Director of Counseling, Wellness and Disability Services

Position Overview:

The Director of Counseling, Wellness and Disability Services is a senior leader within the Office of Student Experience. The Director provides strategic vision, clinical leadership, and administrative oversight for Counseling and Wellness Services (CAWS), Accommodation and Disability Services, and CARE coordination processes.

Counseling and Wellness assists students in addressing personal, social, and academic challenges of the college experience and supports their success and holistic development. The department promotes students’ psychological well-being through confidential counseling, crisis response, group programming, referral services, and campus-wide prevention and outreach initiatives.

In addition, the Director leads the University’s disability access and accommodation infrastructure and serves as an integral member of the CARE case management team that ensures coordinated and appropriate institutional response to students of concern.

The Director works collaboratively with the Campus Clinic, Athletics and Physical Education, Residence Life, Academic Affairs, Operations, and other campus partners to promote an integrated model of student support.

This position requires a doctoral degree in Counseling or Clinical Psychology from an APA-accredited academic program and internship site. The Director must be a Licensed Psychologist (Ph.D. or Psy.D.), or a PhD-level licensed professional counselor or licensed clinical social worker in the United States, with demonstrated competency and experiences in providing oversight and supervision of a counseling center staff consisting of full-time and part-time counselors.

Reports to:

Dean of Student Experience

Essential Duties:

General Administration and Strategic Leadership:

• Provides vision and leadership in establishing and monitoring the scope and direction of CAWS, ensuring operations align with international standards of professional practice and ethical guidelines.
• Oversees the provision of culturally informed individual and group counseling services through training, consultation, supervision, and evaluation of CAWS clinical professionals.
• Ensures effective utilization of department resources, including counselor schedules, clinical workloads, and service demand management.
• Provides counseling services and oversees high-risk cases in coordination with relevant campus partners.
• Collaborates with campus units to establish coordinated and comprehensive wellness programs that support student emotional and psychological well-being.
• Ensures compliance with applicable regulations, professional ethics, and institutional policy regarding confidential records and documentation practices, consistent with provincial and national laws of China as well as professional ethics.
• Provides sound fiscal management of departmental budgets and establishes funding priorities.
• Provides annual reports assessing operations, service demand, outcomes, and strategic recommendations.
• Represents the University in professional networks and community partnerships related to mental health, disability access, and student well-being.

CARE Coordination and Case Management Oversight:

• Supervises the Student CARE Coordinator.
• Oversees intake, documentation, and triage processes for students reported through the CARE system.
• Ensures students receive appropriate outreach, check-ins, and reminders of support resources.
• Serves as a member of the cross-unit CARE Team.
• Ensures appropriate delegation of follow-up actions and coordinated support plans.
• Develops protocols for documentation, information-sharing, and risk management.
• Maintains appropriate communication with families consistent with privacy regulations.
• Evaluates CAWS services to inform prevention programming and resource allocation.
• Coordinates staffing of CAWS on Duty system, responding to off-hour response mental health emergencies.

Personnel Management:

• Oversees hiring, training, supervision, and evaluation of CAWS staff (four full-time counselors), the Assistant Director of Intercultural Belonging and Disability Services, and the Student CARE Coordinator.
• Plans and facilitates weekly staff meetings.
• Provides professional development opportunities and ongoing training.
• Establishes and communicates policies and procedures.
• Fosters a diverse, equitable, and culturally responsive team environment.

Clinical Services, Crisis, and Risk Response:

• Serves as a member of the Student Care Team for at-risk students.
• Provides culturally informed clinical assessments, diagnosis, crisis management, and counseling as needed.
• Shares responsibility for after-hours crisis response coverage.
• Ensures staff are trained in organized and competent crisis intervention.
• Works closely with Student Health to provide coordinated behavioral health services.
• Maintains licensure in good standing through continuing education and ethical practice.
• Oversees (with Clinic) management of University-identified insurance plans available to students, and annual insurance registration required of international students.
• Oversees required reporting and compliance with Ministry of Education (MOE) annual reporting requirements and administration of Psychological Health Survey.

Accommodation and Disability Services Leadership:

• Supervises the Assistant Director of Intercultural Belonging and Disability Services.
• Oversees committee evaluation of accommodation requests for academic accommodations and housing/room assignment needs.
• Chairs or co-chairs the Accommodations Committee to ensure appropriate cross-unit review.
• Reviews medical and psychological documentation to determine reasonable and appropriate accommodations.
• Ensures accommodations align with institutional policy and academic standards.
• Develops and maintains policies and procedures related to disability disclosure and implementation.
• Provides consultation and training to faculty and staff regarding accommodation implementation.
• Ensures consistent documentation, record security, and compliance with privacy laws.
• Monitors trends in accommodation requests and develops proactive inclusion strategies.
• Work toward achieving assigned annual objectives and KPIs, demonstrating accountability for performance and results.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
• University employees' job responsibilities will continue to expand in scope and depth as the University grows in size and complexity in its programs.

Required Qualifications:

• Doctoral degree in Counseling, Clinical Psychology, or Social Work.
• Minimum 7 years post-licensure professional clinical experience in a counseling center as a Licensed Psychologist (Ph.D. or Psy.D). Need at least 10-15 years of relevant experience in total. 
• 7–10 years progressive clinical and administrative leadership experience.
• Demonstrated experience in crisis management and university risk response systems.
• Experience supervising professional clinical staff.
• Demonstrated cultural competence working with international and Chinese student populations.
• Strong leadership, organizational, fiscal, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Native/fluent English (DKU is an English-speaking campus).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Post-licensure professional clinical experience in a university counseling center as a Licensed Psychologist (Ph.D. or Psy.D) as a director or Associate Director with demonstrated progression of administrative responsibility
• Experience overseeing or collaborating in disability accommodation processes.
• Bilingual in English and Mandarin Chinese; strong English and Chinese speaking skills in providing bilingual counseling to a student population of 70% Chinese students 30% international students from over 50 countries. 
• Demonstrated experience leading disability services and accommodation committees.
• Experience managing CARE or behavioral intervention team structures.