Department of psychology

Psychological Clinic

Goals and Objectives

The Psychological Clinic supports the Psychology Department's goals of graduate training, provision of service and contribution of new knowledge through applied research. The Clinic serves as the initial training site for the development of clinical skills among graduate students in clinical psychology. It has long been our belief that the training and service functions are mutually reinforcing. High quality training can only occur by providing professional level services. Conversely, high quality training is necessary to provide professional level services. The Clinic also supports applied research by providing a subject population and facilities for research purposes.

Overall, our goal is to enhance the Clinical Scientist model of clinical training. The integration of research and applied aspects of psychology, greater graduate student exposure to faculty research and clinical interests, and a general expansion of the role of the Clinic within the training program are all facets of this goal.

Services

Annually, about 250 clients are seen in the Clinic. Thirty-five to 40% of these clients are children and adults from the community, while the remainder are KSU students. In addition to individual, couples, and family therapy, the Clinic offers specialized services in eating disorders, child assessment and therapy, personality assessment, forensic assessment, parental fitness evaluations, and neuropsychological assessment.

Services are provided by second and third year graduate students in clinical psychology working under the supervision of clinical faculty members.

Our services are available to Kent State University students and persons from the community. There is no fee for services offered to KSU students. A sliding scale fee system is used for persons from the community. Faculty and other university employees are charged at half the community rate.

The Clinic is open from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM weekdays, although evening appointments can be scheduled if necessary. Persons desiring services should call the Clinic at (330) 672-2372, or stop by to fill out initial paperwork. A therapist will call to schedule an appointment.

Persons wishing to make referrals to the Clinic should contact the Assistant Director at the above phone number, or have the client to be referred contact the Clinic directly. With the exception of actively suicidal or psychotic individuals and those for whom alcohol or drug abuse is the primary problem, we are reasonably flexible in whom we will accept for treatment. Any questions should be directed to the Assistant Director or to T. John Akamatsu, Ph.D., Director of the Clinic (672-2048).

Research

Research protocol involving systematic data collection on all adult clients has been in place for several years. Several master's theses and dissertations have utilized this data already, and on-going data collection is planned.