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 taken 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 and clothing drives, providing volunteers to work in the soup
kitchen, offering psychological support services for staff, and
conducting crisis interventions for residents. Further
support is planned in the form of support groups, psychological
therapy and psychological assessments for clients. Students
who participate will learn about the psychological needs of the
poor and how better to meet these needs.
- 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.
- SMART Recovery Training
The Center is helping to sponsor training for interested students
in SMART Recovery, an addictions treatment program which employs
rational-emotive behavior therapy techniques in treatment.
Students who undergo the training will be in a position to lead
recovery groups, which are offered at no cost to
participants.
- Community Presentations
The Center plans to continue its sponsorship of free wellness
presentations to the community. In the spring of 2007, a
workshop on smoking cessation was offered.