The community mental health center management game: Teaching administrative skills by means of computer simulation

Clinical training in psychology rarely includes the opportunity for students to exercise managerial responsibility for a functioning human service organization. Nevertheless, many clinicians are called upon to assume such decision-making duties, despite their lack of administrative training. This study examines the feasibility of using a computer model of a typical Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) as a training device, permitting clinical students to “manage” a complex social agency over a course of many months of simulated time. The system provides a valuable and interesting supplement to the usual training materials in psychology programs.