Students who step into Counseling and Psychological Services will be met with a different environment than they would have been last fall.
During the spring and summer, CPS was moved to Cady Hall on South Green while its normal home on the third floor of Hudson Health Center went through a renovation that updated the entire floor.
CPS now provides a separate waiting room, new reception area, new furniture and three new offices.
“The layout from the past was not terribly efficient for the way we were trying to provide services to students,” said Fred Weiner, director of CPS.
CPS was in need of a major renovation, as it had not been updated since the 1970s. The restrooms still had showers and bathtubs from when the third floor operated as the inpatient care center for students before O’Bleness Memorial Hospital opened, Weiner said.
The renovation cost $750,000 and was paid for by the optional WellBeing Fee, said Ryan Lombardi, vice president for Student Affairs.
“It’s the student dollars at work for them,” Lombardi said. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this without it.”
Erika Gray, a psychology resident and outreach coordinator, was one of the committee members who worked with designers to develop the new space.
CPS partnered with student affairs for the project. The two began the planning stages in September 2012, Gray said.
The staff members of CPS are pleased with the results of the renovation.
“It’s beautiful and a thousand times better,” Gray said.
Gray is hopeful that the new space will send a positive message to students who are in need and seek out counseling.
“I just know that if I was coming into a space that looked depleted and kind of run down and not cared for, I would wonder how well I was being cared for,” she said. “I think when students come in here now they feel, ‘OK, the university cares about this space, they care about this work,’ and then they feel comfortable coming in here and being helped.”
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