Jul 1, 2026
VCU helps build a new model for mental health care in Ethiopia
VCU’s nationally recognized Department of Rehabilitation Counseling is helping colleagues at Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia establish a master’s-level clinical psychology program. With a focus on expanding access to trauma-informed mental health services in underserved communities, the program will integrate hands-on clinical experience as a new training approach.
“This is an opportunity to serve globally while creating meaningful learning opportunities for our faculty and students,” said Waganesh Zeleke, Ph.D., associate professor of rehabilitation counseling.
The partnership emerged from relationships Zeleke built during a 2023 Fulbright experience in her native country of Ethiopia. Outside her front-line community-based action research, she delivered presentations on intergenerational trauma at several universities, including BDU. The conversations revealed a significant challenge in preparing future mental health providers in the region.
In general, these graduate programs – often titled as clinical psychology – in Ethiopia focus heavily on theory and research. Students often graduate with little practical experience providing counseling or psychotherapy in community settings.
“There is a huge need for community-based mental health intervention,” Zeleke said. “Students don't have structured opportunities for practicum, internship or supervised clinical training.”
That gap has become increasingly important as communities continue to cope with the effects of conflict and trauma.
For Bahir Dar University, the need extends well beyond academics. Leaders say communities across the region continue to grapple with the psychological impacts of prolonged conflict and displacement, while access to trained mental health professionals remains extremely limited.
“The university is located in a region affected by war and ongoing conflict,” Zeleke said. “Leaders in that area recognized the need for counseling professionals who can work directly with community members.”
Building something different
Scheduled to enroll its first students as early as this fall, the BDU master's program aims to prepare graduates to deliver counseling and mental health services in schools, community organizations, hospitals, and other local settings. The university approached VCU for guidance in designing a curriculum that combines academic rigor with hands-on clinical preparation, with Rehabilitation Counseling offering insights that reflect components of what are known as clinical mental health counseling programs in this country.
Over the past several months, faculty from both institutions have collaborated on curriculum development, clinical supervision models, field placement structures, and competency standards. VCU faculty have provided recommendations on everything from course sequencing to practicum requirements and trauma-responsive counseling practices.
Jared Schultz, Ph.D., chair of Rehabilitation Counseling, said one of the department’s most significant contributions involves helping create systems that support community-based clinical training.
“In the United States, we take practicum placements, internships and clinical supervision for granted,” Schultz said. “Those structures are foundational to how we train counselors. Part of what we're helping BDU do is build those systems so students can develop the skills they need while serving their communities.”
In addition to curriculum design, the VCU team is helping identify standards for supervision, evaluation and community partnerships that can support the BDU program's long-term success.
At BDU, the effort is co-led by Meseret Ayaklew Dejenie, Ph.D., and Asnakew Tagel Gared, Ph.D., both assistant professors of psychology. The project is supported by Manendante Mulugeta, Ph.D, BDU’s director of external relations and partnership.
“Following years of crisis, the need for psychotherapy, psychosocial support and rehabilitation services has increased dramatically,” Dejenie said. “We needed a partner who could help us build a program that prepares professionals to serve as therapists and support the recovery of our communities.”
The partnership with VCU is helping Bahir Dar University develop the supervision models, internship experiences and clinical training needed to prepare graduates to assess, diagnose and provide psychotherapy in community settings.
“The problem is not theoretical,” he said. “The problem is practical. Our graduates need the skills and supervised experience to provide therapy based on each client's needs.”
A partnership built on mutual learning
Although the immediate goal is helping launch the new program, VCU leaders view the relationship as the beginning of a broader collaboration. Future possibilities include collaborative research projects, faculty exchanges, joint scholarship initiatives and study-abroad opportunities for VCU students.
“We want our students to see how mental health care and mental health related stress are addressed across different cultures and contexts,” Zeleke said. “That experience fosters curiosity, creativity and a broader understanding of how counseling can meet people's needs.”
The partnership also creates opportunities for VCU faculty to expand the reach of their expertise while contributing to solutions for global health challenges.
"Our goal is not only to help build a high-quality mental health intervention program," Zeleke said. "It's also to create opportunities for our faculty to internationalize their expertise and service."
Expanding VCU's global impact
Later this year, the Ethiopia initiative is expected to become part of a larger VCU Health Sciences effort focused on East Africa. Faculty from Rehabilitation Counseling and Nurse Anesthesia, both housed in the College of Health Professions, and the School of Public Health are exploring opportunities to support workforce development and academic capacity-building across the region.
Zeleke and Schultz recently returned from a week in Ethiopia, where they also met with teams from the University of Gondar and Addis Ababa University. Conversations focused on creating systems for clinical competency, standards, practicum/internship placements in community and agency settings, and clinical supervision. In 2023, Zeleke completed her Fulbright Fellowship at those two institutions, where she also taught and contributed to curriculum development for their Ph.D. programs in clinical psychology and counseling psychology.
The BDU collaboration is expected to continue well beyond the program's launch. As faculty members train supervisors, help establish internship sites and refine clinical education models, both universities envision a long-term relationship that includes research, shared teaching and continued capacity-building.
For Schultz, the work reflects a natural extension of what has made VCU’s Rehabilitation Counseling program successful for decades.
“Our department has always believed that the best training happens when education is connected to real community needs,” he said. “Whether that community is in Richmond or halfway around the world, the principle is the same.”