This morning, Bwog received notice from Columbia Psychological Services that they will be expanding their office space and staff for the coming academic year. Changes to CPS include hiring 6 new clinicians, including a psychiatrist. This staff addition will hopefully reduce the wait time most students experienced in past years when trying to schedule an appointment with CPS. The announcement adds CPS will continue to be able to address various mental health concerns with its “broad and diverse team.”

The new staff will be housed on the 5th floor of Lerner. CPS hopes this location will be more central to campus and accessible to all students. The office space will take over the previous location of Alice!, which will be moved to John Jay to be closer to health services. Bios on the new physicians will be added to the CPS directory as soon as they are hired.

You can find the full statement from CPS below.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS), part of Columbia Health, is adding significant clinical staff and space to its operations in preparation for the 2015/16 Academic Year.

In response to growing and evolving student needs, CPS will hire 6 new clinicians, including 1 psychiatrist. Operationally, the addition of staff will help CPS to meet demand, reduce appointment wait times, and offer enhanced or new support groups during the year.

New staff will also contribute their professional and personal experience to the already broad and diverse team of clinicians within the organization. All staff hired by CPS must be fully qualified to address the full range of concerns students bring to counseling. New team members will be equipped to focus on critical support areas in which the current CPS staff already provides support, such as general anxiety and depression, trauma, identity concerns, as well as the concerns of first-generation college students.

In order to immediately accommodate space needed for new staff, CPS will add offices on the 5th floor of Lerner Hall, where the Alice! Health Promotion and Insurance and Immunization Compliance offices were previously located. This expansion to the 5th floor will allow CPS services to be situated in one central location, close to other key student-facing offices and resources in Lerner. As part of a larger move within Columbia Health following summer renovations, the Alice! and I&I offices will relocate to John Jay Hall in time for the new academic year, better aligning them with Medical Services and streamlining student utilization.

Dr. Richard Eichler (CC ’76), Executive Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, noted that “As an organization, we take seriously our responsibility to support the well-being of the student community through periods of challenges and growth while at Columbia. These additions in CPS will make a strong service that much more accessible and responsive to the needs of our outstanding student body. ”

More information about CPS offerings can be found on the Health website. A staff directory with bios and clinical interest areas is also available online. New staff will be posted to the directory as they onboard with the CPS team.

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