Psychology Clinic Settles into New Space, Expands Services

The establishment of the autonomous Department of Psychology has cleared the way for faculty to extend their reach and enhance psychology’s presence on campus. With this came the expansion of the Psychological Counseling Services and Training Center, now home in its own space in Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud Hall.

“Our mission is two-fold,” said Jaime Mendoza, associate professor of practice in the psychology department and director of the center. “The first is to train students who are completing their third year in the counseling psychology program to become skilled and ethical psychologists, and the second goal is to provide counseling services to faculty, staff, alumni, students and their respective families.”

Iman Shehata oversees the daily operations of the clinic as its program officer, while Mendoza manages client care. Both Mendoza and Anne Justus, associate professor of practice and psychology unit head are responsible for supervising the nine master’s student counseling interns who work at the center.

“Moving from a shared space with the psychology lab to a new independent space, owned by our center, will support our mission of remaining private to give more security and confidentiality to our clients,” said Shehata. “Also, we targeted a wider space to be able to help more of the AUC community.”

While the University’s Wellness Center focuses on providing student care, the Psychology Clinic aims to provide counseling services to other members of the AUC community.  “Our focus is staff, faculty, alumni and their respective families,” said Mendoza.

The center’s counselors are supervised by doctoral level psychologists who are also members of the department of psychology. In addition to one-on-one counseling, the clinic has, this year, the clinic has begun offering community education workshops and ongoing support groups, tackling a range of themes such as nervousness, sadness, anxiety and reconciliation of differences.