MASC/MASS 2016: Speakers - Dr. Nick Covino

Dr. Nicholas Covino, the president of William James College, is a practicing psychologist who, before his current position, was the Director of Psychology and Director of Training at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston for 20 years. He is past-President of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, a member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and a former faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

His clinical career has been devoted to caring for the psychological needs of medical patients and engaging in long-term psychotherapy with adults. His research interests have mirrored his clinical work and he is the author of 28 journal articles and book chapters in behavioral medicine and psychotherapy. Trained in behavioral medicine and in psychoanalysis, Covino's work at William James College is the latest chapter in this career. Since becoming president in 2002, he has led the school in new directions, while maintaining its underlying mission and values, which are focused on serving the underserved and meeting the needs of a changing society. In the eleven years since he took office, the school has grown from a single-degree institution to one that now grants 12 separate master's and doctoral degrees.

His commitment to training professionals who can help the most vulnerable in our society has given rise to such programs as the school's Lucero Latino mental health program and a new academic track for children and families called Children and Families of Adversity and Resilience.

In recent years, the need for more mental health professionals who understand the traumas faced by veterans of current wars has shaped the school's mission to become a center of excellence for the training of veterans and others who want to help that population heal from the invisible wounds of war. Collaborating with student and faculty veterans and other veterans, Covino has helped to create the Train Vets to Treat Vets Program, which has received funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the past two years, and a new soon-to-be-launched military curriculum.

Dr. Covino was also among a select group of alumni to receive the University of Denver’s 2010 Alumni Masters Scholars Award in April, 2010.