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 Now a licensed clinical psychologist and owner of Creative Insights
Counseling in Redlands, California, Lowenthal has supervised scores
of graduate students and interns who treat patients in a supervised
clinical setting for reduced fees.
As any reader of the classic children's book series featuring Ramona
Quimby knows, trying to save money by seeing trainees can be a mixed
bag. At the beauty school the Quimbys frequented, Ramona loved her
pixie cut, but her big sister Beezus left in tears over a bouffant.
Hair is one thing, but what about your teeth, your eyes and your
emotions? Call any major university and they are likely to have a
training clinic for dental, ophthalmology, psychology and even
veterinary services.
You can expect to save as much as 50 percent for dental care in many
clinics, says Dr. Kim Ruona, an assistant professor at the
University of Texas Health Science Center.
For orthodontics, discounts can run 30 percent to 40 percent, even
for popular treatments like Invisalign, says Dr. Ravindra Nanda, who
chairs the Division of Orthodontics at the University of Connecticut
School of Dental Medicine.
Lowenthal sees it as a two-for-one: You get a well-trained and
highly motivated student and an experienced supervisor. Seeing
graduate students is akin to going to see any other kind of medical
doctor and being primarily treated by an intern or resident, she
said, except there are lower fees.
"In medical, we don't question it," Lowenthal said.
LOWER FEES
Those who take the plunge with a student practitioner are often
looking to pay less, but that does not mean the clientele is
indigent. Rates for private psychological services in New York City,
for instance, can exceed $200 an hour, and fewer doctors are taking
insurance, said Kristene Doyle, director of the Albert Ellis
Institute in New York.
Yet people still balk when Lowenthal mentions turning to trainees as
a way to lower their costs. She charges $150 an hour, while her
post-grad interns charge $125. At a university setting a few years
ago, she supervised graduate students who charged $10 or less for a
session.
At Albert Ellis, which trains psychologists in cognitive behavioral
therapy, the staff tries to avoid the word "intern" altogether.
"We call them pre-doc therapists or advanced pre-docs," Doyle says.
Albert Ellis charges $220 to see a staff psychologist, $120 to see a
licensed practitioner who just got a PhD, and $95 to see a trainee.
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"Some people who call say that's still a lot and they can't afford
it," Doyle said. "Then they call back because they see it's more
expensive elsewhere."
One way to insure that you are getting quality service along with
your discount is to make sure the clinical program is accredited by
the governing body of that field.
For psychology, for instance, it is the American Psychological
Association (http://apa.org/). Member organizations like the
Association of Psychology Training Clinics also provide resources,
like a list of 180 accredited clinics on its website (http://aptc.org).
CAUTIONS
Trainees are not for everyone. Tony Cellucci, president of
Association of Psychology Training Clinics, said some people with
privacy concerns might not appreciate their sessions being taped and
shared with not only a supervisor, but also possibly other graduate
students in the practice group. All would be trained in
confidentiality, though.
For those who need long-term consistent care, students might also
not be best because they will move on after one or two years,
Cellucci said.
Doyle said Albert Ellis retained most of its clients who started out
seeing students, especially when the students became full-fledged
therapists, stayed on at the institute and charged higher fees.
(This story corrects the name of the University of Texas Health
Science Center in the 5th paragraph)
(Editing by Lauren Young and Lisa Von Ahn)
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