Oversees provision of direct clinical services to students and serves as a member of the management team of the Counseling Center with the Director and other Assistant Directors. Provides psychological counseling services to students and consultation to students, staff and families regarding mental health or counseling issues. In the absence of the Director, the Assistant Director of Clinical Operations may serve as Acting Director of the Counseling Center. The ideal candidate will be passionate about equity in mental health and creating systems that support holistic healing and emotional wellness, particularly the mental health of marginalized communities.
Position Duties/Responsibilities:
Provide culturally informed psychological counseling in individual, couple and group modalities for a diverse student population across the spectrum of developmental and mental health issues by applying skills and techniques of evaluation, assessment of clients’ diagnosis according to the current DSM, psychometry, psychotherapy, crisis counseling, consultation and referral.
Provide triage and crisis assessment to evaluate student risk of harm to self (suicide) or harm to others, and determine when a client should be referred for evaluation by a hospital social worker, Designated Mental Health Professional, or another mental health or medical professional. In a crisis situation, determine limits of confidentiality and make a professional decision about what information should be shared with other professionals and coordinate appropriate follow-up action.
Oversee clinical services:
- Determine status of clinical openings versus demand, service needs, staffing, and ensure that schedules are providing adequate clinical coverage. Ensure that group and workshops offered are consistent with needs of the Center and WWU students.
- Communicate daily with patient services coordinator to maintain over-all quality of services.
- Communicate with staff regarding service needs, report on clinical services in weekly staff meetings, coordinate quarterly scheduling for clinical services, and lead staff discussions in identifying and problem-solving areas that need modification or improvement.
- Review annually all client-related forms and in consultation with the Center’s administrative team and Research Committee, update as needed.
- Review Counseling Center brochures and website information for appropriate and accurate content.
- Ensure that current information on off-campus referral resources is maintained.
- Facilitate medical consultation meeting with Counseling Center staff and Student Health Center mental health providers.
- Train and consult with professional staff and interns on current best practices for suicide assessment and intervention.
- Ensure group and workshop offerings consistent with the Counseling Center’s goals and clinical focus.
- Ensure clinical services program operates in manner consistent with standards of our accreditation agencies (IACS The International Association of Counseling Services and APPICC Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers).
- Keep informed of national trends in counseling services delivery by participating in the Clinical Directors list serve and attending Association for the Coordination of Counseling Center Clinical Services conferences as time and budget allow.
- Oversee coordination of after-hours crisis response with ProtoCall and with campus offices with whom we most frequently coordinate crisis response (e.g., Res Life, University Police, Dean of Students’ office).
- Serve on Counseling Center’s crisis response team on a rotating basis.
- Coordinate on-site professional development.
Clinical documentation and case management:
- Write prompt documentation of assessments, counseling sessions, crisis interventions, and clinical consultation/case management.
- Assist clients in obtaining off-campus referrals when they need or desire longer-term or more specialized counseling.
- Coordinate care with other WWU services (e.g., Student Health Center, Prevention and Wellness, Disability Access Center, Student Outreach Services).
Provide clinical supervision to trainees and provisionally-licensed staff (as assigned) by:
- Meet with supervisee(s) a minimum of one-hour a week face-to-face.
- Review supervisee’s clinical work by case consultation, reviewing session videos and recordkeeping, and guiding their clinical and professional development.
- Teach intern seminars.
- Attend Supervision of Supervision conferences to discuss trainees’ progress and prepare written evaluations of supervisees’ work.
Technology and research:
- Serve as systems administrator for Titanium data base and scheduling program, update data and template forms, update employee/trainee security list and program updates in coordination with patient services coordinator and appropriate IT staff.
- Serve as primary contact person within the Center for issues and problems regarding the Titanium program.
- Upload aggregate data from Titanium program to maintain Counseling Center participation in national research through the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH).
- Maintain current knowledge of the research initiatives of the CCMH.
- Serve as an ex-officio member of the Counseling Center’s Research Committee to represent the perspective of service delivery in development of formats for data collection and research questions.
Other duties (less than 5%):
- Provide professional consultation and outreach to faculty, staff, parents, student organizations, and other campus offices to facilitate student development, increase awareness and understanding of general counseling issues, and identify appropriate responses to student mental health needs within the University setting.
- In the absence of the Director, represent the Counseling Center at TAT meetings. when the Director is unavailable to attend threat assessment meetings.
- Participate in continuing education activities as required for licensure and to build on professional skills development through professional workshops, online training, and conferences. This should include development and maintenance of skills in working with individuals from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, abilities, and lifestyles to support diversity and inclusivity in the Western community.
- Provide consultation and training to staff and pre-professional trainees. Train and orient new professional staff and interns regarding clinical services, Titanium, policies and procedures.
- Assist CC director in identifying staffing needs and serve on search committees as assigned by CC director for Counseling Center professional or office staff.
- Assist director in reviewing and updating Policies and Procedural manual.
- Engage with University community by serving on committees, program involvement, or other campus-wide activities.