When she started graduate school, Maureen Keeshin, Psy.D., department chair of The Chicago School’s Counseling Psychology program, didn’t see herself going into academia. But when she joined The Chicago School, she knew she had discovered a special opportunity to make a lasting impact with students.
“I found that the way I worked with students mirrored how I work with my clients,” Dr. Keeshin says. “It was a great connection to be able to be able to train and educate students to go on and help in their communities.”
Dr. Keeshin wants students to understand the communities around them so they can make long-term impacts for their patients after they graduate. Issues facing these communities became more prominent than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that refocused the department’s commitment to its ideals.
“We saw the disparities with underserved communities in terms of access to health care and treatment,” Dr. Keeshin says. “It’s not like the disparities were a new thing. They have always existed within our society. It’s important that our program is focused beyond individual-level impact, really looking at how students can break down barriers to create larger change.”
Since the pandemic shone a light on social inequalities in health care, the Counseling Department has emphasized more sustained, systemic support for the communities that need it most, Dr. Keeshin says.
“We encourage students to be involved at a larger systemic level because we know that the challenges facing these communities are larger and more pervasive,” Dr. Keeshin says. “We train students to be able to look not just at the person with their respective symptoms but also understand the context in which those symptoms are occurring. This way, they can provide the type of integrated, culturally responsive, competent care that we champion here at The Chicago School.”
Dr. Keeshin exposes students to local communities so they can experience real-life dynamics that will make them better counselors in the future. For example, students can partner with organizations such as Brown Books & Paintbrushes, which provides books and other opportunities for young people on the South Side of Chicago.
There are more than 20 years of graduates from the Counseling Psychology program, and Dr. Keeshin is grateful for the chance to follow students’ successes in bringing the program’s lessons to communities across the U.S.
Says Dr. Keeshin, “It’s been phenomenal to see so many graduates from our program are now serving as clinical supervisors at our internship training sites and are passing on their knowledge and expertise to the next generation of future practitioners.”