The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology was established in 1979 by practicing psychologists and educators with the goal of providing high-quality professional psychology training in a nonprofit setting. Initial plans for the school were made in 1977 and realized in January 1979 by the nonprofit Midwestern Psychology Development Foundation. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology began its first classes at temporary quarters located at 30 West Chicago Avenue before moving to the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue in 1980. In 1986 The Chicago School moved to its next location, the historic Dearborn Station in Chicago’s South Loop. In 2004, the school found a new downtown home at 325 N. Wells Street. Since its founding, the school has established a reputation as a leader in diversity and multicultural training. Classes such as Cultural Issues in Assessment and Intercultural Psychotherapy Laboratory began to appear in the school’s bulletin in the 1980s. In 1988, the school opened its first institute for diversity-related training, research, and events: the Center for Inter-Cultural Clinical Psychology. One of its original initiatives was a Cultural Impact Conference, which remains an annual fixture. The center continued to evolve and in 2005 became the Center for Multicultural and Diversity Studies. The Chicago School’s innovative approach to diversity received recognition in 1998 with an Institutional Diversity Award bestowed by the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (NCSPP). NCSPP would again honor the school in 2005 with its Advocacy Award “in recognition of its outstanding commitment to advancing the attitude, skills, and knowledge of professional advocacy and public policy.”

The school expanded to the West Coast, adding three campuses in Southern California. The first out-of-state location was opened in downtown Los Angeles in the summer of 2008.[1] The school announced a formal affiliation with the California Graduate Institute and its campuses in Westwood and Irvine in the fall of 2008.[2] Having developed from the psychoanalytically oriented clinical training at CGI, the Westwood campus maintained the psychoanalytic training model of its predecessor until it closed in the summer of 2014. CGI has now formally been incorporated into the Applied Clinical Psychology doctoral (PsyD) program where graduates obtain a specialization in psychoanalytic psychotherapy under the guidance of faculty from local psychoanalytic institutes and training clinics.[3]

Students enrolled in the inaugural 2008 clinical psychology doctoral cohort at the Los Angeles campus sued the school alleging that they were misled and deceived by the school into attending a doctoral program that was not accredited by the American Psychological Association. Students claim that they were offered admission to the Los Angeles campus after applying to the APA accredited Chicago campus doctoral program, while the school knowingly "downplayed" the fact that the Los Angeles campus had no clear path towards accreditation at the time that admission was offered.[4] Students subsequently filed a class-action lawsuit in 2014. In September 2016, the court found that students were not properly apprised as to the accreditation differences between the Chicago and the Los Angeles campus programs. The Chicago School settled the lawsuit for 11.2 million dollars.[5] The Los Angeles campus Clinical Psychology PsyD program obtained APA accreditation in 2018.

All campuses of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).[6] The School Psychology doctoral (EdS) program in Chicago, Illinois, is accredited by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The Clinical Psychology doctoral (PsyD) program in Chicago, Illinois, is accredited by the American Psychological Association until 2023.[7][8][9] The Clinical Psychology doctoral (PsyD) program in Washington, D.C., is accredited by the American Psychological Association until 2022.[6] The Clinical Psychology doctoral (PsyD) program in Los Angeles, California, is accredited by the American Psychological Association until 2028.[6]

The school is also an affiliate of the nonprofit TCS Education System (TCS ES).[10]

East Coast

• Washington, D.C. Campus: The Chicago School's East Coast campus opened in the summer of 2010 three blocks from the White House at McPherson Square.

South

• Dallas Campus The Chicago School's Dallas Campus is located at 2101 Waterview Pkwy, in Richardson, Texas. This new campus allows easier access for those who live near Dallas and the surrounding areas.
• New Orleans Campus The Chicago School at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans is located on the campus of Xavier University, a historically black college in Louisiana.

Midwest

• Chicago Campus:
  

  Downtown Chicago location
  The Chicago School’s flagship campus is located in Chicago at 325 North Wells St. Chicago, IL 60654 - in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. The building itself opened in 1914 as a Chase and Sanborn Coffee warehouse and is one of the few remaining relics on the Chicago River of the city’s industrial era. The school expanded in early 2007 with new space opening across the street in the Merchandise Mart.

West Coast

• Irvine Campus:In addition to the Los Angeles campus, The Chicago School's affiliation with CGI[2] also incorporates a campus in Irvine, California. The California Graduate Institute of The Chicago School, at Irvine, is located next to the University of California, Irvine.
• Los Angeles Campus: Located at 707 Wilshire Blvd., the L.A. Campus is located four blocks north of the Staples Center, near Pasadena, Santa Ana, and Santa Monica freeways, and one block from the 7th Street Metro Center. It occupies several floors of the Aon Building, one of the tallest buildings in downtown Los Angeles.

• Total students: more than 5,700[11]
• Average age: 33.9 years old
• Ethnicity
  • 39.8% White/Caucasian
  • 24.4% Black/African American
  • 16.3% Latino(a)/Hispanic
  • 5.8% Asian
  • 0.2% American Indian/Alaska Native
  • 0.4% Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
  • 4.6% Two or more races
  • 3.3% International
  • 5.8% Not Reported
• Gender
  • Female: 80.7%
  • Male: 19.3%
  • Non-Binary: <1%
  • Not Reported: <1% [11]

• Official website