Clinic celebrates first-ever graduating class in Montana’s only Psychiatry Residency program

Billings, MT — Billings Clinic is honored to announce the graduation of the inaugural class of psychiatrists in Montana’s first-ever psychiatry residency program. The three graduating residents – Brian Schlidt, MD; Russell Ollerton, MD; and Kimiko “Koko” Urata, MD – completed four years of residency training while providing additional mental health resources and helping to meet the ongoing need for more psychiatrists serving the region.

“This first class of residents is a very intelligent, well-educated group of young doctors with a pioneering spirit and a passion for serving rural and underserved communities,” said Jared Bozeman, MD, Billings program director and Billings Clinic psychiatrist. “Each of them is moving on to do exactly what this residency is designed for – to bring well-trained, caring psychiatrists to rural and underserved areas and meet the mental health needs of people no matter where they are. This residency will continue to increase the number of well-trained psychiatrists we have here at Billings Clinic and in the region and expand access, which will provide the communities we serve with much-needed mental health services.”

Each of the graduating psychiatrists plans to continue their careers providing mental health services in rural states.

Psychiatry Residents

• Brian Schlidt, MD (Casper, WY) will open up a private psychiatry practice in Wyoming, serving patients in Montana and Wyoming. He also plans work per diem for Billings Clinic in the inpatient psychiatric unit and teaching medical students and residents. He completed his undergraduate degree in Physiology from the University of Wyoming and is completing Medical School at the University of Washington as part of the WWAMI program. During medical school he volunteered at a free clinic in Cody Wyoming. He participated RUOP (rural and underserved opportunities program) during which he helped design a program to try to decrease suicide by increasing mental health literacy in rural underserved parts of Wyoming.
• Russell Ollerton, MD (Half Moon Bay, CA) has signed a contract to work at Billings Clinic in Billings in outpatient behavioral health and will assist with teaching duties in the psychiatry residency. He completed his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University in Exercise Science. During that time, he volunteered extensively as a crisis hotline operator. Before attending medical school at the University of Utah, he worked at a care facility for people with intellectual disabilities. During medical school he developed a psychiatric educational YouTube channel and helped to cofound a Music in Medicine Group. He also produced a music therapy album designed to help people with PTSD and anxiety.
• Kimiko “Koko” Urata, MD (Juneau, AK) is entering a collaborative one-year care fellowship with the University of Washington in July, allowing her to delve more deeply into integrating behavioral health and primary care before returning to her home state of Alaska in 2024. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Stanford University, and completed medical school at the University of Washington, where she participated in the underserved pathway, a program for medical students interested in caring for underserved and vulnerable populations. She also participated in a special program focused on enhancing the health of rural populations. Urata was the two-time recipient of a service award for commitment to advocacy work.

(Pictured left to right: Russell Ollerton, MD; Koko Urata, MD; and Brian Schlidt, MD; at the Billings Clinic Psychiatry Residency program graduation on Friday, June 16, 2023.)

Earlier in June, the residency was granted accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The ACGME is an independent national organization that sets and monitors voluntary professional educational standards essential in preparing physicians to deliver safe, high-quality medical care. The independent accreditation means that the residency will be managed entirely by Billings Clinic and based solely in Montana. Beginning in 2025, all 12 residents across the 4-year program will be training in Montana.

Before the independent accreditation, the program has been a regional track of the University of Washington Psychiatry Residency Training Program, with residents spending their first two years in Seattle, WA, and the final two at Billings Clinic.

For decades, three states – Montana, Wyoming and Alaska – have consistently reported suicide rates that are, or are among, the highest in the country. They have also been the only states without residency programs to train psychiatrists. Rural areas in Montana and throughout the region face a mental health crisis due to high suicide rates, isolation and a lack of mental health care resources and providers.

Considering these needs and with the support of a $3 million grant awarded by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Billings Clinic created in 2018 Montana’s first-ever psychiatry residency program. The Billings Clinic Foundation also conducted an endowment campaign, raising an additional $2.8 million to provide ongoing support for the residency.

The four-year residency provides a hands-on training experience to the hand-picked residents, all with a strong desire to serve in rural areas. The program will include a total of 12 residents across all four years of the residency curriculum. After completing medical school, residents will spend their first two years in Seattle, Washington, and complete the final two years at Billings Clinic with elective rotations in areas throughout Montana.

Through the residency, psychiatrists train to become change agents in the rural communities they serve by uncovering and nurturing their passions, teaching evidence-based clinical skills and inspiring innovative approaches to closing gaps in community-based systems of mental health care.

The residents are integrated into Billings Clinic Psychiatric Services, which includes Montana’s largest outpatient psychiatric practice, a 44-bed inpatient psychiatric unit serving children and adults, and the state’s most comprehensive behavioral health team made up of psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses and additional staff.

Billings Clinic psychiatry programs and resources available to residents include Project ECHO Billings Clinic, which provides tele-mentoring and teaching support across the state; the Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network, based at Billings Clinic and one of the country’s first providers of telepsychiatry services; and interventional psychiatry services.

The psychiatry residency is the culmination of a statewide effort that began in 2014 when the Montana Healthcare Foundation awarded Billings Clinic a $50,000 planning grant to study the feasibility of a psychiatric residency program. This work eventually pulled together a diverse group of interested people and organizations from across Montana to successfully work with the 2017 Montana Legislature on the approval of increased graduate medical education funding, a portion of which is being allocated to the residency.

“There are so many people who have contributed to help Billings Clinic give these residents an excellent and unique training experience,” Dr. Bozeman said. “They’ve given their effort, their time and in some cases their money to ensure its success. Many, many thanks to everyone who has worked so hard to get us ready for the resident’s arrival. To do something like this, having a vision is important, but those who execute the vision are every bit as critical to the success of the endeavor.”