York University will officially launch its psychology clinic Wednesday, Nov. 4 at the Keele Campus.
The 5,000-square-foot space will serve as a teaching, research and treatment facility.The state-of-the-art clinic provides training for graduate psychology students and offers mental health services to York faculty, staff and the surrounding community.The clinic, affiliated with York's Faculty of Health, operates in a manner similar to a teaching hospital, with PhD students conducting counselling under the supervision of registered psychologists. Services for people of all ages - including individual, couples and family therapy - are offered.Clinic researchers specialize in disorders including autism, Asperger syndrome, anxiety and chronic pain. The Counselling Foundation of Canada has pledged $225,000 for a mentoring program that matches psychology students with students with Asperger syndrome - a form of autism that affects people's ability to understand basic social cues. The program helps students with Asperger syndrome navigate their way through university, while offering experience to the mentors who are training to become mental health professionals.Additionally, the Alva Foundation has donated $100,000 toward autism research and treatment, to be used to purchase equipment for diagnosis, observation and other tasks.The clinic will also run group programs in areas such as pain management, healthy aging and effective parenting. Its first group program, Coping with Chronic Pain, will launch Thursday, Nov. 19.Services are available at reasonable fees and clients will be able to be reimbursed for these payments through workplace extended health benefit plans. Students can continue to receive counselling through Counselling and Disability Services.