Counseling and Psychological Wellness Services (CPWS) is SUNY Old Westbury’s student counseling center. It is an ideal setting for interns to gain experience working with a wide variety of presenting concerns and a broad range of diagnoses, and to learn about the workings of a counseling center at a higher education institution. The mission of CPWS is to support and enhance the psychological health, wellbeing, and personal growth of students.
CPWS provides a variety of services for the college and its students, including intake assessments, individual counseling and psychotherapy, crisis intervention, couple's therapy, workshops, and psychodiagnostic testing. Trainees working at CPWS will have the opportunity to take part in all of these activities. CPWS also offers psychiatric services, and trainees will have the opportunity to consult with our psychiatrist.
The primary orientation of CPWS and its training program is psychodynamic, with an emphasis on flexibility and integration. The supervisors at our center have a strong background in psychodynamic therapy, especially object relational, interpersonal, and modern relational theories. In addition, we also employ other approaches – such as cognitive behavior therapy and postmodern psychotherapy – when we find them to be useful to our clients. These orientations form the backbone of our supervision and didactic training, but trainees will also be encouraged to explore and develop their own theoretical orientations.
CPWS serves a highly diverse population. Our patients have a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds: Our clientele is approximately 30% African-American, 30% Caucasian, 30% Hispanic/Latino, 5% Asian, and 5% other race/ethnicity. Over fifty percent of our patients are first or second generation immigrants, and about a third of the center’s clients are first-generation college students.
Trainees will have the opportunity to work with clients who suffer from difficulties across the full spectrum of severity, from clients whose symptoms do not meet diagnostic criteria to clients who are experiencing severe mood disorders, personality disorders, or occasionally psychotic disorders. Many of our clients also have a history of trauma, as well as troubled romantic and family relationships. Trainees will learn to assess for suicidality and homicidality, as well as psychotic symptoms and substance abuse.
CPWS is currently staffed by two full time state-licensed clinical psychologists, a part-time psychiatrist, and an office manager. It offers positions for two psychology interns and two externs. Trainees will also have the opportunity to work with other professionals across the campus.