Nicholas Morrison
Associate Professor of Psychology

Biography

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.

Education

  • 2019–2020: Post-doctoral Fellowship (Clinical Psychology) – VA Boston Healthcare System

  • 2019–2020: Clinical Fellow in Psychology, Harvard Medical School

  • 2019–2020: Teaching Fellow in Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine

  • 2012–2019: Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • 2018–2019: Pre-doctoral Internship (Clinical Psychology) – SUNY Upstate Medical University

  • 2012–2015: Master of Science (Clinical Psychology) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • 2006–2010: Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Summa cum Laude – University of Massachusetts Amherst

Courses Taught

Undergraduate Courses:

  • Introduction to Psychology

  • Theories of Personality

  • Psychopathology

  • Counseling Theory and Practice

  • Capstone Experience: Qualitative Methods in Psychology

  • Independent Study

Graduate Courses:

  • Counseling Basics with Supervision

  • Advanced Counseling with Supervision

  • Independent Study

Areas of Research

Dr. Morrison's research program centers on psychotherapy process, outcome, integration, and training, and relies heavily on qualitative methods.

Publications

Select publications are included below:

Clark, C., Rivera, C., & Morrison, N. R. (2026). Bridging the gap: Integrating specialized experience into emerging clinician identity. Psychotherapy Bulletin, 61(3).

Morrison, N. R., Chang, M., Xie, A., & Kim, Y. (2025). The modern role of paraprofessionals in delivering brief psychological interventions. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 25(2), e12854. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12854

Brooks, K. H., & Morrison, N. R. (2025). First-generation students in higher education: Resilience in the face of adversity. Psychotherapy Bulletin 60(1), 16-20.

Boyd, R. L., Morrison, N. R., Horwitz, S. D., Maciag, R., Travers-Hill, E., & Kim, Y. (2024). Are we listening to every word? Using multiple analytic methods to examine qualitative data. Cogent Mental Health, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/28324765.2024.2433791

Hamilton, J., Morrison, N. R., & Gioia, A. N. (2024). Jealousy: A comparison of monogamous and consensually non-monogamous women’s experience. Cogent Mental Health, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/28324765.2023.2283006

Headshot of Dr. Nicholas Morrison.