The rotation curriculum at our residency program highlights the strengths of working and training in the Kaiser Permanente medical system. There is a breadth of experience in depth to both the inpatient and outpatient clinical environments. The DNA of psychiatry training and education at Kaiser Permanente San Jose will include not only an excellent and in-depth psychopharmacology and psychotherapy experience, but will have embedded in it the research and scholarly activity that is the foundation of graduate medical education in the department of research at Kaiser Permanente. Cultural competency and social advocacy as well as quality improvement in social Justice will be threaded throughout the 4-year experience.
Review the sample block schedule here:

Curriculum by PGY
PGY1 year is a blend of clinical experience in both psychiatry and general medicine.
Inpatient Adult Psychiatry at San Jose Behavioral Health – 4 blocks
Residents spend 4 months on the inpatient psychiatric floor at San Jose Behavioral Health, a 133-bed hospital that accepts all insurances and services a diverse population from the greater South Bay area. The team consists of 1-2 PGY1 residents, one PGY2 senior resident, and an attending physician. Learning points consist of conducting new patient intakes, follow up assessments, medication treatment, emergency medication decisions, brief focused psychotherapy, risk assessment, safety planning, and coordination of care. Daily treatment planning with a multidisciplinary care team including Social Work support, managing complex psychosocial needs. Collaborative work environment that emphasizes opportunities for formative feedback. Working 1 weekend a month depending on attending schedule.
Intensive Outpatient Program – 1 block
PGY1s spend 1 month on the intensive outpatient psychiatry team, where they will care for patients who have just been discharged from the hospital, or who need a higher level of care than the regular outpatient clinic. This includes interfacing with patients experiencing psychotic disorders, life crises, severe depression, or intermittent suicidal ideation. Residents will assist with medication management intakes, collaborate with the treatment team to coordinate supportive resources, and (if interested) facilitate educational group therapy activities for patients. Opportunities to work with fourth year medical students on sub-i rotation.
Addiction Medicine – 1 block
1 month on the consult addiction medicine service, rounding with an attending on the medical floors or in the emergency room. Managing patients that have acute detox needs with complex medical sequelae of addiction and psychosocial stressors. Exposure to treatment modalities including Benzodiazepine sparing protocol, suboxone, and connection to KP Addiction Medicine and Recovery Services (AMRS) programming. Working Monday-Saturday.
Neurology – 2 blocks (San Jose & Santa Clara)
Residents train on the Neurology inpatient consult service, 1 month at Santa Clara and 1 month at San Jose. Residents round on the medical floors, seeing patients with a variety of emergent and chronic neurological concerns including strokes, seizure disorders, spinal injuries, altered mental status, and other findings. Attendings provide teaching on neurological exam skills, interpreting imaging, differential diagnosis, management of complex conditions, and prevention of progression of or development of future strokes.
Inpatient Medicine and ICU – 3 blocks
Residents will spend 3 months total on inpatient medicine services at the KP San Jose Medical Center to develop a solid foundation of acute inpatient medical care on the general medicine floors, the ICU floors, and emergency department (for admissions). Resident expectations include admitting new patients, consulting specialty services, coordinating discharge plans, and providing evidence-based care for medical and surgical patients. Teams typically include two PGY1 residents, a family medicine senior resident (every other week), and an attending. Opportunity to interface with third year medical students rotating through medicine intermittently. Residents typically work 6 out of 7 days a week.
Outpatient Internal Medicine – 2 blocks
Residents train for 2 months at the KP San Jose Internal Medicine outpatient clinic, seeing adult primary care patients with various general medical concerns. There is supervision by a Primary Care Physician faculty member, including feedback and guidance on building your baseline medical knowledge, consulting specialty services, formulating an assessment & plan, history & physical exam skills, and medication management.
The PGY2 year entails building upon foundational psychiatry knowledge, interfacing with different populations and different practice settings.
Outpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – 2 blocks
PGY2s have three total months of CAP training, comprised of one month of inpatient child psychiatry at San Jose Behavioral Health (SJBH) and two months of outpatient child psychiatry at KP San Jose. In the outpatient setting, residents will become familiar with longitudinal medication management, including brief focused psychotherapy with children and families. Opportunities to shadow evaluations of ASD and ADHD. Participation in our teen/youth intensive outpatient programming, providing therapeutic intervention for higher acuity patients and families in group and individual settings.
Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at SJBH – 1 block
In the inpatient setting, residents will learn how to conduct safety and risk assessments, collaborate with families and caregivers for goals of care, manage medications, and assist with discharge disposition alongside social work team for patients 17 years of age and younger. They will be exposed to patients from a variety of counties and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as a significant number of patients who are foster youth.
Geriatric psychiatry – 3 blocks
Residents complete three months of geriatric psychiatry training at KP Santa Clara, with exposure to geriatric care in various settings. In addition to a longitudinal medication management clinic, residents are also trained to administer neuropsychological testing for neurocognitive disorder work-up and can assist the consultation-liaison service with MOCA testing. Weekly observation of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) procedures, learning how to administer treatments and monitor clinical response over time. Residents are supervised by a plethora of geriatric psychiatrists, ensuring opportunities for teaching and support across training settings.
Consult liaison – 2 blocks
Residents complete two months on the consultation-liaison service at the Kaiser San Jose Medical Center, providing comprehensive clinical care for patients with comorbid psychiatric and general medical conditions on the inpatient medical floors and emergency room. Residents will learn to provide an expert opinion to the primary team in the diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology in the medically ill. Assessment skills for acute psychiatric patients presenting to emergency room. Working collaboratively with physicians, families, and health care teams from all specialties to provide thorough and compassionate care. Working Monday-Saturday
Medical Psychiatric Unit at KP Fremont – 2 blocks
Residents have the unique opportunity to also be exposed to inpatient psychiatry in a medical-psychiatric unit (MPU) at Kaiser Fremont, which hosts 18 hospital beds and boasts a multidisciplinary team, including medicine, psychiatry, social work, nursing, occupational therapy, and nutrition, caring for patients with medical comorbidities. Patients admitted to MPU often have acute medical conditions that require stabilization alongside concomitant acute psychiatric symptoms, with common presentations of psychosis, delusional disorders, neurocognitive disorders, catatonia, and severe depression. The MPU also offers inpatient treatment for patients with eating disorders, and residents can play an integral role in learning how to stabilize this population of patients in collaboration with the nutrition & medicine teams. There are also opportunities to manage patients undergoing ECT and observe procedures.
Inpatient adult psychiatry at SJBH – 2 blocks
As second years, residents complete two months of inpatient psychiatry at San Jose Behavioral Health as the senior resident on the team with an attending and up to two intern residents. Building upon intern year experiences at the same training site, PGY2s benefit from increased responsibilities such as learning how to lead a team of learners, taking on higher case loads of patients (up to 8 patients), and leading treatment team meetings with social workers and nurses.
Emergency psychiatry – 1 block
Residents spend 1 month at Santa Clara Valley Emergency Psychiatric Services (EPS) as part of their community mental health clinical experience. Here, residents will work with acute patients who usually present on involuntary holds. Residents will gain skills in emergency psychiatric care, safety assessment, and discharge planning. Many patients seen in this setting experience severe mental illness, substance use disorders, and unstable housing. Residents will also work in a multidisciplinary team to arrange for safe discharge and follow up for patients.
Short-term Psychotherapy
Residents begin their psychotherapy clinic during PGY2 year by providing short-term, solution-focused psychotherapy, termed “FOCUS”. This weekly half day of psychotherapy clinic typically consists of two 1-hour sessions on Thursdays mornings. Didactics include education on cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and mindfulness-based practices. Residents are paired with a psychotherapy supervisor to review cases weekly for development of psychotherapy knowledge and skills. Opportunities also available for group supervision, where residents discuss cases with co-residents and/or other therapy providers in the clinic for feedback.
PGY3 is your longitudinal year – outpatient clinics and long-term therapy.
Longitudinal outpatient psychiatry
During the PGY3 year, residents experience the process of managing an outpatient panel throughout the entire academic year, developing longitudinal relationships with patients and gaining insight into the ins and outs of outpatient medicine. Panels consist of follow ups taken on from prior resident panels, and intakes of new patients presenting to the psychiatry department for medication management and diagnosis. Coordination of care including assessing for referral to various modalities of KP therapy options including groups, individual therapy, or classes. PGY3 resident clinics are located at KP San Jose, KP Scotts Valley, and KP Gilroy.
Daytime on-call team – Integrated Urgent Services (IUS)
PGY3 residents spend 1 day a week on the daytime outpatient on-call service. Patients who call into the clinic with urgent medication management or assessment needs are seen during office time blocked for these appointments. Assisting with department functions including refilling controlled prescriptions and coordinating with Crisis Intervention Team for any urgent messages received. On call for the “MIND phone”, a hotline that Primary Care Providers or other specialties can call for quick advice on patients presenting with mental health needs in their clinic. Supervision with IUS on-call attending.
Longitudinal Psychotherapy
Residents continue their psychotherapy education through a weekly half day of psychotherapy clinic. Residents will typically see patients on a long-term basis, with some patients being seen throughout the entire academic year. Residents are encouraged to practice psychodynamic psychotherapy, as well as seek psychotherapy for themselves as a means of personal wellness and learning. Each resident will receive weekly individual supervision and weekly group supervision by trained supervisors. During these sessions, they will be able to discuss cases, elicit feedback, process sessions, and gain insight into the practice of therapy. Individual supervision spaces can also serve as a space for individual career growth and mentorship.
Behavioral Medicine Service – 4 blocks
One morning half day a week is dedicated to being a provider on the behavioral medicine service (BMS), an outpatient behavioral health consult service embedded within the internal medicine clinic at KP Santa Clara. This is a unique opportunity to see patients at a lower level of acuity who may not be otherwise seen within the psychiatric department. Patients are often referred by their primary care providers to this service to be provided brief, focused psychotherapy, counseling, and referrals to health education classes. Topics discussed with patients include sleep hygiene, nutrition, relaxation techniques, grief, mindfulness, to name a few. Patients screened to have more significant mental health symptoms are referred to Adult Psychiatry for further evaluation and medication management.
Women’s clinic at KPSCH – 4 blocks
After the morning half day on BMS, PGY2s spend their afternoon at the women’s clinic at KP Santa Clara under the supervision of an attending psychiatrist with reproductive psychiatry expertise. The women’s clinic is a unique, integrative, and collaborative approach to providing comprehensive mental health care for primarily peripartum women, where PGY2 residents also work alongside OB-GYN residents in caring for women referred to the clinic for mental health concerns. Residents are exposed to appropriate evaluation and management for preexisting mental health conditions prior to pregnancy and psychiatric symptoms during the peripartum period.
During PGY4 year, residents are able to tailor their curriculum to their specific interests and learning needs. Residents will continue seeing some of their patients for medication management, and choose from a wide variety of electives both within KP and local community psychiatry services through our partnerships with Valley Medical Center, Gardner Health, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Residents also are encouraged to continue seeing psychotherapy patients.
Forensics Psychiatry at California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Residents will be introduced and gain experience with a variety of correctional health issues, such as but not limited to correctional/prison culture within various inmate security levels and the psychosocial stressors encountered by an incarcerated population, substance use in correctional facilities as well as Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) and non-medicinal forms of substance use treatment, and involuntary treatment in correctional settings. Residents will plan to rotate here 2 half days a week for 6 weeks.
Gardner Health
Residents will provide medication support to children, adults, and elderly in the Forensic Diversion and Reintegration program, seeing mood disorders, psychosis, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Residents will work in collaboration with the case manager to provide therapy and case management. This rotation will last a full year with one half day clinic a week.
Women’s Health Clinic
Residents will provide psychiatric care treating patients with common perinatal mood disorders, developing an understanding of major neuroendocrine factors involved in pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, and perimenopausal transitions. Residents will be working in a collaborative and embedded care model in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, acting as consultants and discussing new referrals. This rotation is one half day weekly for 6 months.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Residents will perform consultations for appropriateness of TMS treatments and conduct 5-6 TMS treatments under the supervision of an attending physician per week. This rotation will occur one half day weekly over a variable number of months in a year.
Valley Medical Center – Primary Care Behavioral Health
Residents spend one day a week seeing patients in the outpatient clinic of this community healthcare system. Medication management and connecting patients to community/clinic resources. Diverse patient population of greater San Jose area, with varying levels of acuity and psychosocial needs.