CARES grant benefits counseling clients

Funds will allow Regis University’s Counseling Center to expand services online

The City of Thornton has awarded a grant to the Regis Center for Counseling and Family Therapy that will allow the counseling center to equip its low-income clients within the city with technology to conduct counseling sessions online during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The $166,270 grant was allocated to Thornton through the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress in March. 

The grant will be available immediately and the clinic expects telemental health counseling to be fully available starting this month, said Lindsay Edwards, assistant professor in the University’s School of Mental and Behavioral Health and clinical coordinator of the Master of Marriage and Family Therapy program. The services provided through the grant will be available through fall 2020, Edwards said. 

The Regis Center for Counseling and Family Therapy, operated through the School of Mental and Behavioral Health, offers low- to no-cost counseling services to the community. The Division is part of the University’s Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions (RHCHP).  

“The grant allows us to bring our services to a broader clientele within Thornton,” Edwards said. “Many (clients) would not have access to the infrastructure they would need to attend sessions online.”  

The counseling center pairs master’s-level therapists-in-training with a client for 14 weeks of individual, couples, family or child-play therapy. The therapists are supervised by Regis faculty, who are licensed counselors. During the spring 2020 semester, 50 participating students served 88 clients, Edwards said. 

Nationwide, remote counseling for mental health care had been a limited option in the past, especially for clients in rural areas, Edwards said. But like so many other facets of society that have had to rapidly adapt because of the pandemic, the practice has become widespread very quickly. 

With assistance from the University’s Information Technology Services, the counseling center began converting its services to a virtual platform in March when COVID-19 forced the counseling center to close. 

“The grant allows us to bring our services to a broader clientele within Thornton,” Edwards said. “Many (clients) would not have access to the infrastructure they would need to attend sessions online.”