In the wake of two African-Americans being shot and killed at a Jeffersontown Kroger and 11 people being killed in a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, Spalding University’s Center for Behavioral Health wants to make the community aware of its specialty clinic that helps clients who have experienced race-based stress and trauma.

The Collective Care Center is the only behavioral health clinic of its kind in Louisville – and one of only a few nationally – that specializes in racial trauma, according to Center for Behavioral Health Associate Director Dr. Steven Kniffley, who developed the treatment model for the Collective Care Center.

“Anybody who has experienced oppression or marginalization because of their identities, we’ll have a safe place for them to come and experience healing and safety,” said Dr. Norah Chapman, Director of the CBH and an assistant professor in Spalding’s School of Professional Psychology. “We just want to get that word out that we are here for anyone who needs a space like that.”

Kniffley said the Collective Care Center’s work so far has focused on African-Americans, but anyone who identifies as a member of a marginalized group or is experiencing identity-based trauma is welcome and may find it to be a helpful resource. The Collective Care Center has four clinicians who evaluate and assess the impact of race-based trauma on clients.

Dr. Steven Kniffley, professional head shot
Dr. Steven Kniffley, associate director of the Center for Behavioral Health

People experiencing race-based stress may include those who have been direct victims of discrimination, targets of racial slurs or witnesses to a traumatic event, such as the Kroger shooting. People can also be vicariously traumatized by seeing disturbing images and news accounts of traumatic events involving race.

“We would ask, ‘When was the last time you experienced a racially traumatic event?'” Kniffley said. “‘How distressing was that to you? In what ways is that distress showing up for you? Are you having a hard time sleeping? Are you feeling anxious … around your surroundings.'”

Kniffley said research has shown that nearly all African-Americans say they have experienced an instance of racism and discrimination.

He said race-based stress is nothing new, but only recently has it been more formally recognized as a potentially serious physical and psychological health factor that might require professional help.

“From a public health standpoint, racism can literally kill you,” Kniffley said, “because it can contribute to depression, anxiety, and it can also lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, low birth weight for kids.”

Kniffley, who graduated from Spalding in 2013 with his doctorate in clinical psychology (PsyD) and returned as a psychology faculty member in August, said the Collective Care Center attempts to help clients develop coping skills for navigating a world in which they have faced discrimination.

The Kroger shooting “hurt my heart,” Kniffley said, and he wants folks in his hometown of Louisville to know that the Collective Care Center is a resource to them if they’re hurting, too.

“It’s so important that this is part of the CBH,” Chapman said. “We see, especially in our climate today, that there are few safe places for people of color or of marginalized backgrounds to feel like they can be guaranteed to feel affirmed for their identity and to make sure they’re seen for who they are and to be able work through a specific trauma.”

How to get help

For more information on the Collective Care Center or any services offered at the not-for-profit Center for Behavioral Health, call (502) 792-7011 or visit behavioralhealth.spalding.edu, where there is an online inquiry and appointment form. The Center for Behavioral Health is located in Mansion East, Room 212A, 851 S. Fourth St.

Sessions are available in person as well as over video counseling or telephone. Chapman encourages anyone facing transportation issues or other challenges in making it to an in-person session to consider the video and phone options.

Cost-wise, CBH services are offered on a sliding scale based on clients’ financial need and ability to pay.

“We’re extremely affordable because we want the work to focus on the healing process and not be a burden financially,” Kniffley said. “We meet clients where they are in terms of what their financial situation is.”

The CBH offers a range of services, including psychological assessments, plus individual, couple, group and family therapy services with children, adolescents, adults and older adults.

Led by Chapman, Kniffley and other School of Professional Psychology faculty, the Center for Behavioral Health also serves as an on-campus training ground of Spalding’s doctor of clinical psychology students.

With the Collective Care Center, Kniffley is hopeful that Spalding becomes the destination for psychology doctoral students who want to learn about treating racial trauma.

Kniffley recently received a multicultural professional development award from the Kentucky Psychological Association. He and two colleagues wrote, “Out of K.O.S (Knowledge of Self): Black Masculinity, Psychopathology, and Treatment.”

Spalding University announced Wednesday, Sept. 5, that it has reached a milestone in its ongoing, largest-ever capital fundraising campaign: surpassing $30 million in total contributions since 2014. They have supported new construction projects, facility improvements and academic and scholarship programs that broadly impact campus and student life.

The $30.4 million raised to date is a record for a Spalding campaign, and it far outpaces the original fundraising goals – $20 million by 2020 – set by the university’s board of trustees when it voted to launch the campaign four years ago. The goal was officially upped to $30 million in 2016.

“We are extremely grateful for the individuals and organizations who have stepped forward in support of our campaign and the mission and progress of Spalding,” Chief Advancement Officer Bert Griffin said. “We’ve made improvements all over campus and have not used any tuition dollars to make it happen.”

Spalding President Tori Murden McClure added: “Through this campaign, we have provided our students and the community with more resources and services while making our campus greener and more beautiful. We are grateful to our many partners who are helping us meet the needs of the times and change our community for the better.”

Some highlights of the $30 million capital campaign:

● Nearly $11 million in student scholarships and fieldwork stipends have been or will be distributed by way of the campaign, including more than $4 million in federal grants for clinical psychology and social work students from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

● More than $7 million has been donated or pledged in support of a greening initiative that has beautified the 23-acre downtown campus. Completed projects include the Mother Catherine Spalding Square green space on West Breckenridge Street between South Third and South Fourth and 2.2-acre Trager Park, which, in partnership with Louisville Gas and Electric Company and the Trager Family Foundation, opened last fall at the corner of South Second and West Kentucky. The Trager Park site was formerly an unused asphalt lot.

Ongoing outdoor projects are the seven-acre athletic fields complex between South Eighth and South Ninth streets that will be the home of Spalding’s NCAA Division III softball and soccer teams, and the Contemplative Garden at Spalding University, which will be a meditation space at 828 S. Fourth St. that is designed to honor Trappist Monk Thomas Merton and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Thanks to a recent anonymous $500,000 challenge grant, installation of the playing surfaces at the fields complex is expected to begin this fall, and it could be ready for competition by late spring 2019.

FROM WHAS: Spalding works to build Ninth Street ‘Field of Dreams’

● Kosair Charities has contributed more than $1.2 million to Spalding in support of the Kosair Charities Enabling Technologies of Kentuckiana (enTECH) assistive-technology resource center, the Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy and the Spalding School of Nursing.

RELATED: Spalding, enTECH receive $275,000 grant from Kosair Charities

● A $500,000 challenge grant from the James Graham Brown Foundation has helped raise $1 million to develop programs focused on restorative justice and restorative practices as well as Spalding’s Center for Behavioral Health.

● Nearly $1 million was raised to renovate the lower level of the Columbia Gym into a student fitness center and lounge.

● Other facilities that have undergone major improvements and modern updates are the Republic Bank Academic Center, which is the home of Spalding’s nursing and social work programs; the Spalding Library; the historic Tompkins-Buchanan-Rankin Mansion; and the Egan Leadership Center Lectorium.

Spalding University will join a city-wide effort next month to train a world-record number of citizens in a suicide-prevention technique known as “QPR,” or “Question, Persuade, Refer.”

Spalding will be among the many sites around Louisville hosting free, public 90-minute training sessions during National Suicide Prevention Week, which is Sept. 9-15. The QPR course, designed for anyone 18 years or older, teaches the warning signs of suicide, how to offer help and how to refer people to get help.

Spalding’s sessions will take place in the Kosair Charities Health and Natural Sciences Building at the following times:

*Monday, Sept. 10, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
*Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2-3:30 p.m.
*Wednesday, Sept. 12, 12:30-2 p.m.
*Thursday, Sept. 13, 2:30-4 p.m.

To attend a Spalding session, participants MUST  register online.

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 100 total people had registered for the Spalding sessions, with space limited, so those interested should register quickly to secure a spot.

Mayor Greg Fischer and city leaders are encouraging members of the public to share the word and get as many relatives, friends, coworkers, etc. as possible to participate in the training and try to establish a Guinness world record for the number of people trained in a single week. Registration information for the dozens of other free training sessions around Louisville can be found at qprlou.com.

No specialized mental health care training or expertise is required for those taking the training. Certified trainers will discuss myths about suicide, identify warning signs, outline how to talk to someone who may be thinking about suicide and how to persuade them to seek help.

QPR is similar to CPR in that it is designed to support an emergency response to someone in crisis, and to save lives.

Leaders from Spalding’s School of Professional Psychology, office of Counseling and Psychology Services (CaPS) and office of Residence Life are helping organize and conduct the training on this campus.

“Suicide prevention is everyone’s responsibility,” said Dr. Allison From-Tapp, director of Counseling and Psychological Services. “Anyone can learn to help prevent suicide with some questioning and compassion. QPR was designed to teach individuals to ask the question of suicide, persuade someone to get help, and make appropriate referrals. Through this 90-minute training you will learn the tools you need to help save a life and plant the seeds of hope.”

According to 2017 Home Equity Report, there were 584 suicide deaths in Jefferson County from 2011-15, compared with 333 homicides for the same period. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates are on the increase, and more than half of people who die by suicide do not have a known mental health condition.

“Suicide rates have been rising steadily over the past decade,” said Dr. Steve Katsikas, chair of the Spalding School of Professional Psychology. “Suicide cuts across geographic and demographic boundaries. It is an issue that can impact almost anyone. Learning how to intervene can make a difference and save a life. We are committed to providing training to our community to help make the widest impact possible.”

The city’s QPR undertaking has roots from 2016, when the Louisville Health Advisory Board’s Behavioral Health subcommittee held the Bold Moves Against Suicide Summit on Spalding’s campus.

 

A group of doctoral students and faculty from the Spalding University School of Professional Psychology spent last weekend learning and helping at the same time.

Ten students from Spalding’s Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology program (PsyD), along with faculty members Drs. Norah Chapman and Amy Young, volunteered to provide information and mental health services while also conducting research at the Remote Area Medical free clinic in Hazard, Ky.

The RAM mobile clinics provide free medical, dental and vision care to underserved or uninsured individuals. The Spalding PsyD volunteers helped add mental health services to the fold in Hazard.

Chapman said the PsyD volunteers worked in three roles at the RAM clinic: staffing an informational table to explain about good mental health practices, performing direct interventions and brief counseling with clients, and providing integrated care with the dentists. They  helped calm patients – including many who’d not seen a dentist in years or ever – as they received extractions, fillings and other procedures.

The Spalding volunteers interacted with more 200 clients and patients over the weekend, Chapman said, and for some of the newer PsyD students, it was their first experience working directly with clients.

“This is really the pinnacle of our training programs – research intervention, integrated health care and serving underserved populations,” Chapman said. “It was an incredible experience.”

Chapman said the Spalding volunteers tried to explain to clients and patients the importance of mental health services and to put them at ease about talking to a professional about their concerns and needs. She said some had faced physical trauma; felt anxiety or stress over family or financial issues; or were battling addiction.

Chapman said some of the visitors thanked Spalding’s volunteers for being there and told them they wouldn’t otherwise have had access to mental health services where they live. Chapman said several of visitors there had never previously talked to a mental health professional.

Spalding PsyD student Autumn Truss said it was “truly inspiring” to see the range of health providers from the across the country come together at the RAM clinic to serve the “resilient population of Eastern Kentucky.”

“Partnering with RAM to provide free mental health services was the perfect opportunity to help this underserved population and carry out Spalding’s mission as a compassionate university,” Truss said.

Group of 11 people, wearing matching blue T-shirts that say "Spalding University Volunteers" at the Remote Area Medical clinic in Hazard, Ky.
Spalding clinical psychology student and faculty volunteers at the Remote Area Medical clinic in Hazard, Ky., June 23-24, 2018.
Three female Spalding students wearing blue shirts, sit on gym floor reading to a young boy as a man holding a smaller boy looks on
Photo from RAM Facebook page

One of the incoming students to Spalding University’s doctorate program in clinical psychology received a prestigious honor this spring in the run-up to her graduation last weekend from Louisiana State University.

Bailey Broussard, set to enroll in the Spalding PsyD program in the fall, was named one of the Tiger Twelve by the LSU Office of the Dean of Students.  The recognition goes to 12 outstanding seniors – out of thousands from that university who graduated this month, this summer or next December – who contribute positively to the life of the campus and surrounding community.

According to the LSU Dean of Students, the Tiger Twelve students “hold themselves to the highest standards of academic, personal and social integrity; practice justice, equality and compassion in human relations; respect the dignity of all persons and accept individual differences.”

Broussard, a psychology major and sociology minor from Lafayette, La., said that Spalding embraces those same virtues. In the PsyD program, she plans to have a hybrid focus in adult and child and family studies. Broussard, who had a 3.799 cumulative grade-point average at LSU, plans on working with marginalized and underserved populations throughout her professional career.

“The mission (of Spalding) being about equality and how we serve the community and the diversity and having multicultural competence specifically within the PsyD program (were appealing),” Broussard said. “The faculty seemed really supportive, and they really seemed engage with their students and their success. That was something I felt like I really wanted in my education going forward.

“The majority, if not all of the professors (at Spalding) have a component of their research going with multicultural competence and being aware and serving marginalized communities.”

After her Spalding PsyD training, Broussard said, she hopes to one day work in the community as a mental health provider “and helping out, giving low-cost services to underserved populations.”

At LSU, Broussard was a tutor of French, math and psychology all four years of her undergraduate career. She was a member and worship leader of Sigma Phi Lambda sorority and worked as a research assistant studying the effects of hatha yoga on smoking cessation in LSU’s Anxiety and Addictive Behaviors Lab. She also volunteered in a variety of campus and community organizations.

“I’m definitely proud of myself (to be in the Tiger Twelve),” she said. “It symbolizes self-growth I experienced during my college career and being selfless and being able to impact others.”

Read more about the doctoral and undergraduate programs within the Spalding School of Professional Psychology at spalding.edu/psychology.

 

 

 

 

Consultant and entrepreneur Dana Jackson has been a member of Spalding University’s Board of Trustees since 2004. Jackson, who received a master’s degree in psychology from Spalding, is the CEO of Dana Jackson Consulting, which focuses on results-based leadership development and organizational transformation. Jackson is also a partner with Better Together Strategies consulting firm, which specializes in leadership development, building public-private partnerships and working with nonprofit organizations on community change and economic development. She has also served as executive director of the Network Center for Community Change and in leadership roles for Kentucky’s Department of Community Based Services.

What’s it been like to be a longtime member of Spalding’s board, and what has it meant to you to serve in that role?

Spalding has a special place in my heart, not only because it’s where I got my master’s degree but because of the mission of Spalding. Spalding really is focused on a population that I care deeply about with folks who have often been disenfranchised. Spalding’s social justice focus is another thing that is really near and dear to my heart. I know for me, as a graduate student at Spalding, it was sort of a tough time in my life, and I really feel like if I had been at another institution, I maybe would have gotten lost. Some of the personal difficulties I was having, it was like a season of loss in my family. I lost a lot of people who were very dear to me during the time I was a student there. Had I been at a larger institution or an institution that was not so focused on student support and really getting to know students, I probably would have stepped away from my education. The faculty and staff at Spalding did not let that happen. They helped me change the narrative of my life, and I’m forever grateful for that.

How does the work you’re doing now and throughout your career align with the mission of Spalding to be a diverse community of learners and be grounded in compassion and social justice, and do you see Spalding carrying out that mission when you visit campus?

The mission of Spalding really in many ways is sort of my life’s mission. It’s of high importance to me. I’ve spent the majority of my working career really focused on equity, closing opportunity gaps and disparities, particularly around child well-being, community well-being and education. I really think that’s the work that Spalding does as well. I think the best way to do that work is with the understanding of equity, with a spirit of compassion and to do it with a lens and focus on social justice. That’s how Spalding does its work, and it holds education as the great equalizer. I think that shows up in the demographics of the student body. It’s all in the DNA of the leadership at Spalding, and it’s in the DNA of the offerings at the college.

Are there any programs or undertakings at Spalding that stand out to you that you consider a priority as a board member or hope to work on or have an impact on?

Continuing to hold on to and increase this notion of being a diverse community of learners. I’m really interested in the Muhammad Ali scholarship program (which gives $5,000 in need-based aid to first-year students and is renewable for up to four years), and I’m very much interested in the focus on restorative justice and restorative practices. … I don’t actually think you can talk about restorative justice without thinking about and being open to discussions about disproportionality and inequity, and I think that Spalding is well-positioned in the community – based on this notion of being a compassionate university and really embracing restorative practices and being a diverse community of learners – to really be a leader as our community continues to not only think about but take actions around more equitable outcomes in education.

 

Ida Dickie, a forensic psychologist and faculty member in Spalding University’s School of Professional Psychology, was honored last month as the winner of the Jack Runyon Community Service Award by the Kentucky Psychological Association.

Dickie, who received the award at the KPA convention in Lexington, is the director of the forensic emphasis area at Spalding while being a public servant in the justice system.

Among her many service projects, Dickie developed and manages the “Healthy Lifestyles” program at Dismas Charities for men who have been in the Kentucky correctional system. On a pro bono basis, she has supervised graduate student therapists in the program as well as offered psychological services herself.

Dickie is also on the board and provides pro bono services for the nonprofit New Legacy Center, which is another residential program that assists men returning to the community from prison.

Dickie also works pro bono with the Muhammad Ali Center, helping implement talking circles about community violence. She has worked with other community organizations to offer restorative talking circles with black men returning to the community from incarceration to provide them with a pro-social support network.

She performs pro bono psychological services and supervises graduate student therapists at the Survivors of Torture Recovery Center, which offers services to refugees and immigrants who have experienced torture in their home countries.

Dickie also trains Louisville Metro Police Department officers and recruits in restorative communication and oversees courses for Spalding students seeking a minor in restorative justice.

For more information on the Spalding School of Professional Psychology and the doctoral program in clinical pyschology (PsyD), go to Spalding.edu/psychology.

Related link: Kentucky Psychological Association’s Facebook page

Spalding University has received a federal grant of nearly $1.15 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support advanced-level psychology and social work students who perform behavioral health work in primary care settings in medically underserved areas of Louisville.

The grant, which comes via the federal Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training program (BHWET), will provide stipends to doctoral candidates in clinical psychology (Psy.D.) and students pursuing a master’s degree in social work (MSW) who are part of Spalding’s Interdisciplinary Behavioral Health Scholars Program (IBHSP). The stipends will assist in recruitment and retention of future behavioral health professionals who do their training work in vulnerable and medically underserved areas.

Spalding, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville were the only institutions in Kentucky to receive BHWET grants.

Spalding’s psychology and social work scholars are partnering with three Louisville health and wellness organizations to provide services. They are the Family Community Clinic, which provides medical assistance to individuals without health insurance, including many who don’t speak English, at its facility in the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Butchertown; Shawnee Christian Healthcare Center, which provides affordable primary health and dental care to patients in West Louisville; and Smoketown Family Wellness Center, which offers wellness programs in a neighborhood in which residents’ average life expectancy is 10 years below other Louisville areas, according to the center’s website.

“I am very familiar with the health care academic programs at Spalding University and find it very rewarding to know that individuals who rely on health care services will receive the quality care and attention that a partnership with Spalding will bring,” said George Fischer, founder of the Family Community Clinic. “I’m grateful to Spalding and its faculty and students for providing help to members of our community who need it.”

The grant money for Spalding students will be dispersed over four years with the funding increasing after the first year. There will be six student recipients in the first year and 10 in Years 2-4.  The psychology students will receive $28,352 each, and the social work students will receive $10,000.

“We are thrilled to have received this federal grant,” said Dr. Steve Katsikas, faculty chair of Spalding’s School of Professional Psychology and the IBHSP program director.  “Between 60 and 70 percent of all health-related problems have a behavioral component, such as smoking, living a sedentary lifestyle or eating an imbalanced diet.  The grant will allow us to partner with primary care sites in underserved parts of Louisville to provide integrated behavioral health services. Individuals who see a health care provider and need a referral will be able to immediately see a behavioral health specialist. Spalding’s schools of social work and psychology are excited about this program because it allows us to train the next generation of psychologists and social workers to make a lasting health impact in our community.”

The grant will also be used to hire a clinical coordinator and fund seminars.

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