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Eric Meyer, professor and director of Pitt’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program

Eric Meyer, professor and director of Pitt’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program

The School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences has a new department–our ninth! The Department of Counseling and Behavioral Health includes the existing Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, and moves from its current home under the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology. 

Dean Anthony Delitto states, “Over the past several years, mental health and substance use challenges among Americans have increased in prevalence and severity, only to be further increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We see the move to department status as further enhancing our educational efforts to improve behavioral health and better meet the needs of today’s society.” 

The department will allow the school to expand its Counseling program offerings and initiatives. “Establishing the Department of Counseling and Behavioral Health was the next logical step in the steady growth of counseling training at Pitt,” explains Eric Meyer, professor and director of the Counseling program and now chair of the new department. “Current and future students should view this change as further solidifying our school and our university’s commitment to advancing the education of the next generation of counselors.”  

Specific areas of growth will include an increased emphasis on clinical research and interprofessional education, the provision of more opportunities for specialized training experiences through training grants, and the expansion of training programs into additional subfields of the counseling profession.  

Since the Counseling program’s inception in 2000, it has experienced significant growth in research, scholarly activity and its number of faculty and students. In just the past five years, Counseling faculty have received 23 research grants. The program curriculum has also expanded and evolved, and just this fall the program was named Best in State, signifying its ranking and reputation, which will continue to grow as a department. In response to changes mandated by its accrediting body (CACREP), the program recently pivoted from its dual accreditation status as a Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling program to becoming a Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Faculty have used this opportunity to enhance the program by allowing more room in the curriculum for elective courses and thus a more personalized experience for the student. Expanding into additional counseling subfields is likely going forward. 

“The support signified by this change to department status emboldens us to pursue opportunities to grow and to innovate, to build on our historical successes in new and exciting ways,” states Meyer.

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Published April 10, 2023