Developing a clientele and community partnerships during a pandemic. The much-anticipated Community Counseling Center (CCC) at FGCU opened in November 2019 with a mission of providing outstanding training of clinical mental health counseling students while offering greater access to mental health services in Southwest Florida. Four months later, COVID hit. On the surface, this would seem like a bad thing. But there were silver linings. Prior to the pandemic, the CCC didn’t provide virtual visits and students were not trained in telehealth. Once COVID hit, that barrier was broken, paving the way for clinical mental health interns to be trained in telehealth while providing virtual visits. COVID also brought mental health into the spotlight, providing copious opportunities for FGCU experts such as Dr. Yaro Garcia, Dr. Russ Sabella, and Dr. Alise Bartley to address these issues in the press and on local TV, bringing awareness and advocacy to mental health issues. This, in turn, brought more attention to the center as an affordable resource for the community. As Dr. Bartley, who runs the CCC observes, “COVID gave us the platform we’ve been begging for in talking about mental health.” Finally, the stress and isolation of the pandemic drew many new clients to the center. The perception of Southwest Florida is one of wealth, but that is just a veneer. Many live in poverty or have citizenship challenges and have no access to needed children’s, couples’ and family counseling. The CCC charges a very low fee that slides based on what the clients can afford.
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MARIEB COLLEGE OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
In the midst of all this disruption, the CCC also implemented a flagship partnership with the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples (known as C’MON). This program offers children and parents a six-week workshop series focused on developing social and emotional learning in a fun and inviting environment. Workshop topics include effective communication, feelings, selfesteem, social connections, resiliency building and healthy living. Children had the ability to learn through play by using the exhibits in the museum. They explored making healthy choices as they “shopped in the market,” practiced communication skills as they “traveled to new locations,” and gained understanding of empathy as they “adopted a pet.” Hands-on experiences such as these, among many others, allowed the kids and counselors to focus on skills that are essential to social emotional development. They also gave the children something to look forward to during COVID. As of June 2021, the CCC has served 1,250 clients across 3,641 appointments. Children and parents are communicating better thanks to C’MON. Student interns were able to continue their internships through the pandemic, learning virtual counseling skills to add to their in-person skills. The center is conducting research on counseling topics. And the community is more aware after numerous press appearances about mental health. Any new program would be proud to claim those achievements in its first year of operation. The CCC did it all during a crisis. Just imagine what it can do as we move forward!
