Doctor of Psychology in Health Service Psychology

Program Overview/Mission

The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Health Service Psychology (Combined Clinical/School) provides broad practitioner-scientist training with an emphasis on clinical practice.  The aim is to prepare students for careers as health professionals in clinical and school settings. The overarching model of the program is the provision of health services with particular emphasis on cognitive-behavioral psychology.  Graduates from this program are well prepared to function as licensed professional psychologists in a variety of roles across a variety of settings.

The field of psychology, this program, and its individual faculty highly value diversity, understanding, inclusiveness, compassion, and equal human rights, and strongly reject and condemn violence, intimidation, discrimination, and judgmental action towards groups or individuals in all forms. Given our field's acute focus and understanding of the human toll exacted by these societal problems, psychology has an important ethical role in advocacy and educating the broader public in hopes of minimizing these problems for individuals and groups in our societies. Our program actively seeks to reduce systemic barriers for our clients and students. Review the APA Advocacy page to learn more about some of these important areas and how they can be supported.

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Program Degrees

• Health Service Psychology Psy.D.

Accreditation Information

The University of Houston-Clear Lake is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, masters, and doctorate degrees. Questions about the accreditation of the University of Houston-Clear Lake may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097, by calling (404) 679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC's website (www.sacscoc.org).

The Psy.D. in Health Service Psychology was accredited on contingency by the American Psychology Association in April 2019. Questions related to the program's accreditation status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation: Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, American Psychological Association, 750 1st Street NE, Washington, DC 20002; Phone: 202-336-5979; Fax: 404-679-4558; apaaccred@apa.org; www.apa.org/ed/accreditation

Admission Requirements

• Health Service Psychology Psy.D.
• Admission Deadline
  • Fall Only
    • Application Deadline: December 15
• Application
  • Apply online through GoApplyTexas.org for admission to the University of Houston-Clear Lake as a graduate student.
    • Select Four-year College/University and Graduate School.
    • Select "HSH-Health Service Psychology-PsyD" as your first choice major only. 
  • Apply to the program by submitting additional supporting documents. Submit documents for admission after completing the Apply Texas application.  All required documents are due by the program application deadline.
    • Program application is only available within the selected Fall semester. 
• Application Requirements
  • Official Transcripts: Students should submit official transcripts from every college or university attended to the University of Houston-Clear Lake, Office of Admissions or International Admissions.
    • Please review New Student Admissions in the Graduate Catalog under Transcripts and Records Information to learn how to submit an official college transcript to UHCL.
  • Official GRE Scores:
    • General GRE Exam, www.gre.org.
    • GRE scores expire after 5 years of the testing date.
    • Submit official GRE scores to UHCL through the ETS system. It may ETS two weeks from the date the test is taken to send the official score report.
    • UHCL GRE Code: 6916 – UNIV HOUSTON CLEAR LAKE – Grad
  • Required Additional Supporting Documents:
    • The following two documents should be emailed to the Clinical, Health & Applied Sciences department assistant (Shelly Matejka) at Psyd@uhcl.edu:
      • Curriculum Vitae: An expanded résumé describing previous education; all work experience; relevant course work and relevant volunteer activities; any honors, presentations, papers, avocations or other relevant life experiences
      • Statement of purpose and goals (not to exceed 1,000 words): describing your reasons for wanting this degree and how it fits into career goals.
    • Three (3) letters of recommendation and recommendation forms should be submitted directly by the recommenders to Psyd@uhcl.edu. Recommendations from academic faculty and/or work supervisors who know the applicant well are preferred.
      
      
    • Program Application Fee: In addition to the university application fee, there is an additional program application fee of $50 for the Health Service Psychology Psy.D. program. The program application fee may be paid by credit card online or by check payable to "University of Houston-Clear Lake" and send it to: 
      
      UHCL PsyD Program Applications
      University of Houston-Clear Lake
      2700 Bay Area Blvd., Box 73
      Houston, TX 77058

  For a more detailed explanation, you can download the Application and Admission Process.

• Qualification for Admissions

  The following qualifications are the typical qualifications. They are not requirements, as all applications are reviewed.

  • Degree Requirements: Earned Bachelor's, Master's, or Specialist degree in psychology, clinical psychology, school psychology, or a closely related discipline.
  • GPA Requirements: GPA of 3.3 or higher for those entering with an undergraduate degree only or GPA of 3.5 or higher for those entering with graduate credit or an earned graduate degree.
  • GRE Requirements: Overall GRE Score of 300 or higher (Combined Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning), with a minimum score of 3.5 in Analytical Writing.
• Admission Review Process 

  After initial review of the application materials (application, recommendations, and supplemental material) an admissions committee will invite selected applicants to campus for an interview. Interviews will typically be scheduled in February. Applicants will be notified of their program admission status by April 15.

Program Faculty

Curriculum and Instruction

As a practitioner-scientist program, the PsyD program's primary aim is to train practitioners, scholars, and applied researchers in the areas of Clinical and School Psychology.  The program develops graduates who use scientific methods in the professional practice of psychology with the aim or improving health and behavioral-health outcomes.  The program emphasizes the importance of the scientific method as the primary basis for advancing knowledge and informing practice.  Graduates will be competent in evidence-based practice (assessment, intervention, and consultation).  The program emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between psychological, biological, and social aspects of both personal and community health.  Through coursework, clinical experiences, and research, students may individualize their training, including clinical, school, and clinical-health experiences.

The PsyD program at the University of Houston-Clear Lake is guided by eight competencies designed to ensure that all candidates attain the requisite knowledge base that serves as a foundation for all psychological practice, acquire skills in the techniques that constitute the practice of psychology, develop skills to analyze and conduct research, understand and adhere to ethical practice in psychology, and become culturally competent practitioners. Specifically, the competencies are: 

1. Research - To train students to conduct and consume research and to disseminate this psychological knowledge through publication, presentation, and practice
2. Ethical and Legal Standards - To enable students to understand ethical, legal, and professional issues and to adhere to ethical and legal standards in all of their professional activities
3. Individual and Cultural Diversity - To enable students to understand and appreciate individual differences and diversity, thereby becoming culturally competent in the delivery of psychological services
4. Professional Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors – To train students to have the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct themselves professionally
5. Communication and Interpersonal Skills - Write and present professional products, including articles, evaluations, treatment plans, progress notes, case presentations, and presentations
6. Assessment - To competently administer and use multimodal and multimethod assessment approaches as well as empirically-based diagnostic techniques and to write professional evaluations
7. Intervention – To competently implement multimodal and empirically-supported treatment approaches and treatment plans and to write professional intake reports, treatment plans, and progress notes
8. Supervision – To develop skills in training and supervising others by demonstrating knowledge of models and methods of clinical supervision and demonstrate ability to supervise master’s level students in assessment and treatment
9. Consultation and Interprofessional/Interdisciplinary Skills - To develop skills to collaborate effectively with psychologists and other individuals or groups to solve problems, share knowledge, or promote professional activities

Student Data and Outcomes

• Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data (PDF)
• Psy.D. Student Handbook (PDF)
• Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Profession-Wide Competencies Tables (PDF)
• UHCL Student Handbook
• Psy.D. FAQs (PDF)
• Cost Data (Docx)
• Psy.D. Dissertation Manual (PDF)

Student Resources

Additional Information

For information, please contact:

Dr. Mary Short
Full Professor of Clinical Psychology
Program Director
ShortMB@uhcl.edu

For immediate assistance, please call or email Department Assistant III, Shelly Matejka, at 281-283-3491 or Matejka@uhcl.edu.