Virginia Commonwealth University College of Humanities and Sciences

College and campus initiatives

From campus clinics and training programs to youth centers and treatment facilities, you can join the College in its interdisciplinary approach to ensuring the well-being of the university and the community.

College initiatives

• The Center for Psychological Services and Development is a training clinic that offers clinical and counseling services to members of the local community.
• Steve Danish, professor of psychology, preventive medicine and community health, directs the Life Skills Center, which provides support for the development and evaluation of life skills training programs.
• The Family Support and Research Center works to improve the effectiveness and funding of VCU’s clinical and family research programs by identifying, pooling and coordinating resources with an emphasis or the needs of underserved populations.
• Developed by the Department of Psychology, the Center for Cultural Experiences in Prevention promotes healthy youth, families and communities by empowering people to make positive choices in the areas of sex and drug prevention, school and vocational success, and physical and psychological well-being.
• The VCU Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development works with a range of community partners to reduce risk for Richmond youth.

Campus initiatives

• As part of the VCU Health System, the Virginia Treatment Center for Children encourages active participation from parents in determining the treatment of their child. The center offers psychiatric services for children, adolescents and their families to improve the mental health of all Virginians through patient care, education and research.
• University Counseling Services fosters student growth, development and psychological well-being through direct clinical service, education and prevention.
• VCU’s Department of Psychiatry takes each patient’s unique situation into account to determine appropriate diagnoses and combination of treatments.
• VCU’s School of Social Work partners with nonprofit service agencies to develop programs, assess service delivery and provide consultation.

Academic programs

For students interested in developing the well-being of all members of the community, VCU offers the following programs of study.

Psychology

• Bachelor of Science in Psychology
• Graduate programs in clinical, counseling and health psychology

Community resources

The following local and national organizations and programs provide services that focus on the well-being of the citizens of Richmond and the U.S.

• Richmond Behavioral Health Authority
• National Alliance on Mental Illness
• Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services
• Governor’s Office of Substance Abuse Prevention
• National Institute of Mental Health

Youth opportunities

Whether you’re a VCU student looking for practical teaching experience or a member of the community in search of educational programs for your child, the College and VCU offer the following after-school and summer programs for K-12 students.

• The Virginia Governor’s Foreign Language Academies is an intensive summer language program in French, German, Japanese, Latin, Russian or Spanish.
• The School of Engineering’s Richmond Area Program for Minorities in Engineering in a local nonprofit organization that works to achieve greater diversity in science and engineering by encouraging middle and high school students to pursue these fields as a profession.
• Each spring, the VCU School of Engineering hosts a regional FIRST Robotics competition in which high school teams from Virginia, North Carolina, D.C., Maryland and West Virginia participate in a unique engineering challenge and “Battlebot-style” contest.
• Funded by the National Science Foundation, VCU’s Worlds for Information Technology and Science brings students from the Richmond area to campus to use a new interactive software program that encourages an interest in the fields of math, science, engineering and technology.
• The VCU Center on Health Disparities’ Health Careers Pipeline Programs support and encourage underrepresented students throughout the academic pipelines process, preparing K-12 students for employment in a health career at VCU.
• VCU’s Mary and Frances Youth Center Lobs and Lessons program brings children to a college campus and exposes them to a university setting, serving as an opportunity to increase their knowledge about college, education tracks and career opportunities.