Job Description:

The Counseling Specialist coordinates and promotes services available to assist all KansasCOM enrolled students in areas of academic and emotional development. This position identifies and addresses key challenges, provides one-on-one counseling to students, and makes appropriate referrals, as necessary. The Counseling Specialist is a key advisor to the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and the Senior Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Services, and other executives/administrators, on student issues, at-risk students, and the development of services to assist students in meeting their academic and professional goals.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provides necessary psychotherapy/counseling services to the students of KansasCOM.
  • Ensures that students are receiving psychotherapy/counseling and guidance while enrolled at KansasCOM, both during business hours and after-hours in emergency situations.
  • Meets highest standard of overall wellness in students by developing and establishing programs and workshops which enhance the overall health and wellness of students.
• Provides crisis intervention, management, and development of the mental health crisis management plan for KansasCOM.
• Consults with the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and the Senior Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Services, and other appropriate staff, on student emergency situations in which a genuine danger of imminent harm exists, and/or the danger of serious campus community disruption exists.
• Ensures that students are taught stress-relieving mechanisms including test anxiety and medical/graduate school coping tools.
• Prepares and provides support systems and services that assist with a students’ transition into a highly demanding and competitive medical school environment. 
• Designs and implements an annual audit of all counseling services.
• Implements all annual assessment procedures for counseling services. 
• Participates, consults with, and provides support for a variety of KansasCOM committees. 
• Adheres to and exceeds all “Ethical Principles for Psychologists” (or other relevant counseling or social work ethical guidelines) as Kansas state law, governing psychologists, requires.
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Essential Functions/Key Competencies:

• Effectively presents information to educational groups, organizations, staff, students and administration, both verbally and in written form.
• Applies principles of logical and behavioral thinking to a wide range of intellectual and practical problems.
• Responds to nonverbal symbolism and a wide variety of abstract and concrete variables.
• Establishes regular office hours and makes provisions to offer academic, confidential and personal counseling services to all students either by appointment or on a walk-in basis when possible.
• Provides individual or group counseling to students and provides crisis intervention as necessary.
• Refers students for other professional help when indicated and monitors the student throughout the recommended treatment process.
• Attends meetings of pertinent professional groups and related organizational meetings and conferences.
• Performs other job-related duties and special projects as required.

Position Requirements:

• Demonstrated success in providing counseling in the following areas: academic, learning challenges, stress-related disorders, substance abuse, and career anxiety.
• Must have or be able to obtain licensure within the State of Kansas.
• Experience in a medical school counseling center or a comparable mental health setting preferred.

Education and Background:

Master’s Degree in Counselor Education, Social Work, Psychology or related field required, Ph.D. or Psy.D. preferred.

Physical Requirements:

• Physical dexterity sufficient to use hands, arms, and shoulders repetitively to operate a keyboard and other office equipment, use a telephone, access file cabinets and other items stored at various levels, including overhead.
• Ability to speak and hear well enough to communicate clearly and understandably with sufficient volume to ensure an accurate exchange of information in normal conversational distance, over the telephone, and in a group setting.
• Ability to continuously operate a personal computer for extended periods of time (4 or more hours).
• Mental acuity sufficient to collect and interpret data, evaluate, reason, define problems, establish facts, draw valid conclusions, make valid judgments and decisions.

The essential physical and mental requirements described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Kansas Health Science University offers a generous compensation and benefits package, as well as the opportunity to work for a leader in the field of education. Some of our key benefits include: generous paid time-off, medical and dental coverage, company-paid life and disability insurance, retirement plan with employer contribution, multiple flexible spending accounts (FSA), tuition reimbursement, professional development, and regular employee appreciation events.

Kansas Health Science University is an Equal Opportunity Employer.