Seattle Children’s Psychiatric Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Fellowship

Transform the delivery of pediatric mental health care in Washington State through the expansion and development of expert Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants to meet the complex needs and improve the outcomes of the acute and chronically ill child and adolescent mental health population.

Program Goals

1. Provide advanced training for the novice Psychiatric APP in order to achieve confidence, mastery and competency in all domains of full scope of practice to care for children and adolescents with highly complex acute and chronic mental health disorders.
2. Grow our future Psychiatric APP workforce to increase access to pediatric behavioral health services and improve quality care outcomes.
3. Improve retention of Psychiatric APPs in organizations that provide care to the most vulnerable populations.
4. Promote an environment of respect, support and collaboration.

Program Objectives

1. Develop advanced assessment and diagnostic skills necessary to treat children and adolescents with complex acute and chronic mental health disorders.
2. Investigate and integrate evidence-based care into clinical practice.
3. Receive advanced psychopharmacology training to gain expertise in medication management of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders.
4. Cultivate clinical leadership skills to lead multidisciplinary teams.

Prior to matriculation into the Psychiatric Fellowship Program, the APP applicant must meet the following requirements:

• Master’s Degree and/or Doctorate of Nursing Practice
• Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certification (PMHNP-BC™)
• Physician Assistant-certified

• Seattle Children's Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine
• Seattle Children’s Psychiatric Behavioral Medicine Unit (PBMU)
• Autism Center
• Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic
• Ryther
• Community Based Partners - TBD

Boot Camp

All fellows spend the first two weeks in Boot Camp. Boot Camp is a period of intensive orientation to the practice environments at Seattle Children’s and with community-based partners. During Boot Camp, fellows will learn about the fellowship program structure and be introduced to the core competencies they are expected to achieve over the course of their training. They will also begin shadowing specific roles to help them orient to hospital and community based mental health care and services.

Clinical Rotations

Psych APP fellows will spend the first three months engaged in foundational learning on the PBMU. Psych APP fellows will then spend the next six months in a hybrid learning environment providing direct patient care in both inpatient, outpatient, and community-based settings with supervision and mentorship. During the final three months, Psych APP fellows will practice on the PBMU with increasing independence.

Didactics

Didactic sessions are held twice monthly during the first 9 months of the year. Didactic sessions will focus on developing core competencies and learning will be presented using a variety of modalities including self-study, journal clubs, case presentations, and lectures delivered by a variety of disciplines across multiple specialty areas. In addition, because Seattle Children’s is a teaching hospital, there will be multiple additional learning activities that fellows will be able to access throughout the course of the year (e.g., Psychiatry Grand Rounds). There will also be intentional learning focused on building resilience and self-care as well as learnings to understand and promote cultural humility and health equity.

Seattle Children’s Psychiatric APP Fellowship is currently unable to accept applications for January 2025. Please check back for updates on the status of planning for a September 2025 cohort.

Faculty Members

• Fellowship Director: Lindsey Miller, MN, BC-PMHNP
• Fellowship Supervisor: Jeovana Oshan, MSN, BC-PMHNP
• Fellowship Faculty Lead: Melissa Jensen, MSN, BC-PMHNP
• Program Coordinator: Nick Bresolin

Mary Lee

Mary Lee is a APP Psychiatry Fellow at Seattle Children's Hospital. She has worked at Harborview Medical Center in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the last 10 years. She also worked in the Medical ICU in Tucson, Arizona, where she obtained her Bachelor of Nursing, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Spanish and Portuguese. She graduated from the University of Arizona's Psych Mental Health Doctor of Nursing Practice program in May of 2023. Mary Lee is passionate about injury prevention and wellness in children. Her years of experience caring for trauma patients reinforced a desire to provide high quality mental health care for young people.

Mary Lee has three children. She grew up in Seattle and enjoys spending quality time with her friends and family.

Bukayo Akinyemi

Bukayo is an APP Psychiatry fellow at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Born and raised in Riverside, California, she received a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Santa Barbara, later attending nursing school and earning a Master’s in Nursing and subsequent training as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner from the University of Texas at Austin. Bukayo joins our team in Seattle equipped with a strong background in community mental health case management, crisis intervention, and health promotion and education. Her desire is to represent the under/misrepresented serving as a resource to the community to increase the diversity in mental health care. She’s passionate about working with children and adolescents, learning more about the role, and exploring all that Seattle has to offer!

In her free time, she enjoys cooking plant-based meals, listening to music and going to concerts, hiking, fitness, and taking care of her plant babies. 

Seattle Children’s Psychiatric APP Fellowship (PDF)