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The RDC Center for Counseling and Human Development provides affordable and compassionate counseling services in a comfortable atmosphere. Counselors offer assistance in dealing with personal issues, marital problems, family concerns, loss and bereavement, stress and anxiety, depression and spirituality. The RDC Center offers assistance in dealing with:
Our Staff consists of:
Charges: Fees are based on a sliding scale. Appointments: Appointments are available Monday through Thursday, from 9 am to 9 pm; Fridays from 9 am to 5 pm; and Saturday by appointment. Location: The RDC Center is conveniently located in White Plains on the Good Counsel/Pace University campus located at 52 North Broadway and is accessible by car or bus. The RDC Center is handicapped-accessible. Free parking is available.
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Sound familiar? It's no secret that ordinary life has many stress points in our relationships at home and at work. For any one of us, a problem or a concern can seem to take on a life of its own. Our lives become touched by a vague fear, anxiety or a sense of hopelessness that can make it difficult to move on. Healthy solutions can elude us. Over the years since the RDC Center for Counseling & Human Development was founded, the center staff has assisted hundreds of individuals, families and couples, young and old. Currently on staff are clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapist and a pastoral counselor. All bring years of professional experience to the center. (We encourage our visitors to look at the resumes of the people listed on the "Staff" page on this WebSite. You will see why we are truly proud of their experience and compassion.) In addition to the multi-disciplinary staff, the center's strengths include a commitment to excellence, a flexible fee schedule, quick availability of appointments and a warm and hospitable atmosphere. The staff works hard to eliminate the red tape associated with so many agencies. For Spanish speaking clients, a bilingual therapist is available. How did the stories end for the four callers?
A phone call is all it takes to reach a counselor. It sounds simple, but we know not to underestimate the struggle to make that phone call. Most people who call have been met previously by frustration and perhaps failure. We recognize the strength and courage it takes to ask for help, and we count it as one of the greatest assets people can bring to the process of resolving problems. If
you need us please call
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Our building -- a classic old Victorian house -- is our pride and joy. It was registered in the National and State Historic Registries in 1976 under the name given it by its 2nd owner - "Mapleton." This 23 room villa, now known as St. Joseph's, was built in 1867 for carriage manufacturer William Franklin Dusenbury. In 1884 an inventor named Nathan Hand purchased the house and gave it the name "Mapleton." In 1894 Mr. Hand sold the building
to the Sisters of the Divine Compassion. It was purchased by
Mother Mary Veronica, the foundress of the Sisters of In 1998 a program of renovation was begun with the construction of a new back porch with a ramp for wheel chair accessibility. A handicapped accessible bathroom was also added. These initial improvements were made possible through a matching grant from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Preservation to make our services available to more people in need. |
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This story begins with an ending, the closing of the Mitchell Place office of Catholic Charities Mental Health Clinic in White Plains in 1991. Three nuns who provided therapeutic services there were to be transferred to offices in different communities. But they decided they wanted to stay in White Plains and provide affordable counseling for the poor. Alice Feeley, RDC, who oversaw the Religious of Divine Compassion, the order to which the women belonged, had the original idea, and Lauren McLeod, RDC, CSW and Joan Haley, RDC carried it out. With no funding they started the RDC Center for Counseling and Human Development in three rooms at the convent at Good Counsel. In 1994, the center moved to its current location, the first floor of a beautiful 23-room Victorian house [described above] on Good Counsel’s campus at 52 North Broadway. Today, the center employs six therapists-including three social workers, a clinical psychologist, a marriage and family counselor and a pastoral counselor-who divide their time between on-site therapy of individuals, couples and groups (including adults, adolescents and children), as well as community workshops; testing and counseling in four schools in Westchester and the Bronx and the Senior Center in White Plains. The center is also affiliated with psychiatrists for patients who require medication. . . [Each week, two of our therapists leave the Center to work in the community. Gerry Gilmartin and Lauren McLeod, RDC, spend time in four of our area schools. There, they run groups, see individual students and meet with parents and teachers. It is our belief that our service is expanded by moving out into the community.] McLeod describes the vast majority of the center’s clients as people who are struggling with relationships, anxieties, depression or difficulty with their children. It sounds like many modern therapy practices. But there’s a major difference: at the center the educated, professional therapists earn, at most, a stipend. Most of them simply donate their services. McLeod says, “This is bigger than ‘us’. We wanted to make sure people who needed therapy could get it; especially the working poor, who can survive but don’t have money for this.” The center’s income comes entirely from client fees. The center is under the umbrella of the Religious of Divine Compassion but receives no financial support from it. About a third of the center’s clients are referred by social service agencies, but the rest are self-referred, by word of mouth and local parishes. They pay according to a sliding scale which is negotiable as needed. Therapy at the center is not based on any religious beliefs. “The subject of religion doesn’t come up unless it’s something that the client want to talk about,” says McLeod. But the building that houses the center almost provides a religious experience in itself. On a sunny day, with its enormous high ceiling, arched doorways, fireplaces and stained glass as well as clear glass windows, it is filled with light. . . As for the work of the center, McLeod says that “glory” comes in “seeing people feel better about themselves, helping them learn how to cope.” She quickly adds, “But most people do it for themselves; they have their own inner strength. It’s our job just to help them get in touch with it." McLeod was a teacher and guidance counselor before becoming a social worker. A friendly woman with a warm easy laugh, she works with many of the center’s adolescent clients. “I love this age,” she says. Her nutshell advice for parents of said age children, who sometimes feel otherwise? “Let them keep their rooms the way they want. The cockroaches can eat whatever they want in there,” she laughs. “You’ve got to choose your battles very carefully.” Excerpts
from "COMPASSION AT THE HEART OF COUNSELING”
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©
2001 RDC Magtree Designs |
Divine
Compassion, and became a convent known as St. Joseph’s.
It was subsequently used as a vacation home for New York City-dwellers,
a student residence, then a library for Good Counsel College,
and finally offices for Pace University faculty. Today, its first
floor houses the RDC Center for Counseling and Human Developments.