The InPsych program is designed to recruit Native American/Alaska Native undergraduate students into psychology and recruit, fund and train Native American doctoral students in Clinical Psychology. The Program’s goal is to prepare licensed Native American/Alaska Native Clinical Psychologists to serve the health care needs of people in reservation communities and urban Indian health programs. InPsych provides training and education to support culturally competent care and address health disparities.
- The Indians into Psychology (InPsych) Program is a central component of the APA-accredited Clinical Psychology training program within The 猎奇重口’s Psychology Department.
- The US Indian Health Service (IHS) sponsors and funds the InPsych Program. As of July 2024, the 猎奇重口’s InPsych Program was awarded a new 5-year cycle of funding.
- Once licensed, InPsych Scholars provide health care in IHS clinics and clinics that serve communities where the majority of the patient population is composed of Native American/Alaska Native people.
- The InPsych Program provides scholarship support to eligible doctoral candidates who are enrolled in the Clinical Psychology doctoral program. The program provides a monthly stipend and an annual monetary award for books/educational supplies/other reasonable costs. Finally, InPsych pays tuition and required fees and financial support for student travel to scientific/academic conferences. Undergraduate scholarship support is provided as permitted by funding circumstances.
- The InPsych Scholars (graduate and undergraduate students) meet weekly to collaborate on research projects, plan and implement campus- and community-based activities, and provide support.
- Any doctoral or undergraduate student with an Indigenous identity is welcome to join the InPsych Scholars group. To be eligible for scholarship support, doctoral students must be a US citizen (US Born or Naturalized) or a US National. In addition, doctoral scholarship recipients must be an enrolled member of a federally recognized American Indian Tribe or Alaska Native village (Category A or D on Form BIA-4432). Undergraduate scholarship recipients must be an enrolled member or descendant of a federally recognized or state recognized Tribe or Alaska Native village.
InPsych History
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, titled The American Indians Into Psychology Program, was enacted as a response to the recognized need to educate and train Indigenous psychologists. This scholarship program is overseen by the Office of Management Support of .
As noted above, the InPsych program is designed to recruit Native American/Alaska Native undergraduate students to careers in mental/behavioral health and to recruit and train Native American graduate students clinical psychology. The program aims prepare Indigenous psychologists, social workers and counselors for work in reservation communities and urban Indian health programs. These professionals are needed provide culturally competent care and reduce the impacts of health disparities. These needs are substantial. Recent data provided by the American Psychological Association's Graduate Study in Psychology (2017) indicate that 0.7% of first-year (full-time) students in Doctoral-level Departments of Psychology are Native American/Alaska Native. The Summary Report also indicates that the proportion of doctoral students in APA-accredited training programs with Indigenous identities has remained static over a 10-year period of time, while the proportions of students from other racial/ethnic minorities have increased substantially. Underrepresentation of Native American/Alaska Native psychologists is well-documented among psychologists in practice as well.
The Indian Health Service initially funded UM’s InPsych Program on a three-year cycle beginning August 1, 1997, at an annual budget of $200,000. Dr. Nabil Haddad authored the initial InPsych grant proposal. Dr. Deborah Pace (Blackfoot) was the first Program Director and was succeeded by Dr. Gyda Swaney (Flathead) in August 2000. Dr. Swaney championed the InPsych program for nearly 20 years. She retired in 2019, and passed away in the summer of the same year. Drs. Duncan Campbell and Rachel Williamson, faculty members in Psychology, have co-directed the InPsych Program for the past several years. In July 2024, the program was awarded a new 5-year cycle of funding.
InPsych Scholarship Support
The InPsych Program provides scholarships each year to students who are accepted into the Clinical Psychology doctoral program. Enrolled members of federally recognized Tribes are eligible to request these InPsych scholarships. Scholarship support includes a monthly stipend, tuition and fees, a book allowance, and conference travel support. Eligible doctoral students can request InPsych support for up to four years (with funding in each year dependent on ongoing support from IHS). Scholarship recipients complete an IHS clinical service commitment, also for up to four years (or a time frame commensurate with the number of years of InPsych support during graduate school), post-licensure.
The 猎奇重口 Clinical Psychology program follows a generalist model of training in the scientist-practitioner tradition. The program offers an optional Child/Family emphasis. InPsych Scholars apply to the doctoral program first; eligibility for and interest in the InPsych Program is determined after admission. Doctoral students’ applications are reviewed holistically; an applicant who is interested in InPsych should describe their relevant research and clinical interests and identify a potential faculty mentor in their application’s personal statement.
The at the 猎奇重口 is dedicated to training psychologists in the scientist-practitioner model. We consider a scientific understanding of human behavior an essential component of training and practice; integrated with critical thinking, it forms the foundation of our program. Our students are expected to demonstrate an increasing and progressive level of competence in their ability to present analysis of psychological issues, both orally and in writing. We seek to train psychologists who will actively integrate science and practice throughout their careers. Our graduates can fill multiple professional roles, including researchers, educators, practitioners, supervisors, and administrators.
Training Aims for the Clinical Ph.D. Program
- Aim 1: To create an active and adaptive learning environment that trains students to be health service psychologists.
- Aim 2: To create a scholarly environment that immerses students in diverse research methodologies and trains them to design and implement cutting-edge research.
- Aim 3: To create a training environment that promotes and inspires students’ sensitivity to and appreciation of issues of diversity and difference and fosters emerging skills regarding cultural competence.
- Aim 4: To create experiential learning and didactic opportunities in Child/Family and Clinical Neuropsychology that provide students with optional emphasis and exposure, respectively, and promote students’ abilities to pursue advanced training in emphasis- and exposure-specific careers as health service psychologists.
Accreditation
The Clinical Psychology Ph.D. training program has been continuously accredited by the since 1970. ()
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