Billings Clinic Psychiatry Residency Training Program
Our mission is to train psychiatrist-leaders, who will become change agents in the rural communities they serve, by uncovering and nurturing their passions, teaching them evidence-based clinical skills, and inspiring innovative approaches to closing gaps in community-based systems of mental health care.
Welcome to the Psychiatry Residency Program at Billings Clinic!
Thank you for your interest in our program!
We are excited to continue training the next generation of psychiatrists for Montana and other rural and underserved areas. Our state has historically had numerous challenges with mental illness and substance use issues with a high rate of suicide. Access in general is often challenging for healthcare but has been particularly limited for psychiatry.
Our program started as a track within the University of Washington Psychiatry Residency program, with our first class matching in 2019. Residents in the track spent the first and second year in Seattle, Washington and moved to Billings, Montana to complete years three and four. We matched our final class of this track in 2023. This program was modeled after two successful similar tracks (Spokane, WA and Boise, ID). Both have gone on to become independent programs. We applied to ACGME this year and received initial accreditation.
Billings Clinic is the primary site for much of your training. Billings Clinic is a multidisciplinary, physician led, and independent institution. Our institution serves a large catchment area, including Montana, northern Wyoming, and even into the western Dakotas. During PGY-1 and PGY-2 you will work on our inpatient psychiatry unit, consult service, and on our psychiatric emergency evaluation team. Billings Clinic launched an internal medicine residency program in 2014 and our residents will rotate with them during PGY-1 year for primary care and neurology requirements.
PGY-3 and PGY-4 are primarily outpatient experiences as well as an opportunity for electives to help our residents explore and grow into independent psychiatrists. Residents will complete continuity clinic and therapy training. Residents also participate in Integrated Behavioral Health as well as Project ECHO. Residents also rotate on our inpatient youth psychiatry unit during this time.
In addition to being an excellent place to train, Billings is a great place to live. Although Billings is the largest city in Montana it still feels like a small town in all the right ways, with affordable housing and a friendly community. Yet we are also just big enough to have a wide verity of restaurants, concerts, and museums. Billings is situated close to several Mountain ranges for easy access to hiking, backpacking, and camping. Skiing and snowboarding are an easy hour drive away in Red Lodge. And Yellowstone National Park is easy to get to from Billings to see wildlife and geysers.
Please reach out to us if you would like to learn more!
Mariela Herrera, MD, Billings Clinic Adult Psychiatry Residency Program Director
We will participate in the NMRP in Fall 2024 and will welcome our second class of interns in Summer 2025.
