ENID —
The real-life world of psychology often is not what students preparing themselves for the field expect.

That’s why Jessica Dillon-Merkle has enlisted several area professionals to come to the classroom and help teach her students at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

“I have routinely had clinicians from the community come into the classrooms to assist, role playing as clients to give the students a more real-life experience of what they can expect as clinicians entering the field,” Dillon-Merkle said.

During this semester, several professionals worked with Individual Theories of Counseling students, including Deborah Green, Enid Counseling and Diagnostic Center; Teresa Mitchell, Rural Health; Kathy Andrews and Kerry Barger, Solutions for Life; Amy Melvin, Melody Isbell and Ronda Rutledge, Integris Bass Behavioral Health, Meadowlake; and Steve Atwood, Integris Bass Behavioral Health, Generations.

All of them agree helping mentor Dillon-Merkle’s students is worth their time.

In a way, it’s not so different from what one of the mentors has long done. Isbell spent 24 years teaching elementary students at Kingfisher before she went back to school herself to become a therapist.

“I really look forward to it,” Isbell said. “I have a lot of empathy for those who are going through this.”

Andrews agreed with that assessment.

“I think it gives students a more realistic view of what it’s like to be in front of a client from day to day,” she said. “It gives them some skills to use when they get out into the field and helps the students realize there is not a specific book you can go by. It’s really not like ‘Dr. Phil.’”

Melvin said she learned in the field she won’t solve the problems of everyone in the world, so smaller goals must be set. Working with the students is a chance to guide them in the direction of setting realistic goals.

“I remember what it was like to be a student and have huge dreams I’d change the world,” she said.

Atwood recalls he didn’t get an adequate dose of “hands-on experience” during his graduate study years.

“Everything was just theory,” Atwood said. “Everything was book knowledge. When I got into my practicums, I realized that’s not really the way it was.”

He said his contributions to the classroom make the learning experience more realistic for future therapists.

When Mitchell herself was a student, she had some classes that included role playing, and she found that beneficial.

“You can stammer and stutter and be scared with your peers,” Mitchell said.