{"id":2178,"date":"2014-04-30T14:55:19","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T18:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=2178"},"modified":"2016-01-20T09:30:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T14:30:47","slug":"bridgewater-colleges-counseling-department-staffed-by-emu-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2014\/04\/30\/bridgewater-colleges-counseling-department-staffed-by-emu-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridgewater College’s counseling department staffed by EMU graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Randy

Randy Hook \u201995 directs the counseling services of Bridgewater College. (Photo by Jon Styer)<\/p><\/div>\n

Every March, more than 800 students from the four local colleges, wearing t-shirts in their school colors, converge on downtown Harrisonburg to raise awareness about suicide prevention. Walk For Hope is just one of the community events that\u00a0Randall \u201cRandy\u201d Hook \u201995<\/strong>, MSW, is involved with as director of counseling services at Bridgewater College. Working under him are\u00a0Amy Ghaemmaghami, MA \u201905<\/strong> (counseling), LPC, and intern Michael Horst<\/strong>, currently enrolled in EMU\u2019s MA in counseling program.<\/p>\n

A college with a counseling department staffed completely by graduates of a neighboring university is, it\u2019s probably safe to say, quite rare. Granted, we are talking a staff of three, which lengthens the odds. And maybe the shared Anabaptist roots of EMU and Bridgewater College have something to do with it. Or maybe it\u2019s just opportunity and calling. Ghaemmaghami arrived at Bridgewater in 2009.\u00a0Hook joined the counseling department in 2010, having previously worked as coordinator of the partial hospitalization program at Rockingham Memorial Hospital and executive director of The Center for Marriage and Family Counseling, a local nonprofit agency.<\/p>\n

Though their primary responsibility is the psychological care of students through counseling, Hook and his staff also provide outreach and education through student life and wellness programs. Focusing on prevention and intervention, they consult with faculty and staff about mental health issues and provide resources to the community of approximately 1,760 students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a fun age to work with,\u201d Hook says. \u201cTheir world is just exploding, they\u2019re debunking myths and realizing myths and they\u2019re questioning belief systems and there\u2019s a lot of these existential questions and issues of faith and healing. I feel privileged to be a part of that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deriving energy and sustenance from diverse professional pursuits, Hook has continued counseling in private practice. With\u00a0Kristy Troyer Koser \u201907, MA \u201909\u00a0<\/strong>(counseling), he has conducted marriage seminars. Hook also teaches in EMU\u2019s master\u2019s in counseling program (he has also been an adjunct faculty member at Blue Ridge Community College, James Madison University, and Bridgewater College).<\/p>\n

Two EMU master\u2019s in counseling students have benefited from an intern program that Hook started at Bridgewater. Sarah Defnall \u201910, MA \u201912<\/strong> (counseling), was the first intern (she is now a residence director at Northlawn and works in career counseling). Michael Horst is currently completing the requisite 600-hour internship under Hook\u2019s supervision.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Lauren Jefferson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every March, more than 800 students from the four local colleges, wearing t-shirts in their school colors, converge on downtown Harrisonburg to raise awareness about suicide prevention. Walk For Hope is just one of the community events that\u00a0Randall \u201cRandy\u201d Hook \u201995, MSW, is involved with as director of counseling services at Bridgewater College. Working under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":2179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,411],"tags":[880,878,879,128],"class_list":["post-2178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-spring-2014","tag-center-for-marriage-and-family-counseling","tag-counseling","tag-counseling-services","tag-ma-in-counseling","issues-spring-2014"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2178"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2532,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178\/revisions\/2532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}