Students, faculty and community members having problems with stress, relationships, depression or anxiety need look no further than Temple’s Psychological Services Center for fair priced psychological treatment.
The Psychological Services Center is a full-service psychological center and community mental health center that operates under the Psychology Department’s Division of Clinical Psychology.
The center serves as the clinical experience for the 16 clinicians, all doctoral candidates in clinical psychology, who provide treatment to clients under the close supervision and guidance of a faculty supervisor.
“Right now we see between 30-40 clients a week, but we have the capacity to see 70 clients without being overloaded,” said Michael Bridges, PSC Director.
Bridges hopes the convenient on-campus location of the center paired with some advertising and good word of mouth will help bring in more neighborhood clients.
“Right now our clients are a real solid balance between city residents and Temple students, employees, faculty members and their families,” he said.
“We sometimes publicize ourselves on SEPTA and are well known by the area’s private practitioners,” he said. “We like to see ourselves as the quality and affordable option for people have difficulty finding affordable mental help.”
The PSC program has been around for close to twenty years, Bridges said.
He says what separates Temple’s program from those of other universities is that they serve as a community mental health center that treats everybody, not just students and faculty.
“The goal is to maximize work with the client, while having close interaction with a supervisor,” he said. “This helps the candidates learn more efficiently.”
“When the situation arises where the administration of a test would help a diagnosis, but the patient can’t afford the test, we’re going to do the test,” he said. “We’re not as focused on the bottom line as private agencies are.”
Bridges said the counselors provide a variety of psychotherapy treatments for adults, children, couples, families, and groups. Counselors can provide both short-term, solution-focused crisis intervention and long-term psychotherapy, he added.
Candidates receive a variety of experience working in the clinic. Each candidate participates in each of the four clinic teams with different faculty members supervising.
Through this design, Bridges says, the doctoral students are exposed to a number of different theoretical orientations, including family systems, behavioral, psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral.
Other problems students face may include: eating disorders, loss and grief, procrastination, shyness, self-esteem issues, family trouble, sexuality issues, racism and career decisions.
The PSC also performs personality and intellectual evaluations and assessments for both adults and children. Bridges said that parents who send their children to area private schools utilize this feature the most.
Within the next month the center will launch two sub-clinics that will separately deal with the assessment and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Dialectical Behavior Therapy.
The PSC is located in Room 413 of Weiss Hall and is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Therapists also hold evening and weekend hours to accommodate clients.
Fees for the outside community are based on a client’s ability to pay. Bridges said the fee for most outside clients is between $15 and $65. For Temple faculty members and employees, sessions have a flat fee of $25, for undergraduate and graduate students the fee is $10.
For more information on the PSC or to schedule a session. Call 215-204-7324.
Chris Powell can be reached at TUJournalist@hotmail.com.
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