On Aug. 30, Mississippi State University’s Department of Psychology cut the ribbon on its new non-profit mental health clinic and training center in Rice Hall.
The MSU Psychology Clinic will provide access to mental health care such as therapy and assessment to MSU students and other members of the community.
Emily S.H. Stafford is an associate clinical professor of the MSU Department of Psychology and the clinic director. Stafford said that, under the supervision of licensed mental health professionals, clients at the clinic are seen by graduate clinical PhD students.
Andi Durham is a graduate psychology student who works at the clinic. Durham said that the move, which united the clinic and the Department of Psychology in the same building, also expanded the clinic’s ability to serve clients in a timely manner.
“I think all of the graduate students and faculty were very excited for the move because it placed both the psychology clinic and department under the same roof,” Durham said. “By moving to the Rice Hall, it allows for us to see more clients due to the larger number of rooms available to us. With that, students will be able to be seen in a shorter amount of time.”
Victoria Garriques is another clinical psychology doctorate student working at the clinic. She says the campus has plans for the previous clinic location.
“The building that used to house the psychology clinic now houses MSU behavior, which is another clinic on campus that’s available both for students and for the community,” Garriques said. “They focus more on specific problems that they have grant funding for.”
Some of the programs the MSU Behavioral Health Clinic focuses on include a children’s telehealth grant program and a healthy transitions grant program.
Durham said she hopes her work at the clinic will allow her to become a better psychology specialist.
“I am interested in psychology because of all the routes you can take with this degree,” Durham said. “I love seeing clients, but with a PhD in psychology, it also allows me to engage in research and become a well-rounded clinician. I also chose this field because it allows me to help those who may not have access to these resources otherwise.”
Stafford said the clinic will be open to anyone, not just MSU students.
“The clients can come from anywhere,” Stafford said. “They can be community members, they can be students, they can be faculty or staff and they can receive low-cost services within the training clinic from one of our PhD graduate students.”
Garriques said the clinic also provides mental health assessments to clients who ask for one.
“They can also come in for assessments, so for things like ADHD, autism or just like clarifying their diagnosis, we provide those services, and the cost for that is much lower than other places in the community,” Garriques said. “It’s also helpful just to have it available because, in Mississippi, there aren’t really as many options to go to for those services.”
Stafford gave a tour of the new clinic, describing the different rooms they will have for their clients.
“We have got five adult therapy rooms, three adult assessment rooms and two child rooms because we do see children within the clinic as well,” Stafford said. “Since we have gotten the upgrade with the space, we also have two clinician work rooms, whereas previously, we only had one. We also have a clinician break area and a conference room back there as well. Those are things that we did not have in our precious location just due to size limitation.”
Stafford said while the clinic is open to the public for the ceremony, privacy and confidentiality is still their number one priority.
“Typically, our space is not open to the public unless they are a client,” said Stafford. “We want to protect client confidentiality and privacy. If someone would like to pursue services with the psychology clinic, they can contact our office and we will provide a free screening to them.”
