The University of California counseling psychologists are calling for wage increases, claiming low pay drives many of them to leave their positions and the students who depend on their services.
UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services provides on-campus mental health and wellness services in the form of individual and group therapy, among other programs. CAPS has lost an average of one therapist per month at UCLA since 2016, said Jamie McDole, vice president of the University Professional and Technical Employees, the union that represents UC counseling psychologists.
McDole said counseling psychologists first became unionized and represented by UPTE in January in order to enter an official contract. Counseling psychologists began negotiations with the UC in March, but have so far been unable to reach an agreement regarding wage increases, she said.
“(The UC) is still proposing wage scales significantly below market, and they’re not at this point willing to move (their current ranges),” she said. “The UC administration doesn’t want to recognize underpay as an issue.”
McDole said she thinks low wages impact a school’s ability to hire and retain clinicians with significant counseling experience. As of 2016, the average salary for counseling psychologists at UCLA is about $69,300 compared to the national average of $72,500 for psychologists working in educational support settings, according to the Department of Labor Bureau’s of Labor Statistics...
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