Welcome to the New Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University!

History and Context

We are in the College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE), located within the Department of Educational Studies. We were approved in spring 2022 by the University to start this doctoral program.  While we are new to being in this college and new to the year 2022, Counseling Psychology at the Ohio State University is not new. It was first created in the mid-1940s in the Department of Psychology and was one of the first counseling psychology programs to be accredited by the American Psychological Association for professional training as a counseling psychologist. Until its closing in the early 2000s, it was recognized as one of the best counseling psychology programs in the nation (Delgado & Howard, 1994). Over the past 70 years even since its closing, faculty and graduates of the program have distinguished themselves, as president of the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17), leading researchers, and editors of leading journals (Schmidt & Chock, 1990), and most recently, the president of the American Psychological Association (2019, 2020).

About Counseling Psychology

Within the American Psychological Association, Counseling Psychology, along with School and Clinical Psychology, fall under the umbrella of Health Service Psychology (HSP). This specialty training occurs at the doctoral level and includes a doctoral internship and post-doctoral licensure. As a recognized specialty within HSP, Counseling Psychology is a general practice and health service provider specialty in professional psychology. It focuses on how people function both individually and within relational contexts at all ages. Counseling Psychology addresses the emotional, social, work, school and physical health concerns people may have at different stages in their lives, focusing on typical life stresses and more severe issues with which people may struggle as individuals and as a part of families, groups and organizations. Counseling Psychologists help people with physical, emotional and mental health issues improve their sense of well-being, alleviate feelings of distress and resolve crises. They also provide assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mild to more severe psychological symptoms.

Counseling psychologists focus on the following specialized knowledge, across the lifespan:

• Healthy aspects and strengths of clients (i.e., individuals, couples, families, groups or organizations)
• Environmental/situational influences (how cultural aspects [i.e., race/ethnicity, gender, sexual, social class, and lifestyle issues] shape people’s experiences and concerns.
• Issues of diversity and social justice (e.g., advocacy).
• The role of career and work in peoples’ lives.

Goals and Aims of Counseling Psychology at OSU

Counseling Psychology in EHE at the Ohio State University builds on this historic foundation as well as on the core foundations of Counseling Psychology, ushering in a program in the context of the 21^st century and its challenges and problems. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed increased mental health concerns, delayed access to treatment due long wait lists (Parker-Pope, 2021), and reduced number of mental health professionals available. The Counseling Psychology Program has been developed in response to these challenging health concerns. Our slogan “Advancing Health Equity through Advocacy, Policy-Making, and Leadership” reflects the aims and vision of the Counseling Psychology Program at the Ohio State University. Our plan is to train diverse students to become excellent counseling psychologists to assist the diverse people of Ohio and beyond in the development and improvement in their health through many outlets: health practitioners, educational interventionists, health researchers/policy makers, and as academicians to train the next generation of counseling psychologists.

Thus, the Ohio State University PhD program in counseling psychology aims to prepare students to acquire (a) the core knowledge of psychology and counseling psychology, (b) profession-wide competencies of the health service psychologist, and (c) the attitudes, values, and special competencies of counseling psychologists committed to multiculturally respectful and valid, social justice approaches. The program will prepare students to (a) create and disseminate scholarly research, (b) acquire knowledge and skills for competent assessment, prevention, intervention, supervision, consultation/interprofessional collaboration, and teaching, (c) use evidence-based practice, (d) and consider cultural and other contextual influences in all aspects of their work with special knowledge and experience in social justice. Graduates will be prepared to function as health service providers, researchers, professors, and private practitioners.

In essence, we will train students to acquire the core competencies of becoming a professional psychologists while also elevating the training with a lens of Health Equity–grounding the training in quality treatment for all, including those who have been marginalized from receiving appropriate treatment. We will ground Health Equity lens based on the tradition of the scientist-practitioner approach, with the expectation that an equity approach must be based on sound knowledge. To be an excellent advocate, policy-maker, and leader require that our actions must be based on sound knowledge. Our goal and vision are to have graduates become advocates, policy-makers, and leaders at all levels of the system–locally, regionally, state-wide, and nationally. Changes in Health Equity require that counseling psychologists be trained not only as social justice advocates but also as policy-makers and leaders in health psychology services. Our goal and aims are in alignment with the pillars of EHE, in which we will engage in working with people across the lifespan, living in rural and urban communities, and from locally to globally in support of the vitality of their health.

Program Features

• Emphasis on scientist-practitioner approach to training
• Emphasis on subspecialties (cognates) within CP
• Focus beyond diversity and multicultural psychology/competencies
• Emphasis on social justice advocacy and beyond
• Emphasis on social change agent, policy-maker, and leader as a health service provider

Contact

Beverly J. Vandiver, PhD
Director of Training
vandiver.10@osu.edu

Address

Department of Educational Studies
Counseling Psychology Program
121 Ramseyer Hall
20 West Woodruff Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210