Training Students, Helping the Community

The re-dedicated Dean-Hope Center becomes an even better home for its clients

The Center for Educational and Professional services was re-dedicated as the Dean-Hope Center in late September, marking a sweeping renovation that will bring new technologies to the Center's mission of serving the community and teaching the next generation of care-givers.

Since 1983, the Center-located on the sixth floor of Thorndike Hall-has offered therapeutic services to the community outside TC's walls, from domestic partnership psychotherapy for adults to child play therapy and learning disabilities assessments for schoolchildren, among others. It provides these services at a low cost and allows TC students-about 200 per semester-hands-on experience with clients, under the tutelage of TC faculty.

Even before the renovation, the Center was in the forefront among training centers of its kind in the U.S., but TC President Susan Fuhrman said the renovations will bring new opportunities.

"Staff and students will be able to expand services and see more clients in an environment that is conducive to treatment and welcoming to the people they serve," Fuhrman said at the dedication ceremony. "And they will have the latest and most effective technology at their fingertips," including wireless capability for computers and state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment that allows for better and more frequent videotaping of client sessions.

"Many of our clients already consider the Dean-Hope Center as their second home," says the Center's Director, Dinelia Rosa, "and what a great home it now will be."

Published Monday, Nov. 19, 2007