Joseph Ramaeker, Ph.D., HSPP

Indiana license#: 20043237B

I'm originally from Phoenix, AZ but have moved around quite a bit for various pursuits. Throughout my life, I've had stops in Los Angeles, CA; Boston, MA; Denton, TX; and Ames, IA all before arriving at Notre Dame in 2017. Many of these stops have been focused on academic and/or professional opportunities. I attended Occidental College (LA) where I played baseball and received an undergraduate degree in Psychology. Shortly after my time at Oxy, I moved to Boston in order to pursue a Master's in Mental Health Counseling at Boston College. I am forever grateful for my time at BC, as it helped prepare me for the next step on my academic/professional journey at the University of North Texas, where I completed a doctorate in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Sport and Exercise Psychology. As a part of completing this degree, I served as a pre-doctoral intern and subsequently a staff clinician at Iowa State University's Student Counseling Services. While at Iowa State, I aided in expanding their service to student-athletes through close collaboration with university administration and the athletic department.

I am a firm believer that relationships play a central role in how we view ourselves, the world, and the intersection of the two. As such, I view the therapeutic relationship as an avenue for growth, change, and healing. Above all else, I work collaboratively with students to cultivate a relationship that is rooted in safety, empathy, honesty, and challenge (this is where growth happens!). Through this relationship, I believe that we are able to more freely explore our thoughts, emotions and behaviors to identify what is, and is not, serving us. As such, we open ourselves to engaging in new behaviors (both with self and others) that culminate in greater interpersonal satisfaction and well-being.

While the therapeutic relationship is the foundation of my work, I work diligently to meet students ""where they are"" as it relates to their goals, experiences, identities, and broader cultural context. By adopting this stance, I hope to incorporate interventions and strategies that are most aligned with the student's concerns and context. I often incorporate elements of mindfulness, self-compassion, interpersonal vulnerability, and positive psychology into my work with students. However, because I believe in the power of the collaborative relationship, I openly invite feedback to ensure that we are effectively meeting students' goals. " "While I'm a generalist at heart, I have a keen interest working within high performance environments and helping student-athletes address both performance and clinical-based concerns. I am extremely passionate about the intersections of masculinity, sport, mental health, and help-seeking; which was the topic of my dissertation. I am also interested in sleep and its relation to mental health/performance, relationship issues (both with self and others), multiethnic identity development, performance concerns and/or cultivating high performance, discorded eating/body image, men's issues, trauma, and emotion regulation.

In my role at the UCC I also have the honor of serving as the Anita and Tim Shoen Family Sport Psychology Program Director. Within this role, I work with three wonderful colleagues to provide comprehensive psychological services to our student-athletes as well as regular consultation and/or programming to coaches and athletic department staff. " Outside of work, I love spending time with my partner and two children. If you've read this far, you may guess that I enjoy sport and competition in various forms, and you'd be correct. I'm also more competitive than most would suspect so enjoy some good competition whether it is sport, exercise, cards, or video games. As much as possible, I try to integrate sport and family. Lastly, I really appreciate music and try to find ways to integrate it into my life as much as possible. My supervision style tends to mirror my therapeutic approach; it is both developmental and interpersonal in nature with a deep appreciation for diversity. I believe that any transformative supervisory experience begins with a strong alliance characterized by safety, curiosity, humility, and challenge. I also believe that this relationship can be mutually impactful.