Doctoral students provide therapy and testing on a sliding scale, supervised by licensed psychologists.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas. Neighbors in Huntsville who need someone to talk to can get help at Sam Houston State University, even if they have never enrolled there. The university Psychological Services Center serves the wider community with therapy and psychological testing, provided by doctoral students and supervised by licensed psychologists.
Dr. Craig Henderson, director of the doctoral program in clinical psychology, said the center sits on campus but looks outward. “We are located at the university but our mission is to serve the community,” Henderson said.
Henderson has worked at Sam Houston State for 21 years. He earned his doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of North Texas and completed an internship at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he worked with children facing medical problems alongside psychological and family stress, including pediatric rehabilitation and substance use research. He came to Huntsville to be closer to family in the Houston area and stayed.
The center is opening a six month run of monthly visits to Good Morning Huntsville, with different students and staff talking about resources available to residents. The first visit featured Henderson and Annie Flores, a doctoral student in the program.
Therapy and Testing for Children, Adults and Families
The center works with individuals, couples and families, and with adults, children and adolescents. Its services include one on one psychotherapy and a wide range of psychological assessment for people who want help understanding what they are going through.
Henderson listed anxiety, depression, behavior problems, grief counseling, adjustment disorders, anger management, major mental illness, phase of life concerns and substance abuse among the issues the center addresses. Testing can help students and young people who struggle in school, including questions about learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia, with recommendations for schools on managing day to day life. The center website also lists forensic evaluations among its services.
Annie Flores, who was born and raised in San Antonio, came to the program after studying psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She first planned a medical career and worked with people facing homelessness, drug and alcohol problems and involvement in the justice system. She said she kept finding deeper psychological wounds behind the physical needs she was meeting, and she wanted a career spent walking a longer path with people toward healing.
Flores said the center also reaches beyond its offices. Students staff tables at community events to answer questions about services, and they give community presentations on mental health literacy, including recent sessions with residents at Good Shepherd Mission transitional housing in Huntsville. The sessions cover common mental health problems, practical skills and where to find help, including the center itself.
Doctoral Students Work Under Licensed Psychologists
The center is a training clinic. Doctoral students in the psychology PhD program provide the therapy and testing, and licensed psychologists supervise their work. Henderson said supervision is one of the parts of his job he enjoys most, because it keeps him connected to the care clients receive.
Flores said many people feel nervous about taking a first step toward therapy, and some worry about stigma, cost, transportation or whether change is possible after living a certain way for years. She said people often arrive after some of the hardest moments of their lives, and she urged them to see that as strength. “People are often a lot stronger than they think they are if they have already gone through some of these really hard things,” Flores said.
Everything at the center is confidential and compliant with federal health privacy rules, Henderson and Flores said. Rob Hipp, the show host, shared his own long experience with depression during the conversation and said talking to someone is what carries him through, a point Henderson echoed when he said he wished his own family had sought help sooner during a tiring season of moves and new parenthood.
Sam Houston State students can also use the center, but the university has a separate student counseling center that serves students free of charge for short term needs. Flores said the Psychological Services Center often refers students there when a short course of sessions will meet the need, while the center itself is especially suited to testing for school accommodations and longer term care.
A Sliding Scale and a First Phone Call
Cost works on a sliding scale tied to family income. “We are not there to make money, so we are able to work with people’s conditions where they are,” Henderson said. He added that anyone who calls and cannot be helped at the center will be given options for next steps elsewhere.
The first step is a phone call to 936-294-1210. The center keeps normal working hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and takes voicemail messages. A staff member in the main office takes the call, and a doctoral student clinic coordinator follows up to learn more about the situation and about family income. Residents can also search online for the Psychological Services Center on the shsu.edu website.
Flores closed with an invitation to the curious as well as the ready. “If anybody is listening and is even just a little bit curious, just give us a call,” Flores said. “You can even ask us about what we do, what to expect, and demystify a little bit about what therapy looks like.”
About the SHSU Psychological Services Center
The SHSU Psychological Services Center is the training clinic for the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Doctoral students provide therapy and psychological assessment for community members, students, couples, families, children and adults, supervised by licensed psychologists. The clinic director is Dr. Mary Alice Conroy. The center can be reached at 936-294-1210 during working hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or found online at https://www.shsu.edu/academics/colleges/humanities-social-sciences/psychological-services-center/psychological-services-center.