Real-life Lessons

The Age

Saturday February 24, 2007

TREVOR ROBBINS

POSTGRADUATE clinical psychology students undertaking master and doctor of psychology training programs at the University of Ballarat are combining their academic work with real-life child, adolescent and adult clinical psychology cases.

The students - registered probationary psychologists - are supervised by a team of psychologists, all with doctoral-level qualifications in child and adolescent issues, the clinic's specialty. They are involved in administration, assessment, diagnosis and implementing treatment for a range of psychopathologies and spend 40 weeks on placements at the clinic. About 10 students will take up placements during 2007.

Established in 2006 in response to community needs for specialised child mental health services, the clinic assesses, treats and manages problems such as anxiety and phobias, behaviour difficulties, habit disorders, learning problems, body image issues, parent-child conflict, anger management and depression. It was set up by the university's school of behavioural and social sciences and humanities with help from the student services division, which offered its rooms for probationary psychologists to see children and their families.

The university's psychology program attracted 147 undergraduates and 45 postgraduates in 2006, mostly from Melbourne and Western Victoria.

Clinic director Rapson Gomez has a high international reputation in the field of child and adolescent mental health. He says there are insufficient services in the Ballarat region for child and adolescent psychotherapy.

"Private psychological services can be expensive, but our clinic provides an affordable option while maintaining high standards of care for children and adolescents with mental health problems."

He says the local community is increasingly using the clinic's services, while the facility also provides opportunities for clinical staff to maintain and upgrade their skills.

Fees generally range from $25 to $60 per session and the clinic's philosophy is that no one should be refused service because of financial difficulties, with fees waived in cases of financial hardship. The fees are not paid to individual clinicians or supervisory staff, but are used to maintain and purchase equipment and tests.

"Families are very much part of the treatment of child psychopathology, but we also include all parties who influence a child's life, including teachers, general practitioners and allied health professionals such as speech pathologists," Associate Professor Gomez says.

Parents, schools and health professionals can make referrals to the clinic.

Anna Wallace and colleagues Kellie Wilson and Danielle Besanko were the first postgraduate students to take up placements in 2006. Ms Wallace says her two-day-a-week, six-month assignment gave her a solid foundation on patient assessment and treatment. She handled wide-ranging child and adolescent cases, including severe depression and social adjustment, with parents and teachers involved in the process.

With a science and arts degree and a diploma in education, Ms Wallace was a schoolteacher before she joined the masters in psychology program at Ballarat in 2006 and will soon receive full registration as a clinical psychologist.

"I chose psychology because it not only enables me to help people in a very special way but is scientifically evidence-based. I want to specialise in child and adolescent mental health issues by combining work with government agencies and some private practice."

Associate Professor Gomez says he hopes to have the clinic operating four days a week by July and, ultimately, five days a week. A series of special training and skills development workshops for the management of children's behavioural problems will be run by the university in June 2007. -- TREVOR ROBBINS

Further information, phone 5327 9841.

© 2007 The Age

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