Timely Counseling News

Welcome Cheri Greenfield to the Counseling Programs!

Cheri Greenfield, M.A., Ed.S. is serving as interim professor for the Graduate Psychology department this year. She is a 2015 graduate of James Madison University and a Licensed Professional Counselor. Cheri owns Rooted Therapy Practice in downtown Harrisonburg, and she has taught and facilitated groups and seminars for James Madison University since 2016. She works extensively with growth mindset and removing barriers to healing, with research and experience in eating disorder recovery. Cheri is also an artist with work featured in several downtown spaces and galleries.

Welcome New Cohorts!

Clinical Mental Health Counseling (M.A./Ed.S.)

Teresa Andrews
Viraaj Bali
Sarah Corder
Natalie Gonzalez
Takelia Jones
Camille Martin
Daniel Minnigh
Kayla Poore
Jessica Tocci

School Counseling (M.Ed./Ed.S.)

Leah Arrington
Mariah Cain
Corinne Hedrick
Allyson Hiner
Lamont Leigh
Lauren Walker
Anna Williams

Counseling and Supervision (Ph.D.)

Shawna Anderson
Alexis Cogley
Rebecca DeMello
Matthew Ercolani
Akira Goden
Daniel Miles
Alexis Ogren
Ashley Sahai
Kendra Speicher

Upcoming Program Info Sessions

If you’re curious about what you can do with a master’s degree in either Clinical Mental Health Counseling or School Counseling, or a doctorate in Counseling and Supervision - and would like to better understand the academic rigor and application requirements associated with each – these sessions sponsored by JMU’s The Graduate School are hosted by the program directors and are an excellent source of information. Register today!

Alum Spotlight

We to shine a light on our recent alumni. In this edition we feature the academic and professional path of CMHC alum Caylyn Arbogast (article courtesy of The Northern Virginia Daily)!

Caylyn Arbogast loves her job.

And the work Arbogast, 36, does, as a clinical mental health therapist with an office in Luray, is needed. 

Arbogast, who is originally from the Lynchburg area, now lives in New Market. She started working in Luray as a graduate student at James Madison University and knew she wanted to continue serving patients in Luray. 

Arbogast has double degrees from JMU, earning an undergraduate degree in psychology in 2012 and then returning to pursue a master’s degree in the school’s clinical mental health program in 2023. 

After Arbogast graduated from college, she didn’t immediately return to graduate school. Instead, she moved to Texas. Although she had always intended to go to graduate school for clinical mental health counseling, she took a bit of a detour and got involved in property management, working in that field for about 10 years. 

That detour did teach her some valuable lessons. 

“In that experience, I realized how much I really love running a business,” she said. But the business she wanted to run wasn’t in property management. 

“I just always wanted to be a therapist and work in mental health, so finally I quit my job in corporate America," she said. 

From there, she earned her Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP) certification and worked as a therapeutic day treatment therapist at Linville-Edom Elementary School. 

She said that working in that program “was one of the best experiences of my life.” 

Through that program, she discovered one of her passions — integrating mental health into systems. 

However, after Medicaid defunded the program she worked in and she lost her job, she realized she still wanted to work in the mental health field and applied to JMU’s master’s program. 

“Once Medicaid defunded that program, it put a lot of children and a lot of families in need of services,” she said. “And those services helped them in the academic setting. It helped them socially. There was a huge loss of services in the school system for the kids who need it the most, and it was heartbreaking.” 

The kids that she worked with needed behavioral assistance, Arbogast said. Examples of the types of students she worked with were students with oppositional defiance disorder, PTSD, complex PTSD, ADHD, depression and anxiety. 

She’s still passionate about integrating services into systems, and she still does that work. 

After Arbogast lost her job as a day therapist, she gained additional experience working with patients in need by serving as a safety partner at Sentara RMH.

“While people were in a mental health crisis, I sat with them in the emergency department to make sure that they didn’t harm themselves,” she said. 

Arbogast said she did that off and on throughout graduate school. She also loved that work, but when COVID hit, she said it changed the nature of the job, and, due to a staffing shortage, her job shifted from people who had mental health crises to sitting with people who had COVID. 

“Because their families weren’t there, a lot of my job was to be with them,” she said. “I watched a lot of people pass away.” 

She still gets emotional when she talks about that experience. 

“I had to hold the phone up to the patients and the iPad up to the patient’s ear or have them on screen, so their families could also say their last goodbyes to them," she said. 

One of the things she took away from that experience was an interest in grief processing. 

Eventually, Arbogast said she switched to working in telemonitoring. 

“It also really expanded my knowledge about physical health, too, and how that impacts the body and ultimately your mental health,” he said. 

During COVID, one of the things that inspired her was “the teamwork, the exhaustion, but the continued passion that the staff had for the patients at the hospital, even though it was a crazy time, just made me so grateful. It just really made me realize that through such tragedy, people can still come together and still give really good quality care through the toughest times.” 

While in school, Arbogast, who paid for graduate school herself, worked three jobs. Another job she had while she was a student was working as a crisis clinician. 

Then and now, one thing Arbogast knew was that she wanted to serve rural communities, like the one she now serves in Page and Shenandoah counties. 

After graduation, Arbogast worked as an adult recovery court therapist in Page County for the Northwestern Community Service Board. She called the program “amazing and inspiring.” 

Arbogast explained that “people who qualify for the adult recovery program through the court get referred to [Northwestern Community Service Board’s] program in Page County.” 

Through that program, Arbogast worked with the commonwealth attorney, Judge Clark Ritchie, and defense attorneys to get “high-risk, high need” clients enrolled in programs that would help those clients get treatment for their substance abuse disorders rather than serving time in jail. 

Research such as the 2024 study, “Effectiveness of substance use disorder treatment as an alternative to imprisonment,” has shown that these programs are more effective than incarceration. 

“There have been tons of successful graduates from that program,” she said. “It’s changed their lives. It’s amazing to see that.” 

Arbogast worked in that program for about a year and a half and is passionate about the work she did there, but she also wanted to start her own business. 

She was inspired by the work of her mentor, Clinical Psychologist Timothy Schulte, who not only worked at JMU but also provided affordable mental health counseling services to Page County residents. 

Schulte has since retired from providing mental health services to Page County residents. With his exit from Page County, Arbogast knew that the demand for counseling services in the area would be high. 

“With him exiting the community,” she said, “I knew that there was going to be a huge gap to fill, and that’s when I just honestly just busted my tail to get my licensure, to get my residency done, so that way I could be able to open up my own practice and help fill the void of him leaving.” 

She hopes to carry on his legacy of providing affordable care through her own practice, Ridge & River Therapy Services, PLLC, which is why she accepts all types of insurance, including Medicaid and Medicare. 

“Affordable access to care is my whole mission,” she said.

School Counselor-in-Residence

We are thrilled to announce that we have a new School Counselor-in Residence.  Laura Ogden is currently a school counselor and will support our students and programs through mentorship, virtual site visits, and workshops.

Since graduating from JMU's Counseling Program in 2009 with an MA/EdS in Community Counseling, I have worked in community and school-based mental health services, working with youth and families, and providing administrative and clinical supervision. I also completed the coursework for the School Counseling Program at JMU and currently work as a School Counselor in a local school system. I have been teaching as an adjunct instructor in JMU's School Counseling program since Fall 2023. I am licensed in Virginia as an LPC, and through the VDOE, endorsed as a School Counselor.