Psychiatry & Neuroscience Academy: Clinical Application

• Map neurotransmitters and connect neural pathways to clinical conditions

• Examine brain anatomy through a guided laboratory activity

• Conduct a patient interview and complete a mental status examination

• Evaluate psychiatry cases in an ethics board simulation

• Design multidisciplinary treatment plans for complex patient scenarios

• Present a capstone plan for continued exploration of brain-science careers

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Explain how neural mechanisms and clinical evidence inform mental-health assessment

• Apply ethical and multidisciplinary reasoning to patient cases and treatment plans

• Conduct and communicate a structured analysis of a psychiatric scenario

Students will leave with clinical case work and a personal exploration plan, deeper neuroscience and communication skills, and greater clarity about continued study or careers in brain science and healthcare.

Psychiatry and neuroscience require careful reasoning because biological mechanisms, lived experience, behavior, and social context can all shape a case. Students practice gathering relevant information, distinguishing observation from assumption, and connecting a treatment decision to evidence and ethics.

Patient simulations strengthen communication and perspective-taking. Treatment-plan workshops require students to weigh medical, psychological, and social needs rather than reaching for one simple answer. Ethics reviews add questions of consent, fairness, stigma, and responsibility. These habits matter in medicine and mental health, and they also strengthen how students evaluate sensitive information, discuss difficult topics, and make reasoned decisions when evidence is incomplete.

This academy is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are interested in the brain, mental health, medicine, or the decisions clinicians make when a case is complex. It can help students compare possible directions in psychiatry, neuroscience, psychology, public health, and related health fields.

No clinical experience is expected. Students should be prepared to participate respectfully in role-play, case discussion, group planning, and presentations. The course addresses serious themes, including mental illness, trauma, eating disorders, and substance use. Students and families should consider the course’s mature subject matter when deciding whether the experience is a good fit.

Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 UC Berkeley program.

UC Berkeley gives high-school students the opportunity to pursue serious academic exploration in a campus environment shaped by scientific inquiry, new ideas, and an active connection to the wider Bay Area. The Berkeley Hills, distinctive architecture, and green spaces make the experience feel different from an ordinary school routine.

Students learn alongside peers, become more independent, and experience the pace and possibility of university life. The Bay Area context adds exposure to a region influenced by research, technology, entrepreneurship, culture, and public debate. For families, the value is not campus prestige alone. It is the combination of academic depth, community, and a student gaining clearer insight into the subjects, environments, and possible directions that genuinely motivate them.

Brain-science professionals work across psychiatry, neurology, psychology, neuroscience research, social work, nursing, pharmacology, public health, and health policy. Their settings can include clinics, hospitals, laboratories, community programs, and interdisciplinary care teams.

The course shows how those roles approach related problems differently. One task may focus on neural pathways, another on a patient interview, and another on building a trauma-informed care framework. Students also examine how media portrayals and public stigma can influence understanding of mental illness. By moving among biological, clinical, ethical, and social perspectives, they gain a more realistic basis for deciding which health-science questions and professional roles they may want to investigate further.