From the benches to the trenches : training residents to provide emergency outreach services-a public/academic project.

The Charleston Area Mental Health Center and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina have collaborated to form a comprehensive emergency service with mobile capacity. The service is staffed by an interdisciplinary team of professionals from public and academic psychiatry. Psychiatric residents are fully integrated into the service. A description of the program demonstrates how such liaisons can promote improved access to high-quality services, while enriching the training of psychiatrists through outreach experiences.