Teaching and Curriculum

View a preliminary list of UGME opportunities for teaching.

The Foundations Curriculum contains 50 hours of psychiatry teaching in lectures and small group learning. 

This curriculum has a special unit for clinical exposure of psychiatry across the life span including child, geriatric and complex care. For more information on the Foundations Curriculum please visit the U of T MD webpage.

The Core Clerkship in Psychiatry (PSS310Y) is a comprehensive 6-week rotation with a mix of small-group seminars and clinical teaching. Seminars are held at partner hospitals on a weekly basis, and include CBL, role-play with standardized patients, and a personality disorders seminar.

Interprofessional learning opportunities are available and are part of the students’ clinical experience on the inpatient units, ACT teams, Consultation-Liaison Service, and ER psychiatry.  Students at some sites also have outpatient experience integrated during their clinical rotation. 

All students have two half-days of clinical time with a child psychiatrist, with the opportunity to do an extra half-day in their selective time. Some (but not all) students gain exposure to geriatric psychiatry via a 3 week inpatient placement . Students take call until 11pm in a 1 in 5 schedule.

All students get two half-days to do a mini-selective in week 6 in areas they feel they need more exposure. In addition, all students get 10 hours of self-study time during their clinical placement. 

Clerkship students may refer to the Psychiatry PSS310Y Course shell on Elentra for detailed, up-to-date curriculum and contact information for their rotation.

More information regarding the Clerkship Program.

We encourage all students interested in psychiatry as a career or for global professional development to explore our array of potential Elective options. Applicants may wish to contact prospective supervisors in advance, but all students must adhere to application regulations as laid out by the MD Program Electives officeFor guidance on psychiatry electives, please visit the Electives Catalogue.

Year 4 students of the MD Program participate in a 14-week Transition to Residency (TTR) course. Selectives are offered with the goal of preparing them for residency.

Our Department hosts a number of non-curricular enrichment programs to promote exposure and interest to the psychiatry specialty with the following initiatives:

AMI

(Open to: MD Program Year 2 students)

The Advocacy Mentoring Initiative (AMI) provides a select group of second year medical students to become Mentors through The Peer Project to youth who are identified as living in “at-risk” communities.

Medical students will be partnered with youth residing in Toronto. They will learn more about child development, community health and principles related to Advocacy through regular seminars and other scholarly activity. Medical students are mentored and engage in group supervision with two residents, one in Psychiatry and one in Adolescent medicine.

PsychLE Program

The Psychiatry Longitudinal Experience (PsychLE) is a structured shadowing and mentorship opportunity created under the Undergraduate Medical Education Portfolio. PsychLE is designed for first-year and second-year (pre-clerkship) medical students to gain hands-on and early exposure to psychiatry. Mentors will have the opportunity to support and inspire the next generation of psychiatrists while showcasing the diversity of psychiatry practice. This program was created in response to learner-identified gaps in early exposure to psychiatry as well as educator interest. This program serves as a low-burden, high-impact teaching opportunity that supports early career exploration and demystification of the field of psychiatry for learners. 

The PsychLE program matches pre-clerkship medical students to a resident or faculty mentor, and allows for three-half days of shadowing (to be scheduled between the mentor and medical student). The objectives of the program include: learning about lifestyle within psychiatry, discussing variety of practice, exploring the role of psychotherapy in training and practice, clinical exposure and practice conducting a Mental Status Exam, as well as opportunities to present and discuss cases and treatment approaches. 

The medical student will be required to log this as an experience through the Enriching Educational Experiences (EEE) Program, which will be logged under a supervising staff physician who is a University of Toronto faculty member . If the medical student is matched to a resident physician as their PsychLE mentor, then the resident physician’s clinical supervisor must be advised and must agree to be the supervising faculty teacher. Recruitment of mentors and mentees typically occurs in the fall, and the shadowing placements are typically spread out between January and June of the following year. Upon completion of the program, mentees and mentors are encouraged to complete an evaluation survey and will receive a certificate to acknowledge participation in the program.