The Counseling Center is staffed by three full-time, licensed mental health professionals, seven part-time doctoral practicum therapists, a part-time administrative assistant, and a part-time psychiatric nurse practitioner.
Please note: email is not a secure method of communication and confidentiality cannot be ensured. If you are in a mental health emergency during standard hours of operation (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.), contact the Counseling Center at 502.272.8480 or Campus Safety at 502.272.7777. If you should experience a mental health emergency after normal office hours or during the weekend, contact Campus Security at 502.272.7777. Campus Security will notify one of our counselors who can assist with the situation. You may also contact the Seven Counties Crisis Line at 502.589.4313 or call 911.
Gary Petiprin, Ph.D., Director
Gary (email) is a licensed psychologist with more than 20 years of professional experience working in college and university
counseling centers. He received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology
in 1993 from Indiana State University and his bachelors degree in
Psychology and masters degree in Community Counseling at Oklahoma State
University. He has worked at the University of Louisville Counseling
Center as a staff psychologist and served as the Counseling Center
Director at East Tennessee State University (1998-2004) and Hanover
College (2004-2007). His areas of interest include gender issues;
multicultural and LGBT issues; substance abuse; sexual assault and
suicide prevention.
Melissa Gibson, Psy.D., Assistant Director
Melissa (email) is a licensed psychologist and focuses on adolescent and young adult populations. She is a graduate of Spalding University’s doctoral program in clinical psychology. She completed her doctoral internship at Southern Illinois University Counseling and Psychological Services in Carbondale, Illinois. She began working at the Bellarmine University Counseling Center in the summer of 2016. Melissa works with clients presenting with a variety of concerns in individual therapy and co-leads the Coping Skills group. In addition to therapeutic work with Bellarmine students, she coordinates the doctoral training program and provides supervision to doctoral practicum therapists at the Counseling Center.
Whitney Irwin Sims, Staff Psychologist
Whitney (email) is a temporary licensed psychologist who graduated from Spalding University’s doctoral program in clinical psychology in 2017. She completed her doctoral internship at Miami University Student Counseling Services in Oxford, Ohio, and was a post-doctoral clinical psychology fellow at Bellarmine Counseling Center last year before becoming a staff psychologist at the beginning of this academic year. Whitney works with students who present with a variety of concerns, although her specialized treatment areas focus more on trauma and PTSD, sexual assault/abuse, relationship issues, and family conflict. She performs both individual and group therapy, and provides supervision to doctoral practicum therapists at the Counseling Center.
Bellarmine University Counseling Center provides training to psychology doctoral graduate students and a post-doctoral fellow. The graduate students are obtaining their doctorates in clinical and counseling psychology from Spalding University and the University of Louisville. The post-doctoral fellow has obtained their doctorate in clinical or counseling psychology and is completing a final year of specialized training before obtaining their independent license as a psychologist. Practicum and post-doctoral therapists are supervised by the Counseling Center licensed staff members.
Practicum and post-doctoral therapists serve the Bellarmine University campus community by providing individual and group therapeutic services, psychological assessments, liaison relationships to campus organizations, and general outreach programming. We are pleased to have the following seven practicum therapist joining the Counseling Center for the 2018-2019 academic year:
Practicum Therapists
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Kelsey Boyea, M.A. (email)
- Kimberly Janiszewshi, B.S. (email)
- Luke Huckaby, M.Ed. (email)
- Maral Safavi, M.A. (email)
- Melissa Steinkamp M.A. (email)
- Mike Hart, M.S. (email)
- Shruti Shastri, M.Sc. (email)