Clinic Profile: The Counseling & Assessment Clinic
TEXAS A&M University-College Station

Bill Rae
 

The Counseling & Assessment Clinic (CAC) is the training clinic for the Department of Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University in College Station and has been in continuous operation since 1984. The CAC helps train doctoral students in the Counseling Psychology and School Psychology programs and master's students in School Counseling program. The Counseling Psychology program has 6 faculty and the School Psychology program has 9 faculty; each program admits between 10-12 doctoral students each year. A typical doctoral student spends between two and four semesters in the CAC providing psychotherapy services and at least one semester providing assessment services. (It should be noted that this clinic is independent of the on-campus Psychology Clinic for the Psychology Department under the direction of the beautiful and talented Rob Heffer.)

The CAC is unique both in its structure and function. The CAC consists of two clinics that function independently. The CAC-Community Health Center (CAC-CHC) is solely devoted to psychological counseling. The CAC-CHC is located in an adjacent community and is integrated into the Bryan/College Station Community Health Center, a federally-qualified community health center to serve the health care needs of traditionally underserved members of the community (e.g., uninsured, working poor). Within the center are pediatricians, family physicians, dentists, health education counselors, and other services (e.g., prenatal clinic, pharmacy). This arrangement is clearly a win-win for both our trainees and the community. Because we are integrated in the community and not "land-locked" within a huge University campus, we are accessible to people who normally would not be able to come to our clinic. We also are able to provide low-cost psychological care to members of the community; our fees are based on a sliding fee scale with our mean fee being about $8 per session. (Although our fees do range from $1 to $30 per session, our modal fee is $5 per session and it is not uncommon to waive all fees for financial hardship.) Because less than 5% of our clients are affiliated with the University, our trainees are able to provide counseling services in a true community. Additionally, because we are housed within a multidisciplinary health center, our trainees can obtain and provide consultation with physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel about cases. Within the CAC-CHC we have 6 counseling rooms and 5 additional administrative and supervision rooms. The CAC-CHC is opened approximately 35 hours per week, but in order to provide easy access to services, we are opened four evenings each week until 9 PM. Approximately 30-35 trainees provide counseling in the CAC- CHC for a total of over 2000 client visits in a year.

In contrast, the CAC-Heaton Assessment and Research Clinic (CAC-Heaton) is solely devoted to the provision of assessment services. Unlike the CAC-CHC, the CAC- Heaton is located on the main campus of Texas A&M in Heaton Hall, a building adjacent to the education building. The location is compatible with our client population since the majority of our clients (60-80%) are Texas A&M students who have been referred for evaluation for possible learning disability and/or ADHD. Although we charge by a sliding fee scale for the CAC-Heaton, our fees are much higher than the CAC-CHC. Our minimum fee for our typical assessment (i.e., intellectual, achievement, personality, learning skills, etc) is $350, but it can be as high as $630 for high income clients. (We advise the Texas A&M students to declare their own incomes during intake rather than their parent's incomes!) Some of the offices in the CAC-Heaton are used by faculty to videotape novice students with mock clients and to conduct research. Within this clinic we have 4 assessment rooms and 3 additional administrative rooms. Also located in the CAC-Heaton is the Test Library where we maintain an inventory of psychological testing materials which can be checked out by our graduate students. The CAC-Heaton is opened approximately 25 hours per week, but we try to have several Saturday openings each semester to accommodate trainees and clients schedules. Approximately 25-30 trainees provide assessment in the CAC-Heaton for a total of over 300 client visits in a year.

The CAC employs three Graduate Assistants (GA's) each working 20 hours per week. One GA functions as our Test Librarian to check out and maintain testing materials. Two GA's function as intake screeners, chart reviewers, and trouble shooters in the CAC. We also have six Student Workers who function as receptionists. I have been Clinic Director for nearly nine years after working in health care for 25 years. The Clinic Director position is a half-time job; my other half-time job is as a clinical (non- tenure track) faculty within the School Psychology training program. (As part of the faculty job I often will supervise trainees in the CAC).

The CAC is well-supported financially. The University pays all salaries in the CAC ($100,000 per year) and also provides funds to purchase assessment materials ($15,000 per year). The greatest challenge we face is to find enough child and adolescent therapy clients at the beginning of each academic year. With the help of the local television station, we produced a 30-second ad that was shown 140 times during the month of September on the local CBS affiliate. This helped us to have enough clients for our trainees in order to provide them with a rich training experience.

The most rewarding part of my job is being able to interact with bright students who are eager to learn. Having survived 25 years working in the health care industry and being thwarted from helping people because of the "financial constraints" of the health care system, it is a joy to truly help clients by providing needed services to them in the CAC.

A deceptively modest entry to Bill Rae's comprehensive clinic.