 David B. Waters, Ph.D.E-mail: dbw@virginia.edu I have been in Family Medicine at UVA since 1975 and am the longest-standing member of the Department so I have seen a lot of growth and change over the years. I am a psychologist with a life-long interest in family dynamics and family therapy, which is how I got interested in Family Medicine to begin with. In 1978, I invented what we call the Family Stress Clinic as a way of teaching residents how to understand and work with family systems. The clinic is a part-time entity within the Family Medicine Department where couples, families, and individuals can be seen for help with a wide variety of problems. The therapy is conducted by residents and Family Stress Clinic staff behind a one-way mirror, which allows us to give active supervision and help as needed. In this way, Family Medicine residents can get direct, hands-on experience with family interventions of the kind they may well make as a practitioner, with the luxury of direct support and teaching. Many of our cases are referrals from within our own practice, which allows us very direct collaboration with the Primary Care Provider for the family. Others are self-referred or referred from other places in town for short-term treatment. The Family Stress Clinic has been a very successful and enjoyable part of our Department and has taught a lot of residents. It is also fun and lively. Most importantly, we have gotten a lot of families and individuals back on track over the years. It has been copied by other Departments around the country who have liked what it offers for resident training. In addition to the Family Stress Clinic, I teach in the Department via a number of other formats and try hard to keep the psychosocial aspects of medicine front and center in your mind as you master medicine. I am continually impressed by the combination of skill and determination that our residents bring to this endeavor and gratified by the pleasure and growth they experience while working in the Family Stress Clinic. I have lived in Charlottesville since 1971 (I was in Psychiatry before joining Family Medicine) and my wife and I raised our three girls here. It is a wonderful town to live in (my wife was Mayor for a period in the late 1980's) and I have resisted a variety of opportunities to leave. As the Department expands in new directions, Allie Rudolph (my colleague in the Family Stress Clinic) and I take pleasure and pride in maintaining the long tradition of the Family Stress Clinic, and bringing awareness of the whole person to your training. |