Graduate Psychology Education Programs - The goal of the Integrated Mental Health Program: Improving Access, Clinical Care, and Training (IMPACT) is to improve the health and access to behavioral health services for underserved individuals and their families through training pre-doctoral level psychology interns to provide integrated, interdisciplinary behavioral health in high need and high demand areas. The program specific objectives of IMPACT are to 1) Recruit, train, and prepare trainees for the community-based primary care settings they will serve in high need and high demand areas; 2) Provide trainees with didactic and experiential training curricula in SUD/OUD prevention and treatment services, trauma-informed care, telehealth services, behavioral health disorders in youth, interdisciplinary training, as well as culturally and linguistically appropriate services; 3) Develop academic and clinical partnerships; and 4) Provide ongoing faculty development and staff training. Fundamental training experiences will involve training in integrated behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment within the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Department of Pediatrics and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Trainees will be recruited from the APA-Accredited Internship program at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). The program will be implemented by a Director, four Co-Directors, and seven Core Faculty members, as well as involve additional Instructional Faculty. IMPACT will be composed didactic and experiential training, including substance use and prevention; trauma informed care; tele-behavioral health; behavioral health of children, adolescents, and transitional age youth; integrated healthcare; and culturally and linguistically appropriate services. A total of 6 trainees will be trained over the three-year period. IMPACT trainees will meet criteria for program admission; receive an annual stipend; have satisfactory ratings on competencies for practice; complete all program requirements; and receive a certificate of program completion. IMPACT will increase the number of doctoral level psychologists that can enhance the services available within the state to address the numerous health disparities, high rates of trauma, and many poor health indicators within the state. Multiple risk factors including poverty, minority status, mental and physical vulnerability, and lack of behavioral health providers characterize a population at high risk for poor health outcomes. IMPACT will address Oklahoma’s dire health disparities by expanding training for psychologists in integrated behavioral health and primary care. The program will be evaluated on an annual basis and the trainees will be followed for a minimum of one year to evaluate the impact of the program. The outcomes will be disseminated through presentations and publications. IMPACT is eligible for funding priority by demonstrating the ability to train psychology professionals in integrated care settings, with a rate of 89% of trainees completing training in integrated settings in the previous five academic years. IMPACT also is eligible for funding preference based on Qualification 1: High Rate of graduates (85.7%) practicing in medically underserved communities and Qualification 2: Significant Increase as the total proportion of OUHSC clinical psychology residency program graduates from the previous two academic years (AY 2022-2023 and AY 2023-2024) practicing in medically underserved communities has increased by 25%.
