FARMINGTON — A senior at the University of Maine at Farmington is getting a first-hand look at what may be part of his future professional goals.

Michael MacKay, 21, of Wilton was selected by the Togus Veterans Administration Medical Center to serve in their undergraduate psychology practicum training program this year. 

The program started last year with one Bates College student participating. MacKay is the first UMF student to participate although a second student was recently also accepted in to the program.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Dr. Dave Meyer, MacKay’s supervisor at Togus said Monday. “It’s good experience for them and gives them the experience they need to get accepted in to graduate school while they work for us behind the scenes doing data entry and research.”

With a potential four to five years of graduate school ahead to earn a Ph.D. as a clinical psychologist, the veterans hospital exposure provides an opportunity for them to see if that’s what they want to do, Meyer said.

They are not ready to do actual clinical work with patients but may be able to sit in and observe group sessions with patients’ permission, he said. They also get to spend a little time with every psychologist on staff to get a better idea of what they do.

“It’s a good program that we’re very enthusiastic about,” he said.

MacKay is also excited about working with clinical psychologists in a VA setting.

Raised in Louisana, MacKay’s military family background with a grandfather and great-grandfather who served in Vietnam, may have kindled his interest in working with veterans.

“One of my professional interests is to work with veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and other mental illnesses. This practicum gives me the opportunity to interact with and better understand the veteran population as an undergraduate and also gives me the applied field experience I need to have to be considered for admission by doctoral programs.”

During the year-long practicum, MacKay will help with a pilot research study on veterans with PTSD and their families.

It’s based on a program in Oklahoma and one that involves families in treatment, he said. One that could help Maine families in the future.

Sitting with Susan Anzivino, UMF professor of psychology and department chair, Monday, they explained how trends in psychology have changed to acknowledge the family in disease treatment.

“The individual affects the family and the family affects the individual,” Anzivino said.

Last spring the UMF department was contacted by the Togus medical program to see if there were potential students interested in the program. The parent of a UMF psychology student, a board member, was impressed with the study received at UMF and wanted to seek students from here, she said.

Faculty considered MacKay as a  potential for the program. After a lengthy admittance  process, he started working one day a week at Togus last month in addition to his classwork at UMF and working part-time at the Admissions Office.

“He doesn’t have much free time,” Anzivino said. 

MacKay moved to Wilton in 2004 and graduated from Mt. Blue High School in 2008.  From there, he focused on UMF and a degree in philosophy. With the encouragement and guidance of his teachers at UMF, he pursued his options and interests tailoring an individualized program of study in both philosophy and psychology, he said.

“I’ll never forget the invitation of Professor Bert Jacobs in my abnormal psychology class, ‘Cause trouble and change the world,'” MacKay said.

A hospital setting could provide the clinical challenge he seeks and the chance to pursue his fascination with schizophrenia, he added.

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