Bike south along the Link Trail, take a Transpo bus along Route 7, or drive a block past Rocco’s restaurant on South Bend Avenue, and you’ll find a building that’s more than bricks and siding. It’s the region’s newest mental health ally.
When it opens this June, the Wilma and Peter Veldman Family Psychology Clinic will expand local access to mental health care through a combination of research, training, and service. The clinic will significantly expand the evidence-based mental health services that Notre Dame provides to the community, while also serving as the new home of the William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families and the newly launched Human Neuroimaging Center.
With three levels and 35,000 square feet of therapy rooms, labs, childcare spaces, and more, the Veldman Clinic is a grand undertaking that, through the thought and passion put into its design, feels less like a facility and more like a home.
“On campus, we tend toward these very formal buildings that are beautiful, but what we needed is a beautiful fit for the community, where people can feel comfortable,” said Jennifer Burke Lefever, the clinic’s managing director.
The clinic’s goal is to meet people where they are, and that starts before they even enter the building. Its position in the East Bank neighborhood makes the clinic a gateway to downtown South Bend, easily reached by bike, foot, bus, or car.
After passing through an accessible entrance, community members are welcomed into a lobby filled with natural light and comfy furniture. On the two-story entrance wall, there’s a large array of butterflies made from hand-painted silk scarves, designed by women at the St. Margaret’s House day center. The butterflies represent transformation, and the artwork’s curve mimics that of the St. Joseph River, as seen in the South Bend flag and the Veldman Clinic’s logo.
Beyond the lobby, design choices both distinct and subtle aim to reduce stress. Artwork across from the elevators uses patterns invoking the art of kintsugi, a Japanese pottery practice of repairing cracks with gold—a reminder that healing can create something stronger and more beautiful than before. A wall in the children’s room is covered with a nature scene made from soft felt. Wide hallways with tall ceilings reduce feelings of claustrophobia, with windows at the end of every corridor aiding visual orientation. And everything from furniture to drinking fountains was selected with wheelchair users in mind.
The clinic’s design also incorporates innovative technologies being introduced to the University for the first time. The Human Neuroimaging Center—led by Aron Barbey, the Andrew J. McKenna Family Professor of Psychology—will house an MRI machine capable of producing structural, functional, and metabolic brain imaging, driving ambitious neuroscience research. The building’s 40 therapy rooms will use a new VALT video system to securely record therapy sessions led by clinical psychology graduate students, so supervisors will be able to review sessions on demand.
“One of our studies will use every floor of the Veldman Clinic,” said Kaylin Hill, an assistant professor of psychology.
Hill’s research focuses on understanding reward and emotion and how they relate to clinical disorders like major depression. She often uses psychophysiological tools, such as an electroencephalogram (EEG), which tracks brain signals through electrodes placed on the scalp. The Veldman Clinic’s EEG setups and interview rooms will help her conduct research outside of her lab in Corbett Family Hall, which is less accessible for the families she works with.
The long-held dream of a psychology clinic finally became a reality through support from leadership at Notre Dame and the College of Arts and Letters, as well as the generosity of multiple Veldman family foundations, including those of Sharon and Matt Edmonds, Connie and Mike Joines, and Anita and Tom Veldman. But Burke Lefever and Kristin Valentino, the clinic’s director and a professor of psychology, knew it wouldn’t be successful without significant input from community partners who have long worked in the area.
Those partners include Oaklawn, a provider of mental health services and addiction treatment; Beacon Community Impact, the public health arm of Beacon Health Systems; and the CASIE Center, which works to prevent child abuse and support survivors. All three are located within blocks of the Veldman Clinic.
“We have a role to play within the system that is already in place, so we need close collaboration with community partners to ensure we are adding value and addressing needs rather than recreating something that already exists,” Valentino said.
A strong internal team of about 20 staff across the Veldman Clinic, Shaw Center, and Human Neuroimaging Center are essential to supporting the research of faculty and graduate students and the services they provide.
Staff clinicians, including a licensed clinical social worker, are joining the clinic to expand the amount and types of care the University can provide. In the past, the Notre Dame Department of Psychology has only offered clinical services provided by graduate students who are training to become psychologists and are supervised by faculty.
With licensed clinicians adding to the students’ work, the number of clinical care and impact hours annually provided by Notre Dame is projected to increase from 8,000 to 27,000. The clinic’s impact will be even wider as graduate students earn their doctorates and start their own practices, and as evidence-based interventions developed through research are implemented in community settings throughout the region and across the country.
Every person working at the clinic has a role to play in fulfilling the clinic’s mission. The administrative coordinator, who welcomes visitors at the front desk, is trained in de-escalation tactics, ready to be a mental health crisis first responder. Data managers, community liaisons, the Office of Information Technology, facilities teams, research assistants, and other professionals will also contribute to the clinic’s work, adding to the countless hours already put in by architects, designers, and project managers.
“It definitely takes a team across the entire campus to make it all happen,” said Heidi Miller, assistant director for staff management and operations at the clinic. “We all believe in what we’re doing, and that’s what makes it work.”