Building Clinically Confident, Compassionate, and Well-Rounded Psychiatrists
Welcome to the HCA Florida JFK North Hospital Psychiatry Residency Program
The HCA Florida JFK North Hospital Psychiatry Residency Program is a four-year, ACGME-accredited training program located in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Our program is designed to provide residents with the ideal balance of rigorous psychiatric training, individualized mentorship, academic excellence, and resident wellness. As the largest provider of behavioral health services in Palm Beach County, HCA Florida JFK North Hospital offers exceptional exposure to diverse psychiatric pathology, high clinical volume, and a full continuum of inpatient, emergency, interventional, and outpatient psychiatric care.
With more than 120 inpatient psychiatric beds, dedicated faculty mentorship, and broad subspecialty experiences beginning early in training, our residents graduate prepared to excel in fellowship, private practice, community psychiatry, and academic leadership.
Why Applicants Choose Our Program
● High-volume and pathology-rich clinical experience
● Early exposure to child & adolescent psychiatry
● Robust didactics and individualized teaching
● Broad outpatient and community affiliate network
● Quarterly wellness programming and strong work-life balance
● Supportive, resident-centered faculty culture
● Beautiful South Florida location minutes from the beach
A Letter from the Program Director
Choosing a residency is about more than finding a place to train—it's about finding a program that will shape the psychiatrist you become. Every residency has its own culture and philosophy, and I hope this letter gives you a sense of who we are.
I'm a Palm Beach County native, and after medical school I left Florida to complete my Psychiatry residency and Addiction Psychiatry fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. When I returned home, I joined HCA Florida JFK North Hospital as Medical Director of Behavioral Health. It didn't take long to realize that JFK North had all the ingredients to become an exceptional place to train future psychiatrists.
JFK North is unique. It has the feel of a community hospital, where you’ll know your colleagues, interact with hospital leadership, and become an important part of the team. At the same time, as one of the region’s largest inpatient behavioral health providers, we care for an extraordinarily complex and diverse psychiatric population. Our patients come from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and clinical backgrounds, including local residents, seasonal visitors, and individuals seeking treatment throughout South Florida.
Since the residency program relocated to JFK North in 2023, we've expanded our clinical experiences, redesigned our curriculum, built new community partnerships, and recruited exceptional faculty with expertise across multiple psychiatric subspecialties. Every change has been intentional.
Whenever we consider a new rotation, elective, or educational initiative, we ask one simple question: Will this help our residents become better psychiatrists? If the answer is yes, we pursue it.
Our goal isn't simply to graduate competent psychiatrists. It's to graduate physicians who are curious, adaptable, compassionate, and confident enough to succeed in any setting they choose. Residency is four years of your life, but it will shape the next forty years of your career. Every decision we make is guided by that responsibility.
Thank you for considering our program. I hope you'll take the opportunity to meet our residents and faculty and experience first-hand what makes this place so special. I look forward to meeting you.
Christopher Rienas, MD
Program Director
About Our Program
Established in 2011, our residency program trains six residents per year for a total complement of twenty-four residents across all four postgraduate classes.
Our residency is committed to developing thoughtful, clinically sophisticated, and compassionate psychiatrists through broad exposure to modern psychiatric practice in a supportive academic environment.
In 2023, the program transitioned to HCA Florida JFK North Hospital, significantly expanding resident access to psychiatric resources, subspecialty services, and educational opportunities within one of the most comprehensive behavioral health systems in the region.
JFK North Hospital’s Behavioral Health Unit includes:
● Over 120 inpatient psychiatric beds
● Adult inpatient psychiatry services
● Child and adolescent inpatient psychiatry services
● Geriatric inpatient services
● Consultation-liasion service
● Electroconvulsive therapy
● Partial hospitalization program
● Intensive outpatient program
As the largest provider of behavioral health services in Palm Beach County, residents encounter a wide range of psychiatric pathology across diverse patient populations and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Why Choose HCA Florida JFK North Hospital Psychiatry Residency?
Choosing a residency is about more than clinical training—it is about finding a program where you will be challenged, supported, and prepared to thrive.
At HCA Florida JFK North Hospital, residents benefit from:
Comprehensive Clinical Exposure
Residents train within a large psychiatric hospital serving child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric populations across inpatient, emergency, outpatient, and interventional settings.
Diverse Pathology
Our hospital serves a uniquely broad and often underserved patient population, allowing residents to develop confidence managing severe mental illness, substance use disorders, personality pathology, neurocognitive disorders, consultation complexity, and psychiatric emergencies.
Early Specialty Experience
Residents begin meaningful psychiatric clinical exposure in PGY-1, including child and adolescent psychiatry and emergency psychiatry.
Resident-Centered Culture
Our faculty maintain an open-door approach and prioritize resident education, wellness, and individualized professional growth.
Career Preparation
Graduates leave with broad psychiatric competency and mentorship support whether pursuing fellowship training, private practice, or community leadership.
Clinical Training
Residents receive broad and progressive clinical exposure across all four years of training.
Core Training Experiences Include:
● Adult Inpatient Psychiatry
● Child & Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatry
● Geriatric Psychiatry
● Emergency Psychiatry
● Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
● Addiction Psychiatry
● Forensic Psychiatry
● Continuity Outpatient Clinic
● Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
● Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
● Ketamine Treatment
● Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
● Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
● Eating Disorders Psychiatry at ViaMar Health
● Public Psychiatry
This breadth of training ensures residents develop both depth and versatility in psychiatric practice.
Yearly Residency Overview and Curriculum
PGY-1 Curriculum
The PGY-1 year is designed to establish a strong medical foundation while integrating psychiatric clinical experience early in residency.
Off-Service Rotations
Residents complete foundational rotations in:
● Inpatient Internal Medicine
● Emergency Medicine
● Inpatient Neurology Consult Service
● Outpatient Neurology
Rotations are completed across both HCA Florida JFK North Hospital and HCA Florida JFK Hospital main campus.
Early Psychiatry Exposure
In addition to off-service rotations, PGY-1 residents begin training in:
● Adult inpatient psychiatry
● Child and adolescent psychiatry
● Psychiatric emergency evaluations
This model allows interns to develop psychiatric confidence early while maintaining strong medical competency.
PGY-2 Clinical Curriculum
The PGY-2 year is a year of tremendous growth for our residents. They begin to take on the role of mentor to the interns and medical students on their team and gain exposure to services beyond inpatient psychiatry. Clinical services include:
● Adult Inpatient Psychiatry and Adolescent Psychiatry
● Geriatric Inpatient Psychiatry
● Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
● Emergency Psychiatry
● Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Programs
● Eating Disorders
● Outpatient Continuity Clinic
PGY-3 Clinical Curriculum
Our PGY-3 residents rotate through multiple outpatient and community-based settings throughout Palm Beach County, allowing for a broad and individualized ambulatory experience.
Outpatient Opportunities Include:
● Adult Psychiatry
● Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
● Psychotherapy
● Reproductive Psychiatry
● Addiction Psychiatry
● Geriatric Psychiatry
● Veterans Affairs Psychiatry
● Interventional Psychiatry
● Public Psychiatry
Community Partners Include:
● Health Haven
● Psychiatric Care of Florida
● Psychiatric Specialty Center
● Delray Center for Healing
● ViaMar Health
● William “Bill” Kling VA Clinic
● Sunrise VA Outpatient Substance Abuse Clinic
● Health Care District of Palm Beach County
Residents gain experience across private practice, community mental health, veterans affairs, specialty psychiatry, and interventional models of care.
PGY-4 Clinical Curriculum
The PGY-4 year is the year where we develop our residents into future leaders in the field. Residents will spend two months back in the hospital setting to run the inpatient teams as a junior attending, in addition to filling out the rest of the year with advanced electives. Residents will also maintain a small outpatient panel for their continuity clinic. The elective can be tailored to residents’ interests, but some of the current electives include:
● Advanced Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
● Addiction Consultation
● Neuromodulation
● Administrative Psychiatry
● Medical Education
● Clinical Research
● Protected time for Chief Residents and Resident Director Roles
Didactic Curriculum
Residents participate in protected weekly didactics designed to support both board preparation and advanced clinical reasoning. These core educational topics weave in and out of the various training years with appropriate depth to support what residents are treating clinically. Our didactics aim to be clinically useful and are largely taught in a Problem-Based Learning Model.
Core Educational Topics
● Diagnosis & Formulation
● Psychopharmacology
● Neuroscience
● Neuropsychiatry
● Psychotherapy
● Forensic Psychiatry
● Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Additional Academic Conferences
● Complex Case Conference
● Wellness Seminar
● Scholarship Seminar
● Clinical Excellence & Systems Seminar
● Psychiatry Resident In-Training Examination Review Course
● Physician Leadership Seminar (PGY-4)
● Professional Development Seminar (PGY-4)
Signature PGY-1 Experience: Live Interview Course
First-year residents conduct supervised patient interviews in front of a faculty member and their peers, receiving direct feedback on:
● Interview technique
● Rapport development
● Diagnostic formulation
● Treatment planning
● Clinical presentation skills
This immersive teaching model provides accelerated development of interviewing confidence and psychiatric sophistication.
Psychotherapy Curriculum
We believe that the foundation of psychiatry rests on connecting human to human to allow for therapeutic growth. While the bulk of the formal didactic curriculum occurs in the PGY-3 year, clinical experience in psychotherapy begins in the PGY-2 year.
PGY-2 Psychotherapy Experiences
● Group therapy facilitation in PHP and IOP at JFK North Hospital
● Group therapy facilitation at ViaMar Health Residential Eating Disorder Treatment Program
● Psychotherapy foundation lectures to prepare for the PGY-3 year
PGY-3 Psychotherapy Experiences
● Required to carry at least 1 longitudinal psychotherapy case in the outpatient clinic
● Psychotherapy clinical elective available for those interested in carrying additional cases
● Protected weekly psychotherapy supervision
● Didactic seminar that moves through various psychotherapy modalities, such as CBT, DBT, ACT and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Didactics blend learning and applying theory, along with case presentations from resident peers.
● Facilitator led process group
PGY-4 Psychotherapy Experiences
● Residents encouraged to carry at least 1 psychotherapy case into the PGY-4 year, with protected supervision time
● Option to co-facilitate the PGY-3 psychotherapy curriculum
Scholarship Curriculum
● Structured didactics to facilitate skills in giving talks and well as writing papers and producing posters
● Faculty mentorship in publication and delivery to produce at least 1 project per year
● Protected time to work on individual projects
● PGY-4 elective for larger projects
Systems Leadership Curriculum
● Didactic instruction in key topics and principles which affect hospital ratings and reimbursement patterns
● Each year residents break off into teams to build a Quality and Improvement Project which are presented to hospital leadership and voted on at the end of the year
● PGY-4 seminar to foster development of leadership skills needed in a dynamic hospital and teams based system
● PGY-4 elective available in administrative psychiatry
Resident Wellness
We believe excellent training requires a supportive and sustainable residency environment. Learn more about how we incorporate resident wellness into our program!