Bridging the gap: Addressing the mental health needs of underrepresented collegiate students at psychology training clinics.

Abstract

Mental health treatment utilization on college campuses remains disproportionately low among underrepresented (UR) students (i.e., racial/ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, and students from low-income families). Additionally, UR students report that factors including stigma, long wait times, and costs are barriers to accessing treatment. Given these trends, new methods to bolster the utilization of counseling services among UR college students are needed. Concurrently, there is a call for psychology training programs to increase their efforts in preparing health service psychologists to work with culturally diverse populations including UR students. Psychology training clinics may be an additional resource on campuses that can be useful in meeting both of these needs. We present a program evaluation of 4-year partnership between a counseling psychology department training clinic and an academic division serving UR students at a large Midwestern university. Two quantitative metrics, including service utilization hours by UR students (2,020) and direct service hours accrued by clinical trainees (1,266), highlight the benefits of the partnership. A social justice framework and implications for training programs interested in developing similar partnerships are discussed. Public Significance StatementThis program evaluation describes a formalized partnership between a psychology training clinic and an academic division supporting underrepresented (UR) college students. The partnership, developed within a social justice framework, increased the mental health treatment utilization rates of UR students while also increasing supervised clinical training opportunities for psychology doctoral students in working with diverse clients.

A historic apology: The American Psychological Association’s commitment to dismantling systemic racism and advancing racial equity in psychology.

“…Furthermore, students in educational settings are referred for assessment and evaluation by professionals who have not received adequate training in racially conscious and culturally responsive methods (Adames et al, 2013). This leads to the use of standardized assessments that may carry inherent biases, consequently connecting students and trainees of color to academic and behavioral health resources that do not align with their unique needs (Frost et al, 2020).…”

Still wanting change, still working for justice: An introduction to the special issue on social justice training in health service psychology.

“…These articles provide a diverse array of examples of how training can be coconstructed with learners to identify a variety of practices to achieve learning social justice at individual, community, and systemic levels (Hage, Miles, Lewis, Grzanka, & Goodman, 2020). Furthermore, several of these articles (e.g., Thrower, Helms, & Manosalvas, 2020) explore the integration of social justice into various modalities of psychologists’ scope of practice as well as the different locations in which psychologists are providing social justice–oriented training (Frost et al, 2020).…”

Insights Into Needs and Preferences for Mental Health Support on Social Media and Through Mobile Apps Among Black Male University Students: Exploratory Qualitative Study

“…The current burden on health care systems and the continued underuse of formal services among minority students necessitate creative intervention strategies in digital mental health that are practical and user-oriented [ 26 ]. It is imperative that we find other avenues to address the unique mental health challenges currently facing college-aged Black men and to improve uptake and access to mental health support services [ 27 , 28 ].…”