Psychology 591H - Laboratory in Clinical Psych

This course is a true laboratory course in Clinical Psychology. It offers students the opportunity to actually provide direct services, under supervision, in two clinical settings. In the first, after receiving training to become a Certified Decisional Trainer, students meet for weekly individual sessions to conduct a manualized Cognitive Behavior Therapy problem-solving treatment with a person currently incarcerated in the Hampshire County Jail and House of Corrections, a Northampton facility which has been recognized as one of the most progressive correctional facilities in the nation. In the second, students interested in gaining more clinical experience with adults assist staff in one of the acute psychiatric wards at the VAMC in Leeds (which was the first VA facility in the nation established to work exclusively with psychiatric patients), while students interested in gaining more clinical experience with children assist staff working with children in need of anger-management skills at the People's Institute Day Care and After School Programs in Northampton. Because this course is designed to be a Laboratory in Clinical Psychology and not a laboratory in Psychotherapy, all students enrolled in the course must be concurrently enrolled for at least three academic credits in a research activity. That activity may involve working as a Research Assistant for a faculty member or graduate student, conducting Honors Thesis or Capstone Research, or being enrolled in a graded Independent Study that involves research work. Simultaneous involvement in research and clinical work is the keystone of Clinical Psychology, and class discussions will integrate scientific and practice concerns throughout.

Senior Psychology Majors only. Pre Req: PSYCH 241 & 380 Email macdonal@psych.umass.edu well before registration starts for an application to enroll.