MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — In the October edition, Middle Tennessee State University’s “Out of the Blue” television magazine program spotlights the School Psychology graduate program in the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences, which just celebrated 50 years.

Host Andrew Oppmann talked with Department of Psychology associate professor Aimee Holt and assistant professor Madeline Berkowitz about the career pathway that has more demand from employers than there are students graduating.

“There’s a national shortage of school psychologists,” Berkowitz explained. “So right now, all of our graduates are graduating with jobs. Many of them have multiple offers, so they’re really able to choose that job that’s going to be the best fit for them.”

Watch the full segment below:

Changes in federal and state laws have opened more opportunities for K-12 schools to bolster mental health services for students. The profession is also seeing an uptick in retirement.

“And we’re not producing enough students to meet the demands between the retirements and the new positions,” Holt said.

The need is great and school psychologists are a vital part of helping student success as part of a school-based mental health team, working alongside school counselors and social workers for crisis prevention and response.

“One of the unique roles that we have is to do assessments of children to help understand their individual strengths and needs,” Holt said. “We also are involved in doing counseling, primarily of the students that are in special education.”

The profession is demanding, but students who graduate from MTSU’s program are heavily prepared.

“We are one program but students get two degrees as they come through,” Holt said. “The total program is 66 hours, 35 in the master’s, and 31 in the Ed.S.”

The master’s portion is primarily on-ground coursework for two years, followed up with a field-based, one-year internship that is a minimum of 1,200 hours working under supervision of a school psychologists to develop competencies.

“I think really what makes our program special is our students and the community that we build here. We have a cohort model, so our incoming class is typically less than 12 students,” Berkowitz explained. “You take all of your classes with your cohort. You do all your field experiences with your cohort. … You really get to know your cohort very well.”

Field training often pairs students with alumni of the program, creating a network that extends beyond the classroom and field experiences.

Find out more about the School Psychology program on the Department of Psychology website, https://psychology.mtsu.edu/ under the “School Psychology” tab.

“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 6:30 p.m. Sundays; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month.

It is also available on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings. 

It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3. 

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue. 

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)