Mental health professional graduate and postgraduate training in disability

People with disabilities (PWD) are nearly five times more likely to experience mental distress than people without disabilities. Despite this elevated risk, many mental health professionals report feeling unprepared to work with PWD, possibly due to limited disability-focused training. The objective of the current study was to assess disability-focused content in graduate and postgraduate training programs for psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and counselors.

An online survey was distributed (September 2024 through October 2025) to directors and faculty of graduate and postgraduate psychology, counseling, social work, and psychiatry programs in the United States. Director and faculty participants (N = 191) reported on the presence and amount of coursework/training to diagnose, assess, and treat psychiatric disorders among PWD.

Approximately 45% of participants reported little to no instruction on diagnosing psychiatric disorders in PWD, and 42% reported little to no training in conducting mental health assessments with PWD. Half of the participants indicated minimal or no training in psychotherapeutic interventions for PWD or communicating about mental health with PWD. Only 11% rated their program as excellent in preparing future clinicians to work with PWD. Regression analyses showed that both the presence (p < .001) and amount (p < .001) of disability-focused content significantly predicted perceived student preparedness to work with PWD. A sensitivity analysis excluding potentially duplicate responses confirmed the robustness of these findings.

Findings highlight substantial gaps in disability-focused training within mental health programs and suggest that increasing disability-focused content may enhance faculty-perceived clinician preparedness to work with PWD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).