Student-Run Free Clinics ANNUAL REPORT 2011 - University of ...

Where are They Now
Claudia Reardon served as Safe Haven Clinic Student Coordinator from 2003-2004. She is now the
Associate Training Director of the UW Psychiatry Residency and
MEDiC’s 2011 Outstanding Physician Volunteer of the Year.
“UW through and through” is one way people often seem to describe me. I completed college, medical
school, and psychiatry residency here at UW-Madison, and since completing residency in June 2010, I have
been a UW psychiatry faculty member. MEDiC has been and continues to be an extremely important part of
my UW experience.
When I was a Med-1, I remember the MEDiC leaders coming to talk to us at the beginning of the
academic year to describe the different clinics. When Safe Haven volunteer psychiatry clinic was described,
something about it immediately drew me in. The idea of sitting with patients during intense and
emotionally-trying times of their lives seemed like it could both make a true difference in the lives of some
of society’s most marginalized members, and could bring lifelong professional satisfaction. In starting to
volunteer at Safe Haven as a Med-1 shortly thereafter, I immediately fell in love with psychiatry as a career
choice, and have never looked back.
As a Med-2, I was lucky enough to be chosen as Safe Haven Clinic Student Coordinator. In that role, I
was able to be the continuity for the patients seen at the Clinic. I also fondly recall trying my hand at
teaching the Med-1 Safe Haven volunteers about psychopharmacology and psychiatric diagnosis, and I think
that was probably my first inclination toward a career in medical education. In residency, I was dismayed to
find a paucity of clinical volunteer opportunities. Fortunately, I was able to work with our Residency Training
Director and the UW Hospital to arrange for malpractice insurance coverage that would allow our psychiatry
residents to volunteer at Safe Haven. Our residents have been volunteering there ever since.
Now as Associate Training Director of the UW Psychiatry Residency, one of my responsibilities is
directing the community psychiatry curriculum for residents. As part of this curriculum, each of the residents
spend at least one evening at the Safe Haven clinic. It warms my heart that many of them find the
experience sufficiently gratifying that they return for more volunteer evenings. To optimize exposure to work
with the underserved and severely mentally ill patients in community settings, such as those at Safe Haven, I
have started a Community Psychiatry Track within our residency for residents with a particular heart for this
kind of work. As a faculty member, my Safe Haven roles include organizing and orienting the residents in the
Safe Haven experience, recruiting new faculty volunteers for the Clinic, and volunteering there myself.
I am immensely grateful for all that I
learned from MEDiC starting as a medical
student. MEDiC gave me a passion for
working with some of the most stigmatized
and underserved patient populations. This
has translated into a love for advocacy work
on behalf of the mentally ill, for example, by
serving on a national work group on mental
health parity. MEDiC also is responsible for
steering me toward the specialty that very
clearly was the right choice for me. Finally, it
fostered in me a strong desire to spend a
significant part of my time teaching medical
students and residents. Thank you, MEDiC.
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