Building the Rural Mental Health Workforce Through a Student-Assisted Psychology Clinic
Tracks
Prince
| Friday, November 6, 2026 |
| 10:40 AM - 11:00 AM |
Overview
Tegan Podubinski, University of Melbourne, Connie Cudini, Andrea Pavarino & Kim Haebich, Gateway Health
Three Key Learnings
1. Relationships and shared values are the hidden infrastructure and central to success;
2. Externally designed models require significant local adaptation. However, the people best placed to shape the model are often not yet in place when design decisions are made; and
3. A student-assisted clinic can occupy an awkward gap between private and public systems. Without adequate recognition and funding, long-term sustainability is at risk regardless of clinical success.
Presenter
Connie Cudini
Psychology Clinic Lead - Child
Gateway Health
Building the Rural Mental Health Workforce Through a Student-Assisted Psychology Clinic
Presentation Overview
Background: Rural Australians experience poorer mental health outcomes and face significant barriers to accessing care, driven in part by a chronic shortage of mental health professionals. Training the future workforce in rural areas is one strategy for addressing this. Student-assisted training clinics offer a feasible pathway, simultaneously expanding access to care and cultivating a rurally connected psychology workforce. This presentation describes the implementation of a psychology student training clinic in rural Victoria, reports on growth and workforce outcomes, and presents key learnings from a critical reflection process undertaken with founding stakeholders.
Methods: Implementation was documented through key documents and stakeholder perspectives, including university and community health service partners. Service utilisation and workforce data (2022–2025) were analysed descriptively to examine clinic growth and early workforce outcomes. A critical reflection process was subsequently undertaken with founding stakeholders to identify key learnings from implementation.
Results: Implementation required developing a service model, establishing a university-community health partnership, securing funding, recruiting supervisors, iterative model refinement and staged student intake. Therapeutic contacts grew from 694 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2025. The clinic supported 38 Master of Psychology students over this period, with approximately half subsequently working in the region. Critical reflection identified key learnings, including: (1) shared values and relational infrastructure are foundational, yet often invisible; (2) rural implementation requires significant local adaptation; (3) clinical supervisors are central to the model, but a limited supervisory workforce constrains growth; and (4) long-term sustainability is challenged by the clinic's positioning between private and community systems, and the absence of adequate funding.
Conclusion: This clinic demonstrates a replicable model for addressing rural mental health workforce shortages while expanding community access to care. Sustained investment in supervisory capacity and ongoing pursuit of funding will be critical to long-term sustainability.
Methods: Implementation was documented through key documents and stakeholder perspectives, including university and community health service partners. Service utilisation and workforce data (2022–2025) were analysed descriptively to examine clinic growth and early workforce outcomes. A critical reflection process was subsequently undertaken with founding stakeholders to identify key learnings from implementation.
Results: Implementation required developing a service model, establishing a university-community health partnership, securing funding, recruiting supervisors, iterative model refinement and staged student intake. Therapeutic contacts grew from 694 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2025. The clinic supported 38 Master of Psychology students over this period, with approximately half subsequently working in the region. Critical reflection identified key learnings, including: (1) shared values and relational infrastructure are foundational, yet often invisible; (2) rural implementation requires significant local adaptation; (3) clinical supervisors are central to the model, but a limited supervisory workforce constrains growth; and (4) long-term sustainability is challenged by the clinic's positioning between private and community systems, and the absence of adequate funding.
Conclusion: This clinic demonstrates a replicable model for addressing rural mental health workforce shortages while expanding community access to care. Sustained investment in supervisory capacity and ongoing pursuit of funding will be critical to long-term sustainability.
Biography
Kim Haebich
Psychology Clinic Lead
Gateway Health
Building the Rural Mental Health Workforce Through a Student-Assisted Psychology Clinic
Presentation Overview
Background: Rural Australians experience poorer mental health outcomes and face significant barriers to accessing care, driven in part by a chronic shortage of mental health professionals. Training the future workforce in rural areas is one strategy for addressing this. Student-assisted training clinics offer a feasible pathway, simultaneously expanding access to care and cultivating a rurally connected psychology workforce. This presentation describes the implementation of a psychology student training clinic in rural Victoria, reports on growth and workforce outcomes, and presents key learnings from a critical reflection process undertaken with founding stakeholders.
Methods: Implementation was documented through key documents and stakeholder perspectives, including university and community health service partners. Service utilisation and workforce data (2022–2025) were analysed descriptively to examine clinic growth and early workforce outcomes. A critical reflection process was subsequently undertaken with founding stakeholders to identify key learnings from implementation.
Results: Implementation required developing a service model, establishing a university-community health partnership, securing funding, recruiting supervisors, iterative model refinement and staged student intake. Therapeutic contacts grew from 694 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2025. The clinic supported 38 Master of Psychology students over this period, with approximately half subsequently working in the region. Critical reflection identified key learnings, including: (1) shared values and relational infrastructure are foundational, yet often invisible; (2) rural implementation requires significant local adaptation; (3) clinical supervisors are central to the model, but a limited supervisory workforce constrains growth; and (4) long-term sustainability is challenged by the clinic's positioning between private and community systems, and the absence of adequate funding.
Conclusion: This clinic demonstrates a replicable model for addressing rural mental health workforce shortages while expanding community access to care. Sustained investment in supervisory capacity and ongoing pursuit of funding will be critical to long-term sustainability.
Methods: Implementation was documented through key documents and stakeholder perspectives, including university and community health service partners. Service utilisation and workforce data (2022–2025) were analysed descriptively to examine clinic growth and early workforce outcomes. A critical reflection process was subsequently undertaken with founding stakeholders to identify key learnings from implementation.
Results: Implementation required developing a service model, establishing a university-community health partnership, securing funding, recruiting supervisors, iterative model refinement and staged student intake. Therapeutic contacts grew from 694 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2025. The clinic supported 38 Master of Psychology students over this period, with approximately half subsequently working in the region. Critical reflection identified key learnings, including: (1) shared values and relational infrastructure are foundational, yet often invisible; (2) rural implementation requires significant local adaptation; (3) clinical supervisors are central to the model, but a limited supervisory workforce constrains growth; and (4) long-term sustainability is challenged by the clinic's positioning between private and community systems, and the absence of adequate funding.
Conclusion: This clinic demonstrates a replicable model for addressing rural mental health workforce shortages while expanding community access to care. Sustained investment in supervisory capacity and ongoing pursuit of funding will be critical to long-term sustainability.
Biography
Andrea Pavarino
Senior Clincial Psychologist
Gateway Health
Building the Rural Mental Health Workforce Through a Student-Assisted Psychology Clinic
Presentation Overview
Background: Rural Australians experience poorer mental health outcomes and face significant barriers to accessing care, driven in part by a chronic shortage of mental health professionals. Training the future workforce in rural areas is one strategy for addressing this. Student-assisted training clinics offer a feasible pathway, simultaneously expanding access to care and cultivating a rurally connected psychology workforce. This presentation describes the implementation of a psychology student training clinic in rural Victoria, reports on growth and workforce outcomes, and presents key learnings from a critical reflection process undertaken with founding stakeholders.
Methods: Implementation was documented through key documents and stakeholder perspectives, including university and community health service partners. Service utilisation and workforce data (2022–2025) were analysed descriptively to examine clinic growth and early workforce outcomes. A critical reflection process was subsequently undertaken with founding stakeholders to identify key learnings from implementation.
Results: Implementation required developing a service model, establishing a university-community health partnership, securing funding, recruiting supervisors, iterative model refinement and staged student intake. Therapeutic contacts grew from 694 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2025. The clinic supported 38 Master of Psychology students over this period, with approximately half subsequently working in the region. Critical reflection identified key learnings, including: (1) shared values and relational infrastructure are foundational, yet often invisible; (2) rural implementation requires significant local adaptation; (3) clinical supervisors are central to the model, but a limited supervisory workforce constrains growth; and (4) long-term sustainability is challenged by the clinic's positioning between private and community systems, and the absence of adequate funding.
Conclusion: This clinic demonstrates a replicable model for addressing rural mental health workforce shortages while expanding community access to care. Sustained investment in supervisory capacity and ongoing pursuit of funding will be critical to long-term sustainability.
Methods: Implementation was documented through key documents and stakeholder perspectives, including university and community health service partners. Service utilisation and workforce data (2022–2025) were analysed descriptively to examine clinic growth and early workforce outcomes. A critical reflection process was subsequently undertaken with founding stakeholders to identify key learnings from implementation.
Results: Implementation required developing a service model, establishing a university-community health partnership, securing funding, recruiting supervisors, iterative model refinement and staged student intake. Therapeutic contacts grew from 694 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2025. The clinic supported 38 Master of Psychology students over this period, with approximately half subsequently working in the region. Critical reflection identified key learnings, including: (1) shared values and relational infrastructure are foundational, yet often invisible; (2) rural implementation requires significant local adaptation; (3) clinical supervisors are central to the model, but a limited supervisory workforce constrains growth; and (4) long-term sustainability is challenged by the clinic's positioning between private and community systems, and the absence of adequate funding.
Conclusion: This clinic demonstrates a replicable model for addressing rural mental health workforce shortages while expanding community access to care. Sustained investment in supervisory capacity and ongoing pursuit of funding will be critical to long-term sustainability.
Biography
Dr Tegan Podubinski
Senior Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist
University of Melbourne
Building the Rural Mental Health Workforce Through a Student-Assisted Psychology Clinic
Presentation Overview
Background: Rural Australians experience poorer mental health outcomes and face significant barriers to accessing care, driven in part by a chronic shortage of mental health professionals. Training the future workforce in rural areas is one strategy for addressing this. Student-assisted training clinics offer a feasible pathway, simultaneously expanding access to care and cultivating a rurally connected psychology workforce. This presentation describes the implementation of a psychology student training clinic in rural Victoria, reports on growth and workforce outcomes, and presents key learnings from a critical reflection process undertaken with founding stakeholders.
Methods: Implementation was documented through key documents and stakeholder perspectives, including university and community health service partners. Service utilisation and workforce data (2022–2025) were analysed descriptively to examine clinic growth and early workforce outcomes. A critical reflection process was subsequently undertaken with founding stakeholders to identify key learnings from implementation.
Results: Implementation required developing a service model, establishing a university-community health partnership, securing funding, recruiting supervisors, iterative model refinement and staged student intake. Therapeutic contacts grew from 694 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2025. The clinic supported 38 Master of Psychology students over this period, with approximately half subsequently working in the region. Critical reflection identified key learnings, including: (1) shared values and relational infrastructure are foundational, yet often invisible; (2) rural implementation requires significant local adaptation; (3) clinical supervisors are central to the model, but a limited supervisory workforce constrains growth; and (4) long-term sustainability is challenged by the clinic's positioning between private and community systems, and the absence of adequate funding.
Conclusion: This clinic demonstrates a replicable model for addressing rural mental health workforce shortages while expanding community access to care. Sustained investment in supervisory capacity and ongoing pursuit of funding will be critical to long-term sustainability.
Methods: Implementation was documented through key documents and stakeholder perspectives, including university and community health service partners. Service utilisation and workforce data (2022–2025) were analysed descriptively to examine clinic growth and early workforce outcomes. A critical reflection process was subsequently undertaken with founding stakeholders to identify key learnings from implementation.
Results: Implementation required developing a service model, establishing a university-community health partnership, securing funding, recruiting supervisors, iterative model refinement and staged student intake. Therapeutic contacts grew from 694 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2025. The clinic supported 38 Master of Psychology students over this period, with approximately half subsequently working in the region. Critical reflection identified key learnings, including: (1) shared values and relational infrastructure are foundational, yet often invisible; (2) rural implementation requires significant local adaptation; (3) clinical supervisors are central to the model, but a limited supervisory workforce constrains growth; and (4) long-term sustainability is challenged by the clinic's positioning between private and community systems, and the absence of adequate funding.
Conclusion: This clinic demonstrates a replicable model for addressing rural mental health workforce shortages while expanding community access to care. Sustained investment in supervisory capacity and ongoing pursuit of funding will be critical to long-term sustainability.
Biography
Dr Tegan Podubinski is senior research fellow in the Department of Rural Health, The University of Melbourne (Wangaratta) and a clinical psychologist. Her work focuses on rural health workforce development and improving the wellbeing of rural communities. She supervises PhD candidates and provisional psychologists, contributes to interdisciplinary teaching, and leads cross-university collaborative research initiatives with regional health services and communities. She continues to work clinically but has a passion for supervising and mentoring the next generation of psychologists, supporting their development as skilled, reflective practitioners who can competently work in rural and regional contexts.
