Program Contacts

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Important Information

Applicants are responsible for reviewing the University of Saskatchewan Policies for the R-1 Match to determine if they meet all requirements and eligibility criteria. Failure to meet or provide proof of any of the stated requirements or documents may result in an applicant’s file not being reviewed or ranked.

Applicants who have attended more than one medical school are required to submit the following documents from each medical school they have attended: transcript, medical student performance record (Dean's letter), diploma/degree (if granted).

PGME Residents Applying for Transfer to Another Program/Specialty
Residents currently training in a Canadian residency training program can apply to programs in the second iteration of the CaRMS match as a possible route to change program or specialty, in accordance with University of Saskatchewan eligibility criteria and the National Transfer Guidelines. Residents applying for transfer must upload all in-training assessments/evaluations and a PGME Training Record in addition to the other required components of their CaRMS application. More information is available under Supporting Documentation-Additional Documents.

Shortlisted applicants will need to provide permission for the program to speak with their current Program Director as per the National Transfer Guidelines.

Casper Test
All applicants must complete the Casper test. Please refer to the Examinations section for more information.

Licensing
Matched applicants must be eligible for an educational register license with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) for a July 1^st start date and must maintain eligibility for an educational register license throughout their entire training program. Matched applicants who are graduating in the spring will need to provide a copy of their medical degree/diploma to the PGME office and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) prior to the start of residency training. Any delays in providing all required documentation to CPSS may result in the following:

• delay in issuance of an educational register license and a delay in start of postgraduate training beyond July 1^st
• release from CaRMS match contract

Applicants will be required to provide proof of proficiency in the English language to meet licensing requirements of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan. More information is available under Supporting Documentation-Language Proficiency.

NOTE: Applicants who are considering a delay to their convocation date must be aware that a medical degree cannot be issued to a student until they have convocated. CPSS bylaws require that new residents must have received their medical degree prior to the commencement of residency training. Choosing to delay convocation will affect a matched applicant’s ability to commence their residency training program in Saskatchewan on July 1. Please refer to the U of S CaRMS Deferral Policy for additional information.

Credentialing
In order to commence and continue in Postgraduate Medical Education training programs, matched applicants must be eligible for and maintain privileges within the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) as determined by their credentialing process. The Saskatchewan Health Authority requires successful applicants to submit immunization records and a current criminal record check as part of their pre-resident application for appointment. Applicants with criminal records will be considered on a case by case basis by the College of Medicine in consultation with the Health Authority. 

Any delays in providing all required documentation to the Saskatchewan Health Authority may result in a delay in the start of postgraduate training beyond July 1st.

Resident Boot Camp
All matched applicants must attend a mandatory in-person Resident Boot Camp scheduled for June 29 and 30, 2026 in Saskatoon. The purpose of the Boot Camp is to provide additional support to trainees as they transition to residency by introducing and consolidating baseline skills and knowledge needed to flourish during their residency years. The program includes interactive case-based and hands-on practice sessions. A social event is held to provide trainees with an opportunity to interact and network. Stipends are provided to trainees.

Attendance is required in person and absences are only permitted in exceptional circumstances with prior approval of the PGME office.

SHA Orientation
All matched applicants must attend a mandatory orientation with the Saskatchewan Health Authority on July 2, 2026. Attendance is mandatory and absences are only permitted in exceptional circumstances with prior approval of the PGME office.

Advanced Cardiac Life Support
Matched applicants are required to provide proof of ACLS certification (current as of July 1, 2026) to the PGME office prior to starting their training program. The ACLS course must be endorsed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and/or the American Heart Association. ACLS training that is not certified by these two organizations and/or is completed entirely through an online course will not be accepted. Applicants are responsible for all costs associated with obtaining ACLS certification.

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Return of Service

International Medical Graduates who match to Psychiatry positions in the first or second iteration of the CaRMS match will be required to sign a Return of Service Agreement with the Province of Saskatchewan. The Return of Service Agreement must be signed before the matched applicant can commence their Psychiatry residency training program. Applicants who do not sign their Return of Service Agreement prior to July 1 will not be allowed to commence their residency training program. 

If a candidate does not fulfill their return of service commitment in a Saskatchewan community, they will be required to repay their funding (resident salary and associated training costs) plus accumulated interest. 

Click here to view a copy of the Return of Service Agreement for Saskatchewan. 

For more information on the return of service commitment, please contact: 

Return of Service
Practitioner Staff Affairs
Saskatchewan Health Authority
Email: returnofservice@saskhealthauthority.ca

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

Documents that are not in English must be accompanied by a notarized translation.

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Supporting Documentation / Information

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Review Process

Applications submitted after file review has opened on March 17, 2026

Supporting documents (excluding letters of reference) that arrive after file review has opened  on  March 17, 2026

Letters of reference that arrive after the unmasking date on March 17, 2026

Applicants must carefully review the Important Information and Supporting Documentation sections to ensure they meet ALL eligibility criteria for this program. Applicants MUST provide all documents listed under the Supporting Documentation Required section in order for their application to be eligible for consideration.  Failure to provide or meet deadlines of required documents may result in an applicant’s file not being reviewed or ranked.

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Interviews

Dates:

• March 25, 2026

Selection Criteria

Preference will be given to candidates who have the following qualities and/or skills: 

• Genuine interest in Psychiatry.
• Acceptable academic record.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team. 
• Scholarship and leadership potential.
• Work life balance including engagement in a variety of hobbies and interests.
• Potential to advocate for patients and communities as evidenced through their volunteer experiences.
• References obtained from specialists that can attest to the candidate's interest and proficiency in the specialty, comments on interpersonal and communication skills, and professionalism.

Program goals

The five-year residency program at the University of Saskatchewan mission is to train competent general psychiatry consultants who excel in the field of psychiatry. 

Our overall program goals and objectives are: 

1. To provide residents with a foundation of knowledge in the specialty of psychiatry including relevant aspects of basic medical science.
2. To facilitate a resident’s development of clinical skills in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders, within a biopsychosocial framework, across the lifespan and different settings.
3. To develop psychiatrists with strong communication and interpersonal skills to work collegially in collaboration with others and as part of an interdisciplinary team.
4. To support residents to become effective scholars including the abilities to acquire life-long learning skills for the ongoing acquisition of knowledge, critically appraise literature as they employ evidence based medicine, facilitate learning of others and engage in development of new knowledge through research.
5. To develop psychiatrists who can recognize the social determinants of health and are capable of advocating for patients across diverse populations in the health care system effectively to meet societal needs.
6. To support the development of leadership skills by providing opportunities for residents within residency training. 
7. To prepare the residents for success at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (RCPSC) specialty examinations and for independent practice.  
8. To participate in continuous quality improvement not only to improve patient care, but to enhance our training program in response to the changing needs of residents, society and the specialty of psychiatry.

Selection process goals

• Identify candidates with a genuine interest in psychiatry and those who will develop into an outstanding psychiatrist
• Identify candidates who demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills to interact appropriately with patients and colleagues
• Identify applicants who demonstrate attributes highlighted in the CanMEDs 2015 roles
• Identify applicants who demonstrate the flexibility to learn and adapt to the demands of residency training in psychiatry

File review process

Evaluation criteria :

Elective criteria

Interview process

Interview evaluation criteria :

Information gathered outside of CaRMS application

Specifically, we may consider:
Social interaction during program related events
Communication with program administration
Social media
Unsolicited reference letters
Unsolicited email references
Unsolicited verbal information on a candidate's prior performance
Unsolicited feedback from colleagues and co-workers

Ranking process

The behavior(s) exhibited below during the interview process may prevent an applicant from being ranked by our program :
Unprofessional or inappropriate behavior   
Did not attend interview   
Interview performance was not competitive   

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Program Highlights

• Collegial, friendly and supportive environment

• Cohesive and engaged resident cohort

• Dedicated faculty who are approachable, enthusiastic and effective teachers

• Small program that allows for 1:1 teaching experiences and mentorship

• Dedicated resident space including lounges 

• Protected academic time

• Program is supportive of individual learning goals and responsive to resident needs

• Psychiatry residents are provided with funding and support to attend conferences, courses and present research during the course of their residency:
• $1000.00 per year per resident:  This can be used for education materials, electives, conferences and travel.   
• Supplemental Travel: $2000.00 to each resident during the residency term to support residents who are presenting at conferences (not just attending)
• $1500 to use toward Psychiatry review course registrations to assist in preparation for the Royal college Exam

• Hospitality Items:  Christmas Lunches, Resident Retreats, Annual Awards BBQ. The U of Sask Psychiatry Residents have two retreats each year, in December and in the Spring/Summer. Funding support is derived from a variety of sources with the Residents demonstrating significant leadership in securing external funding.

Advantages of Training at the University of Saskatchewan, Department of Psychiatry

The University of Saskatchewan Psychiatry Regina Site program provides an enriched environment.

The Department over the last two years has expanded the number of consultants.  These consultants actively provide Mental Health service needs as well as training opportunities for the resident program.

Opportunities for enhancement in training are fulfilled with the restructuring of the service delivery by the Department of Psychiatry.  These include:

• hospital based psychiatry consultants (inpatient, emergency, consultation liaison psychiatry)
• community based psychiatry consultants (outpatient assessments and follow up)
• development of specialized clinics such as mood and anxiety disorder clinics, severe and persistent mental health disorder clinics, RTMS clinics
• expansion in addiction psychiatry with dedicated trained consultants in this field
• expansion in geriatric psychiatry consultants with dedicated trained consultants in this field

The Regina Site is a small program, allowing Residents to take an active role in program curriculum development.  The Regina site is fully integrated with the Saskatoon faculty and residents via shared academic days, monthly meetings with the Program Director in Saskatoon as well as combined Resident retreats.

Residents have a half-day academic day on Tuesday each week during PGY 1 and 2.  The residents have an academic full day on Tuesdays each  week during PGY3 and PGY4.

The U of S Psychiatry Residency program strives to meet individual resident training needs by supporting personal interests and career plans.  The program provides a flexible training experience for Residents who may wish to complete their training on a part-time schedule.

The Residents hold retreats in June and December each year focused on team building and wellness.

There are resident wellness representatives at both sites who coordinate resident wellness events.  

There is opportunity for out of province or international electives for up to 6 months in the PGY5 year.

There are opportunities for teaching.  The Residents teach clerks on rotation at twice weekly one-hour morning teaching rounds. The Residents facilitate small group teaching of interview skills to second year medical students.

Residents will have opportunity to organize and actively participate in journal clubs and grand rounds each of which occur monthly from September through June.  

The Resident to faculty ratio for clinical rotations is 1:1. This provides direct one-on-one teaching with staff and opportunities for mentorship. 

There will be opportunities to actively participate in research activities, working closely with Saskatoon.

During the course of psychotherapy training U of S Psychiatry Residents will have the opportunity to work with at least two psychotherapy supervisors focusing on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and dynamic modalities.  Residents also have the opportunity to pursue additional training in other modalities including but not limited to: Interpersonal therapy (IPT), and CBT-i.  A core psychotherapy seminar curriculum continues throughout PGY2-5. Proficiency is attained in Family therapy and working knowledge in Group therapy.

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Program Curriculum

This residency program is for 5 years.

Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.

Psychiatry as a specialty transitioned to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Competency by Design (CBD) Framework on July 1, 2020.

Psychiatry residency is composed of 4 stages of training.   

Transition to Discipline

This brief stage focuses on orientation to the program and assessment of new trainees to ensure they have the basic skills necessary to move on to the Foundations of Discipline stage.  In psychiatry, these basic skills include taking a psychiatric history and accurately communicating clinical encounters.

The first two blocks of PGY1 include 1 block of ER Psychiatry and 1 block of inpatient psychiatry.  The Residents participate in a Resident Boot Camp which includes orientation to the program, site and specialty of psychiatry.

Foundation of Discipline

This stage covers broad-based competencies that are necessary before moving on to more advanced competencies. This stage corresponds with Junior Resident status in the traditional model.  This stage encompasses the remaining blocks of PGY1 and PGY2.  In psychiatry, the training experiences (or rotations) in Foundations include the medical rotations and the general adult inpatient and outpatient rotations. The competencies that the residents are expected to achieve are generally of lower complexity than the competencies in the Core and TTP stages.

The remaining 11 blocks of PGY1 are comprised of:

• 2 blocks of Psychiatry ER
• 1 block of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry
• 1 block of Internal Medicine (CTU)
• 1 block of Neurology
• 1 block of Emergency Medicine
• 1 block of Family Medicine
• 1 block of Geriatric Medicine
• 1 block of Psychiatry Selective (Adult Psychiatry, Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Rural/Underserved Psychiatry)
• 1 block of Medicine Selective (Internal Medicine (CTU), GIM, Other Internal Medicine Subspecialty, Rapid Access Addictions Medicine, Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Neurology)
• 1 block of Elective/Research

PGY2 consists of 6 months of General Adult Inpatient Psychiatry and 6 months of General Adult Outpatient Psychiatry.   Training sites include the Regina General Hospital, Pasqua Hospital and community settings including the mental health clinic and private practice offices. Training in ECT is completed as part of the General Adult inpatient experience.

Core of Discipline

This stage covers the core competencies that make up the majority of the discipline. This stage corresponds with  training experiences include Child Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, SPMI, Addictions, Psychotherapy, and other rotations.  The competencies achieved in this stage may be similar to those in Foundations, but are at a higher level of complexity.  This stage encompasses PGY 3 and 4 years.  The proposed training experiences for PGY3 and PGY4 are:

PGY3

• 6 months of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• 6 months of Geriatric Psychiatry

PGY4

• 2 months of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry
• 1 month of Addictions Psychiatry
• 2 months of Acute Care Psychiatry
• 1 month of Consolidation
• 6 months of Severe and Persistent Mental Illness

Training is balanced between inpatient and outpatient settings, hospital and community based practice. Training sites include the Regina General Hospital, Pasqua Hospital and community based outpatient clinics and other health care facilities.

Transition to Practice

In this stage, the resident should demonstrate readiness to make the transition to independent practice.  The Resident consolidates the CanMEDS competencies with an emphasis on career track determination.  Residents assume greater leadership roles in teaching, program administration and work in advanced clinical rotation environments.  This stage corresponds to the PGY5 year. The proposed PGY5 rotations include:

PGY5

• 3 months of a Psychiatry Training Experience where the resident leads the team.
• 3 months of Selective training in an area that pertains to psychiatry
• 6 months of elective training which may be approved as out-of-province elective training opportunity

Longitudinal Training

Longitudinal training is provided in Psychotherapy (CBT, IPT, Dynamic, DBT, Supportive), Family therapy, Group therapy, and Addictions.

Performance Assessments

Residents receive formal performance assessments based on CanMEDS roles and competencies following each block in PGY1 and at quarterly intervals during PGY2-5 based on the rotation plans competencies. Residents are assessed utilizing stage specific Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs).  The Competence Committee reviews each Resident at minimum every six months based on multi-source performance assessments that include, but are not limited to training experience ITARs, emergency on-call assessments, multisource feedback from allied health professionals, written and OSCE examinations.  Performance evaluation is based on the CanMEDS competency framework.

Seminars and Courses

During the five years (PGY1 to 5) there is an comprehensive formal teaching program consisting of:

• Core Seminar curriculum beginning in PGY1.
• Psychotherapy seminars plus longitudinal individual psychotherapy training and supervision in CBT, Dynamic, DBT, and IPT.
• Family therapy training inclusive of seminars and direct Family therapy training and supervision.
• Interviewing skills course including Mock STACERs.
• OSCE course PGY1-4.
• Critical appraisal and research curriculum as part of Academic Half-Day seminars.
• TIPS (Teaching Improvement Project Systems).  This is a two day course that PGY 1 residents must attend.

Examinations

• Annual OSCE exam held each spring for residents in PGY1-4.
• COPE exam:  National written MCQ exam each year to provide residents (PGY 1-4) with formative feedback of knowledge based on national benchmarks.
• PRITE exam: Written exam bi-yearly to provide residents (PGY 1-4) with formative feedback of knowledge based on national benchmarks (U.S. based exam)

Research

The Department of Psychiatry at the U of S has a Residency Research Director who meets with residents and facilitates research opportunities.  A research facilitator is available at both sites to work with the residents.

Emphasis is placed on collaborative research models and is facilitated by a Faculty Resident Research Coordinator. Opportunities for research collaboration exist with clinical faculty and also with basic science faculty.

Research data and outcomes can be presented during the Saskatchewan Psychiatric Association annual academic conference in the spring, at other local and provincial academic and education programs, national or international conferences.

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Training Sites

Regina General Hospital

Pasqua Hospital

Regina Child and Youth Services

Regina Mental Health Clinic

Family Medicine Unit, Regina Centre Crossing

Regina Addiction Services

Randall Kinship Centre

Department of Psychology, University of Regina

Regina Provincial Correctional Centre 

Long term care nursing homes

Resources

The Regina General Hospital Health Sciences Library is a fully equipped library with electronic journal access 24/7/365.  In addition to the library facilities, each Resident has access to computer and internet facilities outside the Library in Regina General Hospital.  E-access to the University of Saskatchewan library is also provided.

Distributed Learning at the University of Saskatchewan

The College of Medicine, while physically located in Saskatoon, is a provincial resource in attitude and in practice. Postgraduate medical education at the University of Saskatchewan takes seriously its role in supporting quality health care to all people of the province. This means training physicians to meet the needs of, not only urban populations, but also those of rural and remote populations. In so doing, the College of Medicine has developed, and continues to develop, programs and rotations in Regina and other communities. These educational experiences have been designed to enhance the residents' knowledge and skills, and take maximum advantage of unique educational opportunities in a diversity of communities.

The Department of Psychiatry has established Distributive Learning opportunities consistent with the spirit of the terms set out by the College of Medicine and Psychiatry residents based in Regina will have opportunities to undertake rotations outside Regina if necessary. The College of Medicine and the Ministry of Health work collaboratively to ensure residents are not financially disadvantaged during this process. Temporary housing is available at no expense to residents who leave their home site to complete short term mandatory rotations at distributed sites in Saskatchewan. Please review the PGME Housing Guidelines for more detailed information.

While all residents are strongly encouraged to take advantage of educational experiences in other communities to ensure a well rounded education, the amount and format of such time is determined by the Residency Training Committee.

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Additional Information

We invite you to visit the following websites to learn more about living in Regina and Saskatchewan:

City of Regina

Tourism Regina

Economic Development Regina

Tourism Saskatchewan

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FAQ

Thank you for considering us as your future training program. We look forward to reviewing your application! Please reach out if we can provide you with further information about our program.