New clinic aims to boost mental health care access in South Bend
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA major revamp for mental health is underway at the University of Notre Dame, powered by a recent gift from the children of two South Bend entrepreneurs.
The gift to establish the Wilma and Peter Veldman Family Psychology Clinic, named after the couple who founded online distributor Tire Rack, is designed to address a growing need for more mental health care in the community.
A recent study showed 70% of Americans have better access to mental health care then people living in South Bend.
Sarah Mustillo, dean of the College of Arts & Science at Notre Dame, says the new clinic aims to increase access to care.
“There are tremendous organizations providing care to people in this region, but we just can’t keep up with the demand,” Mustillo said. “And so we are hoping to be able to increase the supply to be able to provide care to more people in this region.”
The new Veldman Clinic will replace the university’s smaller clinic in South Bend’s East Bank neighborhood. The clinic will serve Notre Dame students and people living in the region.
“We will be able to provide services to more than 1,500 people that don’t currently have access to care right now,” said Mustillo.
The gift also endowed several faculty positions and will triple the number of psychology graduate students. In addition to more care, leaders say the gift will also provide better care by supporting groundbreaking research on how to treat mental illnesses.
“Right now in the United States, you’re more likely to die of an accidental overdose than of a motor vehicle accident,” she said. “And fewer than half of people with mental health problems get treatment right now.”
While the specific dollar amount of the gift was not disclosed, it will support the construction of a new building at the site of the current Psychological Services Center at 501 N. Hill St.
The clinic will have a special focus on trauma, substance use and suicide prevention. These are usually treated separately, but the clinic will take a unique approach by bringing the William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families, the Suicide Prevention Initiative—Research, Intervention, and Training, and a new substance use initiative under one roof.
“People who experienced childhood trauma often end up having substance use problems,” Mustillo said. “There’s a lot of overlap between substance use trauma and suicide attempts, and so we are trying to treat these things together to hopefully prevent all three of these things.”
Mustillo said while mental health care access is an issue the university has been trying to address for years, the gift will take efforts to the next level, both in South Bend and beyond.
“What we’re trying to do now is really invest in providing solutions to these problems that so many Americans are struggling with. We want to start right here in the local community, but then take those solutions throughout the country and really try to make a difference in the lives of millions of people struggling with mental health problems across the globe.”