Profile: Steph Wong
Steph Wong, assistant director of counseling services in the Wellness Center, plays a critical role in supporting students’ mental health and well-being. In her position, Wong combines her expertise as a licensed mental health counselor with significant administrative and outreach responsibilities, ensuring that students have access to the resources they need to succeed.
As a clinician, Wong provides therapy sessions within a brief treatment model, a structured approach designed to address specific concerns. Brief therapy is a short-term model of psychotherapy; this modality is solution-focused and emphasizes building a collaborative therapeutic relationship to identify effective interventions and solutions to address the client’s presenting concern. Additionally, Wong supports crisis management through Counseling Services’ Urgent Care program, helping students in immediate distress and assisting with connecting students to off-campus resources when needed.
Her favorite part of the job is working directly with students, guiding them through challenges and helping them achieve personal growth. Wong also supervises a graduate-level trainee, offering mentorship in clinical practice, professional development, and administrative tasks, which she finds highly rewarding as she helps emerging therapists build confidence and skills.
Wong’s administrative responsibilities are integral to the smooth functioning of Counseling Services. She assists with managing office flow, ensures that staff and clients have the necessary resources, organizes and facilitates staff meetings, and prepares meeting agendas. She is also involved in cross-departmental meetings and provides clinical consultation to staff, supporting them in their work with students. These responsibilities ensure the team runs efficiently and remains aligned in its mission to provide effective mental health services.
Beyond her clinical and administrative duties, Wong plays a key role in outreach programming for the Emerson community. She leads training sessions for Resident Assistants (RAs); facilitates Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) suicide prevention workshops; and co-organizes the annual spring Sexual Health Fair. These initiatives are aimed at educating students, faculty, and staff, providing them with knowledge and resources to support mental health and wellness.
Wong works closely with departments such as Student Care and Support, Student Accessibility Services, and colleagues in the Wellness Center to ensure a holistic approach to student support. Additionally, she and her Counseling Services team collaborate with hospitals to support students during hospitalization. With the student’s permission, the team can communicate with hospital staff to check in on how the student is doing, connect them with on-campus support and resources, and contribute to post-hospitalization care plans as the student prepares to return to campus.
Before joining Emerson full-time in 2021, Wong gained extensive experience in forensic and correctional counseling through roles at the Massachusetts Department of Correction and the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office. She holds a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from William James College, with a concentration in forensic and correctional counseling, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Outside of her professional life, Wong enjoys spending time with her rescue dog, Ellie, a German Shepherd mix. She finds balance through hobbies like gardening, thrifting, building Lego sets, and attending live music shows. A lifelong resident of Boston, Wong is proud to contribute to the Emerson community and finds deep fulfillment in supporting students as they navigate their college experience. She describes her work as incredibly rewarding, especially the opportunity to collaborate with students and colleagues who share a commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment.
Bhavana Rao, MA ’25