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An outlet for marriage and family therapy training will be the newest installation to be available on Fairfield University’s campus.

On April 8 Fairfield President Jeffrey P. von Arx, S.J. will dedicate the Kathryn P. Koslow Center for Marriage and Family Therapy during its campus opening.

The Center is located next door to the University’s Early Learning Center near the Round Hill entrance to camp. It will serve as a training facility for the students enrolled in the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professors within the Marriage and Family Therapy masters program and offer services to patients.

A donation from ‘05 alumna and member of the Marriage and Family Therapy Board Kathryn Koslow, provided for renovations to an existing campus building.

State of the art technology was installed and will enable advanced graduate students in the Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program to provide individuals, couples and families with clinical services. Service fees are determined by the Center’s scale.

Fairfield’s Marriage and Family Therapy program  aims to “prepare candidates for careers as marriage and family therapists. The curriculum and clinical training at Fairfield University focuses on preparing you to work in a wide variety of professional settings with diverse populations experiencing a broad range of problems,” according to the Fairfield graduate program website.

The program and new facility will help fulfill this mission, allowing students to get real world, hands-on experience while working with actual patients.

The center will have, “five therapy rooms including one especially for children containing toys that encourage play therapy,” according to a University press release.

“Several therapy rooms have two-way mirrors that allow graduate students to observe the therapy sessions performed by one student and a supervisor from a discreet location.  Where no two-way mirror is possible, an unobtrusive camera has been placed in the room and broadcasts a session while student therapists watch from a control room outfitted with headphones, a monitor and the ability to listen to a session directly through a sound system.”

“The Center is just lovely and quite a wonderful addition to the community and for students in the MFT program,” publicist for the University Joan Grant said.

Rona Preli, chair of the department of marriage and therapy, sees the Koslow Center as a major force in the community:  “The marriage and family therapy department is fortunate to be the beneficiary of Kathy Koslow’s generous gift.  As a Jesuit institution, our commitment to the community, and particularly to those who are underserved, is profound, she said.

Preli continued, “With this new state-of-the-art learning center, our graduate students will provide valuable services while learning, and the hands-on experience they receive will make their transition from training to practice in the community seamless. In these difficult and stressful times, we are keenly aware of our obligation to the community to provide them with reliable and excellent mental health resources at an affordable price.”

The Koslow Center will be open seven days a week and will make its services open to all people, regardless of their ability to pay. Currently, therapy sessions are being scheduled on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

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