Investment will establish the ‘Loise Henderson Wessendorff Chair of Latinx Counselor Education’ and fund the Richmond Area Bilingual Fellows Program
Seminary of the Southwest announces the receipt of a 5-year grant of $4.85 million from The Henderson-Wessendorff Foundation that will establish the ‘Loise Henderson Wessendorff Chair of Latinx Counselor Education’ and continue to fund the well-established Richmond Area Bilingual Fellows Program.
Dr. Stephanie Ramirez, who helped establish and continues to lead both the Latinx Counseling Concentration and Richmond Area Bilingual Fellows Program will be the inaugural faculty member to hold this Loise Henderson Wessendorff Chair, which is named in honor of beloved family member, Loise Henderson Wessendorff.
This transformational investment will establish a fully-endowed faculty chair to lead the Latinx Counseling Concentration of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree at Seminary of the Southwest, as well as create long-term stability for the Richmond Area Bilingual Fellows Program, which sends qualified Southwest graduates as bilingual counselors to provide spiritually-integrated, culturally-responsive counseling to Latinx children and families in Richmond, Texas, and the surrounding areas.
“I am deeply grateful for the generosity of The Henderson-Wessendorff Foundation,” said Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, Dean and President of Seminary of the Southwest. “With this significant gift, they have assured the ongoing work of the counseling program to provide accessible, culturally-informed mental health care in Latinx communities. The need is great, and this gift will certainly make an impact.”
The Latinx Counseling Concentration is a specialization offered by Southwest for Clinical Mental Health Counseling students with the purpose of preparing and training curious, culturally empathic, accepting, self-aware counselors. The objective of this concentration is to help foster bilingual and bicultural counselors in order to work more effectively with diverse generations within the Latino/Hispanic community. Students in the concentration gain the knowledge, skills, and awareness needed in order to work with this population.
“Receiving this grant will provide us with a continual pipeline of students getting equipped to be spiritually competent, and culturally-inclusive counselors to work with Latinx/e families in underserved areas,” said Dr. Ramirez. “This grant will not only benefit the future counselors, but touch the lives of many Latinx/e families in Richmond/Rosenberg, and meet the mental health needs of our state. We are grateful to Loise Henderson Wessendorf for sharing that dream with us!”
This meaningful partnership Southwest has with The Henderson-Wessendorff Foundation is rooted in Loise Henderson Wessendorff’s vision. Her groundbreaking and exemplary work to integrate psychology and psychiatry with religion and spirituality to provide holistic mental health began nearly 70 years ago. Her innovative approach to total mental health for each person was the melding of different techniques to reach the best possible outcome for every individual. Loise worked tirelessly to help make mental health available to everyone with no limitations to beliefs, race or orientation.
“This generous gift extends our partnership with The Henderson-Wessendorff Foundation and helps us further Loise Henderson Wessendorff’s legacy of integrating professional counseling and spirituality,” said Dr. Gena St. David, Director of the Loise Henderson Wessendorff Center for Counseling and Spirituality and Professor of Counselor Education. “This important step of establishing a permanent endowed Chair of Latinx Counselor Education on our faculty is illustrative of Seminary of the Southwest’s commitment to investing in the wellbeing of Latinx individuals and families.”
The Richmond Area Bilingual Fellows Program is one of the fellows programs Southwest has established to address the glaring inadequacies of mental health services among specific populations. Approximately 60% of Richmond area residents are Latinx, with 1 in 4 households living below the poverty level. The shortage of Spanish-speaking mental health providers is a well-documented barrier of access to counseling services. With financial and professional support from Southwest, Fellows are guaranteed placement with AccessHealth for their two-year paid post-graduate counseling fellowship.
Please follow these links to learn more about the the spiritually integrated Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Seminary of the Southwest, its Latinx Counseling Concentration,or the Richmond Area Bilingual Fellows Program. For more information, please visit ssw.edu.
