University Counseling Center

Photo of Sydney Greenwalt

Sydney Greenwalt

Sydney is a Post Doctoral Resident currently pursuing clinical licensure in Illinois. She obtained her Bachelors in Psychology at Coker College, her Masters in Clinical Adult Psychology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and her PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the University of Kansas.

She holds dearly the central values of counseling psychology:

  1. An emphasis on a person’s strengths and optimal functioning;
  2. A focus on the whole person, with particular emphasis on life-span development and vocational growth;
  3. A commitment to advocacy and social justice, maintaining an ongoing awareness of the importance of environmental context and culture;
  4. A concentration on brief, educational, and preventative counseling interventions; and
  5. A dedication to the scientist-practitioner model (Gelso et al., 2014, p. 7).

Clinically, Sydney has provided individual and group psychotherapy, comprehensive psychological assessment, supervision of counselors-in-training, and psychoeducational outreaches at a variety of sites (i.e., community mental health, residential treatment centers, university counseling centers). She particularly enjoys working with college students and has been serving college students as an outreach specialist and counselor since 2011.

Sydney uses Interpersonal Process in therapy to address the here and now. She values a person-centered approach that is rooted in genuineness, empathy, and unconditional positive regard. Sydney aims to create corrective emotional experiences through therapy that allows students to understand themselves in new and unexpected ways. She particularly enjoys working with students from historically marginalized backgrounds and exploring socialization processes and environmental impact in students’ resilience and adaptation. Sydney has a passion in working with students who are members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Favorite quote: "When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." - Audre Lorde