The staff of Northwestern Counseling and Psychological Services are settling in at their newly renovated home in Searle Hall this fall after spending a year and a half in House 4 of Foster-Walker Complex.
“We’re happy to be back,” said CAPS executive director John Dunkle. “We knew it was temporary and that we would be coming back to a great facility and sure enough, here we are.”
Plans to improve the building began about five years ago, when program reviews for both health services and CAPS called for more space, Dunkle said. Construction began in fall 2008, and renovations to Searle Hall’s second floor, CAPS’ original location, were completed in September. CAPS now shares a building with the health services and health promotion and wellness departments as well as the program’s Life Skills Center, which was previously housed next to Searle.
“Now that we’re all under one roof, it’s a one-stop shopping for all of your health care needs, both mental and physical,” Dunkle said. “It’s a great benefit for students. They can go to just one place.”
The new location has more group therapy rooms, more office space and state-of-the-art facilities, he said.
One of the biggest programming changes currently in the works is the expansion of the Stress Management Clinic, a weekly series of workshops for students seeking stress therapy scheduled to begin winter quarter, said Henry Perkins, coordinator of the Stress Management Clinic.
Perkins said the renovations and additional space will definitely improve the way CAPS functions.
“There’s now enough space for all of our staff, which had been an issue in the past,” he said.
A new CAPS staff member specializing in alcohol and drug addiction will arrive in January, and there are plans to increase staffing even more in the next five years.
Searle Hall was completely gutted and refurbished last year, and Dunkle said the results are apparent in the atmosphere.
“The space is a lot warmer and more conducive to the type of work that we do,” he said. “It’s hard enough for students to reach out for mental health help. Making the environment more inviting could help students be less reluctant to reach out to us.”
