Nicholas Morrison

Associate Professor of Psychology

Nicholas Morrison is the Director of the M.A. Counseling Program and an Associate Professor of Psychology at Westfield State University. Dr. Morrison graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.A. in Psychology with highest honors. His senior honors thesis qualitatively examined therapeutic alliance researchers’ perspectives on alliance-centered training practices. Subsequently, he worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator and Diagnostic Interviewer in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital before returning to UMass Amherst for graduate study. His master’s thesis expanded on his earlier research by examining the state of current alliance training practices in clinical and counseling psychology programs across the United States and Canada, and his doctoral dissertation examined the trustworthiness of consensual qualitative research (CQR) findings. Dr. Morrison completed his predoctoral clinical internship at SUNY Upstate Medical University and a postdoctoral fellowship at the VA Boston Healthcare System as a Clinical Fellow in Psychology at Harvard Medical School and Teaching Fellow in Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine. He currently strives to integrate his research, teaching, and clinical practice in his work with both undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Morrison also maintains a part-time telehealth practice for the treatment of anxiety and depression in adults.

• 2019 - 2020

• Post-doctoral Fellowship (Clinical Psychology) – VA Boston Healthcare System, Interprofessional General Mental Health Track

• Clinical Fellow in Psychology, Harvard Medical School

• Teaching Fellow in Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine

• 2012 - 2019

• Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology) – University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Doctoral Dissertation: “Consensual qualitative research: Replicability of results and social reliability of process”
  Chair: Michael J. Constantino, Ph.D.

• 2018 - 2019

• Pre-doctoral Internship (Clinical Psychology) – State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY

• 2012 - 2015

• Master of Science (Clinical Psychology) – University of Massachusetts Amherst 
  Master’s Thesis: “The state of therapeutic alliance training in clinical and counseling psychology graduate programs”
  Chair: Michael J. Constantino, Ph.D.

• 2006 - 2010

• Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Summa cum Laude – University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Honors Thesis: “The therapeutic alliance: Expert and student perspectives on current and ideal training practices”
  Chair: Michael J. Constantino, Ph.D.