The Psychology Centre

The Psychology Centre aims to establish a model service for providing psychological assessment and treatment. The client base includes referrals from Health Waikato's adult mental health service, and clients who may be eligible for publicly funded mental health services, but have not been able to access services while more severely disabled clients are prioritised.

The Centre also has a role in providing education and "in-service" training in clinical psychology for senior students of the University of Waikato Clinical Psychology Training Programme. As such students gain "hands on" experience in psychological assessment and treatment under the supervision of the senior clinicians, who are the permanent staff of the Centre. In essence the Centre operates as a training clinic for the University's clinical psychology programme. Although the programme utilises a range of other placement facilities the Centre is the largest single clinical psychology practicum training venue within the region.

Our educational role extends beyond clinical students to include practitioners in clinical psychology, and other health and mental health professionals, who want to learn more about applying a psychological understanding, and psychological techniques within their field of practice. We can offer tailored education, consultancy, and supervision solutions in many areas of clinical activity.

Finally, the Centre acts as a research centre for Clinical Psychologists, and in particular for those working in association with Health Waikato and the University of Waikato, who are interested in conducting research aimed at improving treatment outcomes for clients. We are also keen to engage other professions in clinical research that has a psychological focus.