Improving access to mental health care

A new University of Delaware graduate degree program could help close the professional talent gap in clinical psychology and better support the growing need nationally for high-quality mental health care.

Beginning with its first cohort in Fall 2025, UD's master of science in clinical psychological science will enhance students' understanding of psychological practice through both research and clinical application. The new master's program sits at the intersection of the latest academic research on how treatments are developed in laboratories and practical clinical intervention, said Ryan Beveridge, the executive director of UD's Institute for Community Mental Health (ICMH), within which the program will be housed. (The program has begun accepting applications.)

UD's newest graduate degree program is unprecedented. While clinical psychological science master's programs are offered by institutions listed as R1 in the Carnegie Classification - which recognizes doctoral universities with very high research activity - UD's program will be the first at a R1 university that will offer clinical training designed to meet curricular requirements for state licensing boards. This training model centers on emphasizing mastery of short-term, evidence-based interventions and acquiring skills to better understand and apply clinical research.

"Our program will offer students a unique opportunity to be trained as clinicians who think like scientists-transforming clinical care into a synergistic relationship between research knowledge and practice," said Beveridge, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in UD's College of Arts and Sciences. "Students will develop the skills necessary to address critical workforce shortages in mental healthcare while providing the highest-quality, evidence-based treatments available."