The West Virginia University Carruth Center for Psychological and Psychiatric Services has been accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services.
The Carruth Center, which is part of WELLWVU, was evaluated by IACS against high standards of counseling practice and was found to offer competent and reliable professional services to its clientele.
“James Carruth and Phil Comer set the foundation of the Carruth Center over 45 years ago, and it has always maintained student-centered and professional mental health services that are accessible to a diverse population,” said Cathy Yura, assistant vice president of WELLWVU. “Because of our ever-changing student body and the growing intensity of mental health concerns, the Carruth Center has evolved into a multi-function mental health service that meets the complex needs of students today.”
WVU will benefit from being the first accredited counseling center in West Virginia, which attests to the high quality services being provided to students.
WVU is one of 192 universities in the world to be accredited by the IACS.
“It is clear that the Carruth Center offers an effective and comprehensive program of services, making a vital contribution to the quality of student and campus life,” said William Burns, chair of the IACS University and College Board of Accreditation.
Burns said that the board recognized the Carruth Center’s “positive reputation, collegial working relationships with stakeholders, the American Psychological Association accredited training site and the strong leadership offered by the director” as assets to providing quality care to the campus and its students.
“Accreditation benefits our WVU students and the University community by ensuring that our counseling, psychiatry, crisis and outreach services meet or exceed the latest standards of care,” said Al Kasprowicz, director of the Carruth Center. “It helps to shape and encourage further growth and development in our staff and programming to meet the ever-changing needs of our student clients.
“Accreditation serves as a public declaration of the University’s commitment to the maintenance of resources and support dedicated to serving the health and wellness needs of WVU students.”
Approval by IACS is also dependent upon evidence of continuing professional development as well as demonstration of excellence of counseling performance.
IACS, based in Alexandria, Va., was established in 1972 to encourage and aid counseling agencies to meet high professional standards through peer evaluation and to inform the public about counseling services that are competent and reliable.
WELLWVU’s Carruth Center for Psychological and Psychiatric Services is one of the three departments within WELLWVU, which is a unit of WVU’s Division of Student Affairs offering individual and group counseling, consultation, crisis intervention, outreach, learning disability/ADHD assessment, psychiatric consultation and prescription medication management to students.
