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John Kolcek is the director of the Clinical Psychology Center (CPC) at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. He is full time ("And then some…") and tenure track.
Tell us a little about your
clinical program.
The Clinical Psychology Program at The University of Montana adheres to the scientist practitioner model and typically has between 30 and 35 clinical doctoral students on campus. The training at the Clinical Psychology Center (CPC) emphasizes a broad based training of clinicians with an emphasis on empirically supported approaches to treatment. That being said, students are exposed to a wide variety of theoretical orientations during their clinical training, and are encouraged to develop the ability conceptualize clients from a variety of different theoretical approaches. Clinical students participate on clinical teams as observers during the second semester of their first year, and then take a full year of practicum in their second year.
Students are required to take a total of four semesters (two years) of practicum, plus one summer practicum. Students are welcome to take additional practicum beyond two years. They also have the opportunity to obtain paid clinical assistantships at the Counseling and Psychological Services Center of Student Health or at other clinical sites located in the community and Western Montana. Typically, there are about 20 students taking practi
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cum during any one year. Each student is expected to carry three cases and supervision is conducted by clinical faculty or, occasionally, an adjunct from the community. Practicum teams consist of students of various levels of experience and meet weekly for two hours. Each student also receives individual supervision weekly.
What is the physical set-up of your clinic?
The CPC has 5 individual therapy rooms, a family/group room, a child therapy room, a client reception/waiting room area, a student work area, two seminar rooms, a basement flex research space, and several offices for supervision and research. Each of the therapy rooms is equipped with audio and video equipment for the videotaping of all sessions. The audio and video equipment are located either in a central room (for the individual therapy rooms) or in the rooms themselves (for the family/group and child rooms). The seminar rooms and offices are equipped with televisions and VCR for supervision.
The front interior of the CPC was recently remodeled to establish a more private reception/waiting room area for clients, as well as a confidential work area for the student clinicians. The work area is equipped with four networked computers (set up so as to be hidden on the university network) and one non-networked computer for test scoring. No confidential or patient related material of any sort is stored on the networked computers. The remod
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eling was well received by clients, students, staff, and faculty and has continued to contribute to the professional atmosphere in the CPC. The basement area has recently been converted into a flex research space with computer and data storage facilities for individuals conducting clinical research at the CPC.
How does training in a rural setting effect they way your clinic operates?
There are probably two areas in which it is most apparent - client demographics and the potential for encountering clients in public. Montana is a sparsely populated state (less than 1 million in the whole state) and while we draw the majority of our clients from the surrounding area (pop. 70,000), it is not uncommon for individuals to travel significant distances to receive services at the CPC. Accordingly, flexibility around scheduling and time is often important. In addition, Montana is a very low income state (median income is 48th in the nation), and the CPC tends to see those individuals who are unable to receive services elsewhere. Very little of the clinic income is derived from fees. Finally, with respect to demographics, is the ethnic composition of our clientele. As a reflection of the demographics of Montana, the vast majority of clients seen at the CPC are Caucasian and Native American.
Because Missoula is a relatively small community that is very social (there are many outdoor events throughout
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