蝌蚪窝视频

Zach Cotton ’23, ’24 was inspired to become a school psychologist to care for future generations of children.  

“I feel like, especially since COVID, there’s been a need to make sure that the next generation has their needs met, in terms of education,” said Cotton, a graduate student in University of 蝌蚪窝视频’s Specialist in School Psychology Program. “I definitely wanted to look out for those who were coming after us, because they’re our future doctors and engineers.” 

A $472,750 grant awarded to UDM’s Specialist in School Psychology Program by the Michigan Department of Education is providing financial support to encourage students like Cotton to enter school-based mental health professions. 

The Student Mental Health Apprenticeship Program for Retention and Training (SMART) is designed to alleviate Michigan’s shortage of school psychologists by providing funding to first and second year school psychology graduate students who are training in public school districts. 

“Students who have mental health or behavioral needs may not have access to those services for different reasons in their communities, or that they’re unable to reach locations where there are services that are available,” said Sarah Rowe, an assistant professor of Psychology at UDM. “If more school psychologists are there, then more students are able to get the services that they need in a timely fashion. 

“A large percentage of mental health services are delivered in schools, and so it’s important that we have the staff to be able to provide those services when there’s a need.” 

UDM received the grant in summer 2024 after SMART was signed into law by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in July 2022. It supported 15 students in UDM’s School Psychology Program this academic year and retroactively funded 16 students for 2023-24. 

Erin Henze, an associate professor of Psychology and director of the Specialist in School Psychology Program, has seen the impact the funding has had on students. 

“I think it’s reduced the need for some students to have an additional outside job,” said Henze. “We’ve had students in the past who were trying to do a full-time class schedule, field experiences in the school and hold, in some cases, full-time work.  

“The stress, the burnout and the struggles that they would face to try to balance all that I think we have seen lessen.”

The National Association of School Psychologists recommends one school psychologist for every 500 students. Michigan’s ratio is three times higher at roughly 1:1,500, according to the Michigan Association of School Psychologists.

A 1:500 ratio would allow school psychologists to provide an array of mental health services for students, Rowe said. But it becomes a more challenging task as the ratio grows. UDM students are placed in school districts throughout southeast Michigan with children who are underserved.

“There’s a lot of reasons the shortage is there, but one of them is that not enough students are going into the field,” Rowe said. “One of the reasons the students may not go into the field is because of the financial cost to getting the training.

“Our programs are really time intensive and very comprehensive,” she added. “The training for a school psychologist is two years of full-time training and then a full year internship after that, so to be able to allow some funding along the way for these students has been really impactful.”

Cotton, who is originally from Chicago and works in the Royal Oak School District, agrees, calling the support a “blessing.”

“It’s definitely been very helpful with my financial needs,” Cotton said. “I’ve been financing myself to live here and pay for groceries and gas, so it also helps me with paying tuition and offsetting how much I have to work outside of school.”

For Cotton, being able to impact children as a school psychologist is uplifting.

“I didn’t know what a school psychologist was until I came to Michigan,” he said. “I went to a Catholic school all my life in Chicago. So, when I heard of the opportunity to help people, especially kids, who may have difficulty in school, it definitely motivated me. And then the COVID pandemic inspired me even more.”

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