Rural Psychiatry Residency & Behavioral Health Fellowship

Cahaba Medical Care was recently awarded grant funding under the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) Program to create a rural psychiatry residency track as well as a behavioral health fellowship in collaboration with the University of Alabama Heersink School of Medicine Psychiatry Residency Program. The goals of this partnership during the planning and development period are to create the curriculum, accredit the rural psychiatry training track, and assemble the rural psychiatry and behavioral health faculty so that the first cohort of residents and fellows can begin in July 2026. 

According to Mental Health America, Alabama currently ranks 48th in the nation regarding access to mental health care and the prevalence of mental health diseases for youth and adults. By providing psychiatry and behavioral health training in Alabama's rural underserved areas, there will be an immediate patient care benefit with a long-term goal of retaining the program's graduates in these same communities to continue providing comprehensive mental health care services.