The Grad Post, Spring 2020, Counseling Center
Jodi K. Caldwell, Ph.D., Executive Director, Counseling Center
Q: Tell us about your role at the Counseling Center.
A: As the Executive Director of the Counseling Center I oversee the operations of our Counseling Services on both of our larger campuses, Statesboro and Armstrong, as well as outreach programming to the Liberty Campus. I provide direct administrative supervision to the Director on the Armstrong campus, the Associate Director and two Assistant Directors on the Statesboro campus, our staff Psychologists, and our Administrative Staff. I provide clinical supervision to our Doctoral Interns, who are with us for 1-year placements in our Doctoral Internship in Professional Health Psychology. I field any calls or visits from individuals needing psychological consultation, and I serve on the university’s Behavioral Assessment Team. As an Executive Director within Student Affairs, I sit on several division-wide and university-wide committees, and I report directly to the VP of Student Affairs.
Q: Tell us about how your office provides support to students.
A: The Counseling Center operates on a model of college/university counseling called the Comprehensive Counseling Center Model. This means that our mission has 3 components: Direct Clinical Services, Outreach Programming/Primary Prevention Programming/Community Consultation, and Professional Development and Training. What people tend to be most familiar with is the 1st component, Direct Clinical Services. This includes: individual therapy, relationship therapy, group therapy, crisis screenings/triage, 24/7 crisis response, online workshops and relaxation exercises, and on our Armstrong Campus psychiatric services. In addition, we have added many “immediate access” drop-in mental health workshops that any student can attend, regardless of whether they have ever been to the counseling center before. There is a mental health workshop, focused on skills for managing distress and strong emotion, available almost every weekday at each Counseling Center. Finally, under clinical services, we provide case management services – students do not need to be a client to access case management. Case Management can connect students to any community resources the student might need: more intensive mental health services, resources for food insecurity, legally resources, resources for homelessness, emergency financial assistance.
Under the Outreach/Programming and Community Consultation wing, we provide programming upon request and at scheduled times, to the campus community on a wide variety of topics associated with mental health. For example, I provided a program for faculty/staff on trends in college student mental health. Some of the regularly scheduled outreach programs we provide are QPR, Safe Space, Depression Awareness, etc. The Counselors are available for consultation with faculty and staff regarding concerns about students.
Finally, under our Professional Training and Development wing, the Counseling Center houses three separate training programs, each with its own curricula. The Undergraduate Field Experience program provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to earn course credit for gaining training in careers within mental health. The Practicum Program provides clinical training to students from the Psychology Department’s Doctorate Degree in Clinical Psychology and students in the M.Ed. program in Clinical Counseling. The Doctoral Internship in Professional Health Psychology is accredited by the American Psychological Association and attracts national applicants for the 1-year required work experience that doctoral candidates in psychology must obtain. Our current interns are from Oklahoma State, Fuller University (CA) and Texas Women’s University.
All of these services are outlined in detail on our website under the “Services” or “Training” tabs. In addition, there are profiles of all our clinicians, self-help resources, and more.
Details about everything we provide is available on our website: https://students.georgiasouthern.edu/counseling/
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