Community Counseling Services offer students practical experience and free counseling to community
By Sarah Shoaf, Staff Writer
During times of change, life can present challenges that impact emotional, psychological, and interpersonal wellness, areas that Governors State University’s (GovState) Community Counseling Services are equipped to handle.
The center’s master’s-level counselors-in-training (CITs) provide free counseling services for individuals, couples and families, as well as career counseling while under supervision of fully licensed, doctoral counselors, marriage and family therapists and psychologists.
“We offer the services for free, which is a great deal for some people in our community who cannot afford mental health services otherwise,” said Dr. Ileana Ungureanu, faculty coordinator of the center. “It’s an excellent thing that GovState can offer this.”
For the CITs, the students providing counseling services, the work in the center offers practical experience that counts towards the completion of their master’s degree in Counseling.
“In the counseling program, the clinical experience has two parts. One of them is the practicum which is what our center does,” said Dr. Ungureanu. “In the practicum, students see individual clients and they can see those clients for the duration of their practicum, which is over two semesters.”
Dr. Ungureanu added that the practicum is a required course for counseling degrees and prepares students for internships as well as their careers. Additionally, students can take another class as part of the program that is designed for CITs to see only families and couples under supervision, instead of just individuals.
While students work in the center for a set amount of time, the clients are not limited to the duration of a CIT’s course and can work with other students over semesters. The center has seen many happy recurring clients over the years, shared Dr. Ungureanu, who had recently received an email from one of the center’s lab assistants relaying the positive feedback.
“I’ve talked to so many clients tonight who are either returning from last semester, returning from a long time ago, or are individual clients and are now bringing their teens for family counseling too,” wrote the lab assistant. “Without me asking, all of them made a point of saying how wonderful their experience had been here and that their counselor made a big difference in their lives.”
Community Counseling Services offers sessions for clients via tele-counseling (using video conferencing) as well as in-person sessions. Tele-counseling allows clients and counselors-in-training to have sessions without being in the same physical location. Clients can choose their preference for counseling sessions.
For more information, including how to schedule a session and hours of operation, click here.
Interested in the Counseling master's program? Click here to learn more.