The University of Saskatchewan (USask) has expanded its clinical psychology program to grow its annual intake from 5 to 20 students.
The department’s co-director Dr. Megan O’Connell said mental health services in every community are underfunded, so with the expansion of the program, more students will be introduced to the program.
“It’s essentially a quadrupling of the number of students that we can train,” said O’Connell. “These are mental health practitioners. These are professionals who can go out and do all that’s needed to diagnose and treat mental health disorders.”
According to past practice, O’Connell said students who train with USask tend to stay, but there are those who don’t. So, the coordinators are keeping an eye on the undergraduates from Saskatchewan in the program.
“Usually what happens for clinical psychology students is that it’s very hard to get into. Generally, it’s harder to get into than medicine. And so, students tend to apply across the country … and we lose a lot of our really good students from Saskatchewan to other places across the country,” said O’Connell.
“We’re trying to keep an eye on keeping our really strong, talented undergraduates here.”
Students in the clinical psychology program complete four years of coursework. The upcoming clinical applications deadline for admissions is December 1, 2023. Further information can be found on the USask Clinical Psychology website.