Counseling Skills Lab

Real-world learning without leaving campus

GMercyU’s new Counseling Skills Lab offers students the unique opportunity to engage with simulated clients and patients in a realistic environment before entering a real-world practice setting.

Housed in Maguire Hall — in the future Frances Cannata Stimmler ’66 and Joseph Stimmler Center for Wellness and Innovation — the lab is used by our undergraduate Social Work and Psychology students, as well as GMercyU’s graduate Counseling students who spend a three-day weekend residency on campus.

The Counseling Skills Lab features:

• A small, private space styled like a licensed counselor’s office with comfortable seating
• A play therapy room stocked with the appropriate toys and accessories
• A larger room arranged like a professional group therapy space
• An apartment-style setting for simulated in-home assessments
• An alternative therapies room for interventions such as yoga and sensory integration
• An observation/debriefing room to provide feedback and build confidence

The spaces are outfitted with 360-degree technology to allow students to record their simulations so they can review later and offer each other feedback.

Simulated practice sessions in the lab allow students to develop and apply interviewing, assessment, counseling, and case management skills in realistic settings, helping to build confidence and providing opportunities to receive feedback. These experiences help ensure that students feel competent and confident as they enter their professional careers.

—Janice Nuss, DSW, LCSW, Social Work Program Director