MUN's psychology residency on brink of 'collapse,' union issues letter to premier

Memorial University's faculty association and a clinical psychologist are warning about the potential collapse of a graduate program that produces psychologists — a profession that's desperately needed in the public health system. 

"We are at the point of imminent collapse for the doctoral residency program," said Lisa Moores, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Memorial University's student wellness and counselling centre.

"Unfortunately, we've been sounding the alarm for a few years now and increasingly as we get closer to our re-accreditation visit."

The student wellness and counselling centre's doctoral residency program has been accredited by Canadian Psychological Association since 2003. But with a re-accredition visit looming, the centre has just half its permanent faculty complement.

In order to train doctoral-level psychologists, it requires doctoral-level psychologists to supervise, said Moores. However, she said university administration have repeatedly denied requests to permanently fill vacancies since 2019, which would maintain minimum operating capacity and retain accreditation.

"The message I've received is that there's a hesitance to invest in the counselling faculty in the long-term and that other models of service are being considered," said Moores.

"To make it clear, though, no other model of service would be sufficient to train doctoral residents because of the requirement for registered psychologists who would be the one supervising them."

The Memorial University of Newfound Facutly Association (MUNFA) sent a letter to Premier Andrew Furey Thursday outlining the issues and stressed that the province is already "experiencing a mental health crisis." 

Eastern Health's residency program, the only other in the province, was placed on hold last year because there weren't enough psychology supervisors to run it. The program is planning to return in the fall, but with fewer students. 

Moores believes the university could attract full-time psychologists if it tried, adding the faculty model would potentially attract a larger pool of applicants. 

In its letter to government, MUNFA said over 40 per cent of the program's graduates have opted to stay and work in Newfoundland and Labrador in the past 20 years.

Emma Schemelefske, a current student of the program, said she moved from Montreal for the residency program and is planning on staying. She has applied to jobs within the health authority, which currently has 36 vacancies.

She said she was enticed to come because of the amount of formal training and assessment that the program offered. To lose it, she said, would be a blow to the province.

"I've learned a lot and I think it would be a shame future residents don't have the opportunity to work here. I think it would be a huge loss for the province of Newfoundland," said Schemelefske in an interview Thursday.