Community Counseling Services Center (CCSC)

The Graduate School of Education and Human Development maintains two centers providing Community Counseling Services that offer confidential, low-cost services to community members and students in the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The centers are clinical training facilities for graduate-level students, working under faculty supervision. Both the Foggy Bottom and Alexandria centers offer confidential, low-cost services to community members and students in the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, including:

Individual counseling
Family and couples counseling
Child and adolescent counseling
Career assessment services
Consultation and referrals

The CCSC at the Alexandria Graduate Education Center is staffed by master’s students specializing in school counseling, offering counseling sessions Monday through Saturday.

The CCSC in Foggy Bottom is staffed by students working toward master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical mental health and master’s degrees in rehabilitation counseling, offering counseling sessions Monday through Thursday.

For Mental Health EMERGENCIES:

National Hopeline Network – 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) or go to your nearest emergency room.

Mission

The GW Community Counseling Services Center has two primary missions:

To provide quality counseling services to clients.
To promote excellence in the training of master’s and doctoral students through state-of-the-art clinical supervision.

The CCSC serves as a resource to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area by providing low-cost counseling and referral services, clinical screenings, and outreach programming. It empower clients through community outreach and client advocacy while providing opportunities for master’s students to implement and develop expertise in counseling competencies—including interviewing skills, clinical and career assessment, treatment planning, and mastery of theories and practice—under the close supervision of faculty and clinical supervisors.

The CCSC welcomes referrals from school counselors, mental health and employee assistance counselors, private practitioners, and other human service professionals.

Alexandria Location

Mission and Objectives

The GW Community Services Center has two primary missions: to provide quality counseling services to clients and to promote excellence in the training of master's and doctoral students through state-of-the-art clinical supervision. The CCSC at the Alexandria location serves as a resource to Virginia residents by providing low-cost counseling and referral services, clinical screenings, and outreach programming. It empowers clients through community outreach and client advocacy while providing opportunities for master's students to implement and develop expertise in counseling competencies--including interviewing skills, clinical, and career assessment, treatment planning, and mastery of theories and practice--under close supervision of faculty and clinical supervisors. We welcome referrals from school counselors, mental health and employee assistance counselors, private practitioners, and other human service professionals.

Alexandria Graduate Education Center

1925 Ballenger Avenue (Garage Entrance)
413 John Carlyle Street (Street Entrance)
Suite 250
Alexandria, VA 22314

Interested individuals may call (703) 299-9148 to set up an appointment for an initial interview. Day, evening, and Saturday hours are available.

For more information contact:
Samantha Long
Clinic Director, Licensed Professional Counselor (VA)
samanthalong11@gwu.edu

Foggy Bottom Location

The mission of the Community Counseling Services Center at Foggy Bottom (CCSC-FB) is to serve the campus and the community as we train skill in antiracist, anti-oppressive counseling.

The CCSC-FB serves the local DC Metro area through affordable mental health counseling session. We offer individual therapy, couples counseling and career counseling. We offer face-to-face counseling to everyone, and teletherapy is an option for residents of the District of Columbia.

The CCSC is the training facility for the Department of Counseling and Human Development. Masters and doctoral students offer affordable, confidential, quality counseling to children, teens and adults. Our masters students have completed the bulk of their academic preparation to become counselors. Under the supervision of more experienced counselors, they are ready to begin counseling clients.

Because we are a training facility, all counseling sessions are digitally recorded so that students can review the session and receive supervision on their work. Supervisor and instructors who view these recordings are ethically obligated to protect your confidentiality.

Appointment Information

To schedule a counseling appointment:

Call us at 202-994-8645 or email us at CCSCFoggyBottom@gwu.edu

Our intake coordinator will contact you for a screening interview over the phone. During this phone call, our intake coordinator will see if we have the resources to help you, or if more specialized counseling would be more helpful. If we can’t offer you an appointment, we will provide leads on where you can look for quality, affordable mental health care. If it looks like the counseling interns at the CCSC can provide the counseling you need, the intake coordinator will give you an on-going appointment with a counseling intern.

Fees:

The CCSC uses a sliding scale, from $10.00 to $40.00 per session, to set counseling fees. We do not bill insurance and since our counseling interns are not licensed, most insurance companies would not reimburse you for counseling fees.

Location and Hours:

Our offices are located at 2134 G Street, NW Basement Level, Washington, D.C. 20052. Enter using the side-walk level, accessible entrance on the right side of the building. Our building is accessible for persons with disabilities.

We offer mid-afternoon to evening appointments Monday through Thursday from 2:30 to 8:30 pm. We offer early morning to midday counseling session on Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 am to 1:30 pm.

Parking:

Street parking may be available on G Street and 20th Street. You can pay for parking at the G Street Garage, accessible from both 20th Street and 21st Street between F and G Streets; or the University Student Center Garage, accessible from H Street between 21st and 22nd Streets. These self-service garages accept all major credit cards for payment (no cash).

Public Transportation:

Foggy Bottom (Blue, Orange, Silver Lines) is the nearest Metro station. After you exit the station, walk two blocks south, then turn left onto G Street and walk two blocks east. Metro Bus routes nearby include the 80, 30, 31 and 36.

Working with a Counseling Intern

Our mission as a training center impacts how we offer counseling services. For example:

Counseling interns work in the CCSC for two semesters.
Your counseling intern could conclude his/her/their work in the CCSC before you conclude your work with the counselor. In that case, you could work with another intern, if we have an available counselor, or we can help you find other counselors in the community.
We follow GW’s academic calendar.
That means a break of several weeks between semesters and a brief break during each semester.
We record counseling sessions.
Using video recordings allows supervisors to be sure you receive quality services and they help counseling students improve their counseling skills.
Counseling interns are supervised.
Our counseling interns are supervised by faculty members and individual supervisors.

Information for New Clients

First of all, thank you. As you pursue your goals in counseling, you are helping a student develop skills that can be learned only by practicing. This is an invaluable gift.

Your First Four Sessions

The first sessions are structured, and your Counseling Intern will explore with you the concerns or issues that bring you to counseling to determine how they can help you resolve them. However, in the first sessions, if it becomes apparent at the CCSC is not the place that can really help you, your counseling intern will explain this, and will help you find another mental health services provider that can offer you the right services.

Additional Resources

For Anyone:

For GW Students Only:

Interested in becoming a professional counselor? Learn more about the variety of counseling programs GSEHD offers.