CAPS: Supporting Students and Future School Psychologists

Radford University’s Center for Assessment and Psychological Services (CAPS) operates on two important missions.

Both of them have established the center as a vital agent for mental health support and professional training in the psychology field.

One of those missions guides CAPS to offer highquality and affordable mental health services to Radford students and the university community, as well as families and children throughout the New River Valley. Since CAPS opened on the Radford University campus in 2008, it has provided assessment and mental health services to more than 600 college students, children, families and adults.

“We usually work with children who are preschool age through college undergraduate age,” explained CAPS Director Emily Dove.

“And those services, for example, might include a comprehensive evaluation for concerns related to learning disabilities, autism, ADHD, anxiety or other mood disorders.”

Other services CAPS offers include face-to-face pediatric and college individual and group counseling as well as parent and professional training.

“We also provide to those families and students services like executive function coaching, which helps them learn skills for managing time, organization, planning and learning skills,” Dove noted. “Additionally, CAPS has provided trainings for parents and teachers within the community, as well as supported low- or no-cost services and resources by obtaining grant funding.”

Services are offered on a sliding scale based on gross income, but Dove acknowledges those reduced fees can still be a hurdle for many individuals seeking help. “We would really like to be able to provide more pro bono work,” she said, “or significantly reduce fees for services.” CAPS is continuously seeking financial resources, grants and donations to help reduce those costs.

Offering those community-based services leads to the second CAPS mission, which is to “provide evidence-based training experiences for our graduate psychology students,” Dove said. Those students are enrolled in either the school psychology or the counseling psychology graduate programs within the College of Graduate Studies.

Students in the school psychology program train through CAPS, getting clinic practicum experience in the first year of the three-year program. This means they complete, under the supervision of licensed school psychology faculty members, comprehensive neurodevelopmental psychoeducational evaluations for children and college students throughout the region.

“Those individuals receiving the evaluations –college students, children, parents and teachers – get an understanding of their personal strengths and weaknesses,” Dove said, “as well as resources to enhance their learning and everyday lives.”

In year two of the school psychology program, students complete a yearlong practicum in a local school setting. The third year is spent in a full-time internship in a school district anywhere in the United States. The students keep in regular contact with Radford faculty and CAPS staff, “but they essentially function as a school psychologist in that district,” Dove explained.

“The training experiences gained in CAPS not only provide graduate students high-quality training that utilizes the latest tools and technologies but also offers them unique experiences to highlight when seeking further internships and future employment.”

School psychology students graduating into the profession play a critical role in addressing the nationwide concern within the field.

“There is a significant shortage of school psychologists across the country, and particularly in Virginia and Southwest Virginia,” Dove said.

“The shortage stems, in part, from an increased recognition for the need of school psychologists. The goal is to have a school psychologist for every 500 students, but we have some work to do to meet that goal since current ratios are estimated to be one school psychologist per 1,127 students.”

Also, Dove said, “People are becoming more aware of the wide range of assessment, mental health and consultation services school psychologists can provide, and that drives excitement about increasing the need for school psychologists in schools.”

Given the concerns for the mental health of those living and learning in the New River Valley, Dove would also like for CAPS to expand its services for community members.

“We have a very long waiting list for our services, and we have a lot of motivation and drive to meet those needs and expand our services even beyond what we are,” Dove said.

The roadblock toward expansion is resources. “We want to maximize the type and amount of services provided, as well as provide more clinical research opportunities. To do so, we need more donations and funding to develop more resources.”

Dove continued, “What I really would like people to understand is helping us expand those resources financially allows us to really expand the mental health services we offer and to train more students to provide these much-needed services in the community.”