Major Award Win for ETSU’s Dr. Natasha Gouge: A Journey from Appalachian Roots to Trailblazing Innovations in Psychology

Major Award Win for ETSU’s Dr. Natasha Gouge: A Journey from Appalachian Roots to Trailblazing Innovations in Psychology

From the Heart of Appalachia to a Major Award

Dr. Natasha Gouge, an Appalachian native, has always approached her professional endeavors with clear-sighted determination. As the director of East Tennessee State University’s (ETSU) Behavioral Health and Wellness Clinic (BHWC), she now has an additional feather in her cap — the prestigious Association of Psychology Training Clinics (APTC) Innovation Award. This award recognises meaningful innovations that positively impact training, research or service across psychology training clinics worldwide.

Transforming Training, Molding Minds

The clinic, a part of ETSU’s Department of Psychology, offers wide-ranging services which include psychological evaluations, psychotherapy, brief interventions, and medication management. Driven by doctoral graduate student clinicians supervised by licensed psychologists, the clinic serves both the campus community and the wider public.

“My ultimate goal is to cultivate a training space that allows students to feel safe and supported to approach clinical challenges, growth and skills,” said Dr. Gouge. “To me, when you aim to put your students and staff first, everyone wins.”

Dr. Gouge’s pioneering approach to training and improvement of psychological assessment systems and competencies has not gone unnoticed. The innovation award came on the back of a quality improvement project within the BHWC. Reviewing seven years’ worth of service delivery and training data, she created programs that enhanced the overall experience for students, faculty, and patients.

Impactful Innovations

Thanks to Dr. Gouge, the clinic has seen remarkable improvements. “Student competencies, skills and satisfaction have improved; clinic processes are drastically improved with no-shows and lag time cut to almost zero once clients are scheduled for their first assessment appointment.” Dr. Gouge achieved these results through the development of a new data-driven training model.

But her work is not just about efficiency; it’s about providing quality care. “What used to take the clinic a full year to complete, we can now do that same level of volume in under 15 weeks while giving patients a streamlined, high-quality experience in a rapid turnaround timeline,” she added.

Dedication and Gratitude

Dr. Gouge takes immense pride in serving the people of this region, especially given it is designated as a Mental Health Shortage Area. She gratefully acknowledges the support of her colleagues, Dr. Meredith Ginley and Dr. Rachel Miller-Slough, who partnered with her in the innovation endeavor while also managing successful grants that funded the necessary materials.

She further highlighted the contributions of the Appalachian Treasure Fund, a non-profit Dr. Gouge co-founded, which allows charitable donations to meet the training, service, and mental health needs of Appalachia.

Continuing the Journey

The journey of Dr. Gouge, from her roots in Appalachia to a celebrated director at ETSU, is both inspirational and commendable. Her tireless efforts to innovate and improve training methods have proven profoundly impactful, not just to her students and colleagues, but also to the wider community she serves. This award serves as a well-deserved recognition of her trailblazing work in the field of psychology.

To the residents of Appalachia, Dr. Natasha Gouge is not just an academic, an innovator, and an award winner; she’s a beacon of hope and a proof that success can sprout from unique challenges and tribulations encountered in one’s journey.

With this significant recognition in her stride, Dr. Gouge is poised to further push the boundaries in advancing the field of psychology training and service delivery, transforming more lives in the process.