The Center is strongly supportive of the University’s Vincentian
mission to provide services to the underprivileged and those with
special needs. The following are areas in which
mission-related Center activities are a priority:
- Low-cost services
The Center accepts no insurance, but rather sets fees according to
financial need. Although all clients are expected to
contribute something for their services, fees can be set at very
low rates if a client’s financial circumstances warrant. Our
goal is to turn no one away based on finances.
- Bread and Life
The University has administrative responsibility for Bread
and Life, a soup kitchen and social services agency operating in
the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. The Center has been
actively involved in supporting Bread and Life by organizing food,
clothing, and holiday toy drives, providing volunteers to work in
the soup kitchen, offering psychological support services for
staff, and conducting crisis interventions for
residents. Students with particular interests in
rendering services to the poor may be able to obtain relevant
supervised experience at Bread and Life.
-
Military Services Initiative
The Center, in conjunction with the PARTNERS Program, has launched
a support program for servicemen and women and their families which
aims to provide counseling related to the stresses of
deployment. All caregivers participating in the program have
received specialized training in the needs of the military.
Services are provided free of charge.
- Service Day
The Center supports the University’s Service Day initiative by
volunteering staff to lend assistance at local agencies.
Currently, the staff is offering their services to the pediatric
unit of a local hospital.
- Community Presentations
The Center periodically sponsors psychological wellness talks for
the community on topics such as smoking cessation, parenting of
ADHD children, and other issues of general interest.
- Community Events
Center staff, students and friends often come together to
participate in community awareness events to raise funds for worthy
charities. In the picture above, members of “Team Psych”
supported a recent walk for Breast Cancer Awareness.