To become a forensic psychologist, Melissa Jankowski is participating in the most competitive internship in the country at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina, a prison complex that houses several high-profile inmates, including Ted Kaczynski. The facility also holds defendants awaiting trial and mental health patients committed by court to its Federal Medical Center.
Jankowski, a University of Maine Ph.D. student in clinical psychology from Cassville, Missouri, conducts evaluations on all of them for the complex’s Forensic Evaluation Service. She helps determine whether a defendant is competent to stand trial, can be found not guilty by reason of insanity and — if they are found not guilty by reason of insanity or unable to be restored to competency to proceed with their legal charges — whether they should be civilly committed to FCC Butner due to their dangerousness. She also is occasionally subpoenaed to testify in federal court on her findings.
Her additional responsibilities include attending treatment team meetings, presenting cases to the in-house risk panel, conducting locked housing rounds and leading competency restoration, illness management and recovery groups.
Working at FCC Butner reminds Jankowski of her desire to dispel a widely held belief that only bad people go to prison because they did bad things, a key reason behind her goal of becoming a forensic psychologist. Those bad things, she says, “are often the unfortunate sequelae of a plethora of other variables outside of inherent virtue,” including developmental trauma, mental health issues and a lack of resources and privilege, she says.
“Working in a correctional setting has opened my eyes to the historical and systemic complications that can result in incarceration, and has forced me to challenge many of my own internal assumptions and to acknowledge my own privilege,” says Jankowski, who is participating in the competitive internship program offered by the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “I find myself humbled each day.”
When she isn’t at the complex, Jankowski provides services for other organizations as part of her internship. She previously conducted neuropsychological assessments with retired professional football players for the National Football League Players’ Association Brain and Body Health Program. Other current and future rotations include conducting gender-affirming evaluations and care at the UNC Gender Equity and Wellness Initiative Clinic, assessing and treating patients at UNC’s Psychiatric Emergency Services, and administering forensic and neuropsychological evaluations at a state hospital.
Starting in March, her duties at FCC Butner will involve monitoring their well-being, providing individual and group therapy, and conducting suicide risk assessments, all of which she says should help inmates cope with prison life and tackle the behaviors and other mental health issues that may have resulted in their incarceration.
Jankowski has been a UMaine grad student in clinical psychology since 2015. In 2017, she received a three-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support her research on peer relationships and their association with risk and resilience in adolescence. She received a master’s degree in 2018, and will complete her Ph.D. this year. She will pursue a postdoctoral fellowship to become a board-certified forensic psychologist.
Clinical Psychology Program receives transformational gift from Judy Glickman Lauder Foundation
A transformational gift from the Judy Glickman Lauder Foundation will support the efforts and initiatives of the University of Maine Clinical Psychology Program to help meet the increasing demand for high-quality, evidence-based mental health providers in Maine.
The gift, made through the University of Maine Foundation, will allow UMaine’s accredited doctoral training program to increase its teaching, research and outreach capacity by nearly one-third. Two new faculty members and two doctoral students will be added to the program, and a professional staff member will be hired to coordinate field placements for undergraduate and graduate students statewide.
One of the faculty positions will bring additional expertise in the delivery of evidence-based interventions in health care and community settings; the other will focus on substance use and/or trauma — two critical areas of need in Maine and beyond.
UMaine’s nationally recognized and highly competitive Clinical Psychology Program in the Department of Psychology prepares students for careers combining research and practice. As part of their training, students provide psychological services to the public through UMaine’s Psychological Services Center on campus and at practicum sites in Maine and internships nationwide.
In addition to helping the department’s clinical graduate program expand its mental health services, the Glickman Lauder gift will facilitate the Psychology Department’s efforts to enhance career success for undergraduates through development of new courses, research opportunities and experiential internships.
The Glickman Lauder family donation to help improve the state’s mental health resources was inspired in part by the Harold Alfond Foundation’s $240 million challenge grant to the University of Maine System in 2020.
UMaine’s program is the only American Psychological Association-accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology in Maine and was recently reaccredited for 10 years — the longest possible professional accreditation period granted to only the strongest programs. It is well-positioned to train the next generation of Maine’s clinical psychologists.