The dalhousie family therapy training program: our 6-year experience.

Background: Training in family therapy for general psychiatry residents during their child rotation is either not taught or the objectives not well described in psychiatric curricula.

Methods: Based on the combined experience of 4 family therapists over a 6 year period with 56 students (psychiatry, social work, psychology), we describe our experience with training general psychiatry residents in an introduction to an interdisciplinary family therapy, systemic-reflective course during their child psychiatry rotation. The model was based on experiential training, where both trainees and supervisors could build skills as they reflect on their process as learners and teachers.

Results: Residents' ratings at the end of rotation indicated extremely high satisfaction with the course.

Conclusions: We advocate that an experiential interdisciplinary course serving as an introduction to family assessment and systemic/reflective principles are valuable skills that have lasting value to general psychiatry residents.