About the CCSC
About the CCSC
About the CCSC
Where compassionate care meets cutting-edge training.
The GW Community Counseling Services Center has two primary missions:
- To provide quality counseling services to clients.
- To promote excellence in the training of master’s and doctoral students through state-of-the-art clinical supervision.
Through innovative clinical practices, we empower clients while offering invaluable learning opportunities for students to hone their counseling skills under expert supervision. Our affordable services, including individual, family, career, and couples counseling, are available at two convenient locations in the Washington, DC metro area.
We embrace diversity and celebrate the unique identities and experiences of our clients. We advocate for anti-racist and anti-oppressive counseling practices through collaborative counseling sessions and community outreach.
Working with a Counseling Intern
The CCSC is the training facility for GSEHD's Department of Counseling and Human Development. Masters and doctoral students offer affordable, confidential, quality counseling to children, teens, and adults. Our masters students have completed the bulk of their academic preparation to become counselors. Under the supervision of more experienced counselors, they are ready to begin counseling clients.
Our mission as a training center impacts how we offer counseling services. For example:
-
Counseling interns work in the CCSC for two semesters.
Your counseling intern could conclude their work in the CCSC before you conclude your work with the counselor. In that case, you could work with another intern, if we have an available counselor, or we can help you find other counselors in the community. -
We follow GW’s academic calendar.
That means a break of several weeks between semesters and a brief break during each semester. -
Counseling interns are supervised.
We prioritize attentive supervision and guidance of our counseling interns by faculty and supervisors. -
We record counseling sessions.
Because we are a training facility, all counseling sessions are digitally recorded so that students can review and reflect on the session to improve their skills, as well as receive supervision of their work. This also allows supervisors to ensure you receive quality services. Supervisors who view these recordings are ethically obligated to protect your confidentiality.
Working with a Counseling Intern
The CCSC is the training facility for GSEHD's Department of Counseling and Human Development. Masters and doctoral students offer affordable, confidential, quality counseling to children, teens, and adults. Our masters students have completed the bulk of their academic preparation to become counselors. Under the supervision of more experienced counselors, they are ready to begin counseling clients.
Our mission as a training center impacts how we offer counseling services. For example:
-
Counseling interns work in the CCSC for two semesters.
Your counseling intern could conclude their work in the CCSC before you conclude your work with the counselor. In that case, you could work with another intern, if we have an available counselor, or we can help you find other counselors in the community. -
We follow GW’s academic calendar.
That means a break of several weeks between semesters and a brief break during each semester. -
Counseling interns are supervised.
We prioritize attentive supervision and guidance of our counseling interns by faculty and supervisors. -
We record counseling sessions.
Because we are a training facility, all counseling sessions are digitally recorded so that students can review and reflect on the session to improve their skills, as well as receive supervision of their work. This also allows supervisors to ensure you receive quality services. Supervisors who view these recordings are ethically obligated to protect your confidentiality.
Ready to take the first step in your counseling journey?
Contact our intake coordinator to discuss how we can assist you.
Interested in a Counseling Career?
Discover the range of master’s, doctoral, and certificate programs GW’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) offers to aspiring professional counselors. We offer comprehensive training in clinical mental health, school, and rehabilitation counseling. Our students receive attentive supervision, reflective guidance, and opportunities to enhance their skills in evidence-based counseling approaches.
Our Commitment to Antiracism
The George Washington University and its Counseling and Human Development (CHD) program, including the Community Counseling Services Center, are dedicated to anti-racist and anti-oppressive praxis, as outlined below. Our goal is to disrupt and dismantle institutional racism and oppression within our department, university, and the counseling profession. We strive to challenge racial power imbalances and hold all members of the CHD community accountable for advancing their anti-racism praxis.
Being anti-racist involves the internal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural commitment to confront and eliminate racism that exists in ideals and policies. In critical reflection of our individual and collective responsibilities to dismantle white supremacy and advance anti-oppressive andragogy, the CHD department is committed to anti-racist practices that:
- Address racism and discrimination directly through explicit discussion and action;
- Increase awareness of prejudice and confront its effects through the discussion of past and present racism, stereotyping and discrimination in society;
- Disrupt and dismantle the systems and structures that codify institutional racism and oppression within the department, the university, and the counseling profession;
- Disrupt and dismantle racial power inequities within the department, the university, and the counseling profession;
- Deeply challenge and hold all members of the CHD community accountable to advance their own anti-racism praxis; and
- Ensure the content and delivery of the curricula reflects this focus.
The CCSC does not provide emergency services. We do not have an on-call counselor, and we do not provide walk-in sessions.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call or text 988, go to the nearest emergency department, or visit Talk To Someone Now - 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (988lifeline.org)