Fellow Life

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Six people sitting on a giant Adirondack chair in the middle of a pumpkin patch

As a fellow at Mayo Clinic, you join a vibrant community where we understand the importance of fostering strong bonds and building a supportive network among our fellows and faculty. Our program values open communication, mutual respect, and teamwork, creating an environment where everyone's voice is heard and valued.

From regular group discussions and case conferences to social events, we prioritize creating spaces for meaningful interactions and professional growth. Whether you're sharing clinical insights, seeking career advice, or simply enjoying some downtime together, you'll find that our fellowship community is a welcoming and inclusive one.

Opportunities to connect

During your training in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Mayo Clinic we invite you to join your fellows and faculty for a number of social events that build camaraderie and community. From painting classes to apple orchard visits, dinners at the program director's house, and trips to the smash room, quarterly events offer a chance to connect with peers and faculty in a relaxed setting while fostering lasting relationships beyond the clinical environment.

Other gatherings include:

Welcome picnic at the start of the year
Thank a Resident Day
Department picnic hosted by the Equity, Inclusion and Diversity committee
Holiday lunch

Wellness initiatives

As a fellow, your physical and mental health is a priority. Fellows have access to robust resources to promote well-being, as well as time off clinical duties to attend appointments.

Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center (DAHLC)

Fellows have access to the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center (DAHLC), located on both Mayo Clinic campuses (downtown and Saint Marys) in Rochester, Minnesota. This state-of-the-art fitness facility offers fitness classes, two floors of fitness equipment with a track, free weight areas, workout studios, a whirlpool, a steam room, a hydromassage, and two swimming pools.

Membership to the DAHLC is available at a low cost to fellows and their families through payroll deduction.

Video: Dan Abraham Health Living Center
Video: A Look Inside the Dan Abraham Health Living Center

Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program and Rejuvenate Spa

The Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program and Rejuvenate Spa are located in the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center on the Mayo Clinic Campus. The Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program provides healthy lifestyle experiences that focus on physical activity, nutrition, and resiliency.

Services include lifestyle medicine consultation, wellness coaching, physical assessment, and nutrition support. Rejuvenate Spa offers acupuncture, cosmetic application, massage with options for Reiki and reflexology, nail and body treatments, skin care, and waxing.

Academic support and well-being

The Office of Wellness and Academic Support is the primary point of contact for many services provided to students and trainees across Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Services include:

Academic success advising and tutoring
Mental health counseling
Access to an external learner assistance program which offers both short-term counseling services and well-being resource connections including:
- Free 30-minute consultation with a financial expert for support with budgeting, debt management, or credit issues
- Referrals for a free 30-minute legal consultation with an attorney in your area
- Discount on legal fees should you chose to hire the consulting attorney
- Health and wellness consultations
- Referrals to local providers and national services including housing, eldercare, childcare, transportation, and more
Disability access services
Care resource management for coaching and support including finding a local therapist and/or psychiatrist, managing stress and prioritizing needs, finding local supports for grief, loss, substance use, or family stress, developing action plans for growth and change, and locating resources to support physical, social, or spiritual well-being
CARE (Consultation Assessment Resource Empathy) Team which aids the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science community by providing support, guidance, and intervention for learners exhibiting behaviors that may indicate distress.

Wellness committee

The Child and Adolescent Wellness Committee is a fellow-led and department-sponsored initiative with the goal of improving trainees’ health by implementing interventions to promote emotional, social, and intellectual growth.

These include monthly team building and recreational activities, keeping the workroom well stocked with healthy and enjoyable snacks, recognition of each other’s birthdays, accomplishments, and other significant events, and establishing regular team assimilating traditions.

Groups on campus

Several groups on campus help you connect with other fellows and their families.

The Mayo Families' Connection is an organization of spouses and significant others of Mayo Clinic trainees that has the purpose of welcoming and assisting in the transition of moving to Rochester, MN as well as providing a system of support and personal enrichment through informative programs and recreational functions with a variety of special interest groups and annual events.

The Mayo Fellows Association helps to maintain a vibrant relationship among trainees, institutional leadership, and alumni, and offers a peer and social support network for trainees and their families with social events, athletics, and advocacy.

Fellows will have the opportunity to join a Mayo Employee Resource Group (MERG) during their training. Open to all employees, MERGs celebrate, support, and encourage diversity among employees.

Workshops for spouses and significant others are also available, including Making the Move. This free three-hour workshop gives attendees the opportunity to:

Meet other people new to the Rochester area
Gather information about the community
Discover local activities and opportunities
Learn about resources available at Mayo Clinic and within the community to assist you in your search for employment in and around Rochester
Network with members from the Mayo Families' Connection

Mayo Concierge Services has additional resources regarding pet and child care and navigating other local services.

Life in Rochester

Psychiatry residents taking their lunch break outside at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Our fellows love the small-town safety and conveniences paired with the big city entertainment and diverse restaurants that Rochester has to offer. Here, commutes are measured in minutes instead of hours and it is almost unheard of to sit at a traffic signal beyond one cycle. Diversity is celebrated, people are friendly and welcoming, and the cost of living is relatively low. With live concerts, craft breweries, and over 3,500 acres of parks and trails, it is never hard to find something to do.

Activities fellows enjoy doing

These are just a few things our fellows specifically love doing in Rochester and the surrounding area:

NAMI walk
Hanging out at local restaurant/brewery trivia nights
Hiking at area state parks (Whitewater and Carley)
Buying local at the Rochester farmer's market
Spending time with family at 329-acre Quarry Hill Nature Center, home to 35 Minnesota-native animals, a 1,700-gallon aquarium with seven varieties of fish, and a pair of raptors
Exploring Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo which houses over 30 species of wild animals native to Minnesota
Snow shoeing, cross-country skiing, ice-fishing, canoeing, and hiking at Chester Woods Park
Grabbing lunch and doing some shopping at Thursdays Downtown (a weekly summer staple of downtown Rochester, Thursdays Downtown combines arts, music, food, and a vendor market into one free community-uniting, block-party-style event)
Going out to SocialICE (themed ice bars and ice sculptures in downtown Rochester)
Going to a Rochester Honkers Baseball game
Snow tubing at Ironwood Springs
Exploring the 85 miles of bike trails
Playing old-school video games at the Machine Shed
Downhill skiing at Welch Village
Exploring nearby Minneapolis and St. Paul
Checking out surrounding small-town festivals such as:
- SeptOberfest (Wabasha, MN)
- Corn on the Cob Days (Plainview, MN)
- Food Truck Festival (Anoka, MN)
- Watermelon Festival (Kellogg, MN)
- Markets and Music on the Mississippi (Little Falls, MN)
- Grumpy Old Men Festival (Wabasha, MN)
- MN Renaissance Festival (Shakopee, MN)

It has been great to live here in Rochester. There are a lot of things to do year-round, especially outdoors. My wife and I enjoy paddleboarding, biking, hiking, and cross-country skiing. Minnesota is filled with tons of parks and lakes. We also enjoy grabbing a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants here in Rochester. Victoria's and Los Dos Amigos are two of my favorites!

Eric Pease, D.O., M.B.A.
Psychiatry resident