Clinical psychology students put skills to use in the field
In the third part of this three-part series about counseling facilities at the University of South Dakota, The Volante provides insight on some of the projects clinical psychology are involved in.
Clinical psychology students are taking counseling services out of the classroom through research and future aspirations.
Barbara Yutrzenka is the director of the clinical psychology program at the University of South Dakota and said the program is a combination of clinical training and research.
“There’s a variety of things they might do,” Yutrzenka said.
There are currently 28 students enrolled in the clinical psychology program, with five students placed in fifth year internships. All students but first years in the program are involved in meeting with clients for taped counseling sessions.
A broad field of work
Graduate student Ryan Reed said he first got involved in psychology because of his social tendencies and experience with campus sports.
“I interacted well with others,” Reed said.
At USD, Reed has used his skills in psychology to work athletics.
Reed said he focuses on training athletes to avoid distractions and visualize responses and counteractions through techniques such as self-8talk.
“There’s a million distractions,” Reed said.
He worked with players on relaxation techniques, routine setting and attention manipulation.
“Mentally, you’re practicing,” Reed said. “If you’re playing it in your head, you’re teaching yourself the reaction.”
The techniques he worked with athletics to master are used in other athletic settings.
“It’s huge in the Olympics,” Reed said.
Reed is currently a member of the Navy Reserves. After graduation, he’ll have a yearlong internship at a naval base followed by at least three years in the service, where he said he’s unsure what field of psychology he will be placed in.
“That’s the beauty of psychology, it’s broad,” Reed said.
“It’s vastly different from standard psychology,” Reed said.
Going into the clinical psychology program, Reed knew he wanted to study a field that would be applicable in the Navy.
“When you come in, not everyone knows what you’re going to do,” Reed said. “For me, it’s always going to be about combat trauma.”
Reed is at the end of his fourth year in the clinical psychology program at USD.
The first year of the program is filled with intense coursework and the production of a thesis. Students begin seeing clients during their second year; continue taking multiple classes and work on a thesis project.
In the third year of the program, students are placed in a practicum and must complete 16-20 hours of work for a community health clinic a week while courses lessen in intensity.
The fourth year is oriented toward clinics, with an increase in client care hours while students work on a dissertation proposal. The fifth year is spent in a year-long internship.
Reed spends a day each week focusing on research, two weeks in Mitchell working with patients and two days in Vermillion attending classes and seeing patients.
First in specialized training
Yutrzenka said USD was the first university in the nation to offer specialty training in disaster psychology. She said a third of the students in the clinical psychology program receive the training.
“We were the first and are the core in preparing for those experiences,” Yutrzenka said.
Yutrzenka said the training has allowed students to pursue careers with Veterans Affairs, and that one alumni went on to work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“They’ve become leaders in disaster response,” Yutrzenka said. “There are a lot of people who do this work, but not a lot specialized to do the work.”
Research in trauma, such as Reed’s work with PTSD and its symptoms, is common at the university.
Students have done research in fields such as how PTSD is related to alcohol abuse, and vice versa. Research has also been performed to investigate the stress experienced by farmers and communities that have faced tragedies such as youth suicides.
“A lot of research links to clinical work,” Yutrzenka said. “Students are living and breathing clinical work.”
A pertinance to everyday life
Graduate student Nick Jones just finished collecting data on the perceived ethics about social media and counselors. His research centered around whether clients found it appropriate to follow and friend their therapists on social media sites.
Jones said research has previously been done on what the therapist’s response to actions such as Googling clients is, but research has never been done from a client’s point of view.
“I thought it was pertinent,” Jones said. “I think it’s an integral part of our daily lives.”
Jones said he hopes to publish his findings and is in the midst of analyzing his data.
“It looks like clients have similar views as clinicians,” Jones said. “Clients are viewing social media activities as unacceptable.”
Jones said he first came across the idea for his project during his first year in the program after reading an article about therapists Googling clients.
Yutrzenka said there is currently no ethical guideline regarding the social media interaction between counselors and clients.
Jones’ research may pave the way for future ethical guidelines for these interactions, a topic Yutrzenka said many therapists and clients feel is inappropriate.
“You want to contribute the best you can to your field,” Jones said. “I hope something comes of it.”
