The Institute for the Psychological Sciencies

Kathryn M. Benes, Ph.D.

Associate Professor/ Director of the IPS Training Clinic
Ph.D., University of Nebraska, Lincoln
M.S., University of Nebraska, Lincoln


Dr. Benes received a Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 1990. She taught at Iowa State University from 1990 to 1992 before returning to Lincoln where she was in private practice, working with children, adolescents and families, as well as teaching at the University of Nebraska. In 1994, she became the Director of Mental Health Services for Catholic Social Services in the Diocese of Lincoln. Dr. Benes developed a nationally recognized diocesan-wide mental health program that ultimately became a doctoral-level psychology internship site, accredited by the American Psychological Association, currently the only accredited internship program in the nation that is specifically designed to train psychologists from a Catholic perspective. She is now on faculty with and Training Clinic Director for the Institute for the Psychological Sciences, a graduate program dedicated to the formation of Catholic psychologists. Dr. Benes has been a licensed psychologist since 1994.


Research interests:

• School psychology
• Clergy-psychology collaboration
• Organizational development within the Church structure
• A Thomistic approach to lifespan development
• Integration of psychology and Christianity.