The University announced last week that a program that offering scholarships to Native Americans pursuing doctorates in psychology received a federal grant.
The Indian Health Service gave $1.2 million to Indians into Psychology, or InPsych, a UM version of a federal program aimed at steering more Native Americans into careers in clinical psychology.
InPsych was established as a part of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. UM is one of four schools with similar programs.
UM implemented the program in 1998. It offers money for tuition, a living stipend and a small travel fund to members of federally recognized tribes who pursue doctorates in psychology. Students who use the program are required to pay back the money through a variety of ways, including working on a reservation for a period of time.
Native Americans aren’t highly represented in the field of psychology. In 2013, only 0.2 percent of American Psychological Association members nationwide were Native American.
Even on reservations, non-Native psychologists are more common. According to 2011 data from the Indian Health Service, only 21 of 80 psychologists on reservations across the country were Native.
Gyda Swaney, who is in her 14th year as the program’s director, said it is aimed at students who want to return to their reservations to practice clinical psychology.
Swaney is from the Flathead Reservation and practiced clinical psychology there before becoming a professor.
Now, she recruits and advises InPsych students, eight of whom have graduated from the program over the last 17 years.
The psychology doctorate program has seven Native students, five of whom are funded by InPsych. The other two aren’t members of federally recognized tribes, so they aren’t eligible for the funding.
Matthew Croxton, a Navajo doctorate candidate from Page, Ariz., decided to come to UM after attending an InPsych summer program put on by Swaney in Montana.
It was June, and it snowed. Croxton thought Montana was crazy and wasn’t even sure he wanted to attend graduate school. Ultimately, the now 35-year-old decided to enter the program.
After graduation, he wants to return to Arizona to work on his home reservation.
Desiree Pierre Fox, another InPsych student, is originally from Arlee and wants to return. She studied at UM as an undergrad and spent a few years working as a case manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes before going back to school.
She said she sees a need for better mental health care on the reservation.
“It’s my opportunity to give back,” she said.
For her, the best part of InPsych has been connecting with like-minded peers, which Swaney said is one of the most important facets of the program.
“I think it’s really hard to be the one in the class that’s the minority,” Swaney said.
The grant funds the program for another five years.
michael.wright@umontana.edu