Advancing Wellness Innovation
As area healthcare and behavioral health providers face persistent workforce shortages, GMercyU has launched the Regina Wellness Collaborative and a new Center for Wellness and Innovation with the support of a generous $2 million grant from the Regina Charitable Fund of Philadelphia Foundation.
About the Regina Wellness Collaborative
The Regina Wellness Collaborative will provide comprehensive programmatic support to develop and sustain an integrated employee pipeline and workforce development model that directly connects education to entry-level employment, continued professional development, and career advancement pathways for current and future healthcare and behavioral health professionals.
The Collaborative will focus on creating a durable pipeline of skilled, practice-ready compassionate care professionals through partnerships, workforce development initiatives, and career advancement pathways. It also will include a focus on expanding workforce capacity in high-need areas, and improving career, economic, and social mobility for participants.
Preparing healthcare professionals has been central to GMercyU’s mission for nearly 70 years, and that responsibility extends beyond preparing students for their first jobs. Through the Regina Wellness Collaborative, we can work directly with employers to understand where the greatest needs exist and create opportunities that help people enter the field, build new skills, and advance in their careers.
—Deanne H. D’Emilio, JD, President of GMercyU
The New Stimmler Center for Wellness and Innovation
Located in Maguire Hall, the new Frances Cannata Stimmler ’66 and Joseph Stimmler Center for Wellness and Innovation becomes the dedicated home for the Collaborative as well as GMercyU's new Counseling Skills Lab.
It also will soon be home to a new robotics lab, and GMercyU's hacking and countermeasures lab, along with other technology-rich learning environments, classrooms and flexible spaces for instruction, professional development, and employer engagement.
Counseling Skills Lab
Real-world learning without leaving campus
GMercyU’s Counseling Skills Lab offers students the unique opportunity to engage with simulated clients and patients in a realistic environment before entering a real-world practice setting.
Counseling Skills Lab features:
- A small, private space styled like a licensed counselor’s office with comfortable seating
- A play therapy room stocked with the appropriate toys and accessories
- A larger room arranged like a professional group therapy space
- An apartment-style setting for simulated in-home assessments
- An alternative therapies room for interventions such as yoga and sensory integration
- An observation/debriefing room to provide feedback and build confidence
Simulated practice sessions in the lab allow students to develop and apply interviewing, assessment, counseling, and case management skills in realistic settings, helping to build confidence and providing opportunities to receive feedback. These experiences help ensure that students feel competent and confident as they enter their professional careers.
—Janice Nuss, DSW, LCSW, Social Work Program Director
The spaces are outfitted with 360-degree technology to allow students to record their simulations so they can review later and offer each other feedback.
The lab is used by undergraduate Social Work and Psychology students, as well as GMercyU’s graduate Counseling students who spend a three-day weekend residency on campus.
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The Stimmler Center for Wellness and Innovation joins the Frances Cannata Stimmler '66 and Joseph Stimmler Inspiration Station within the Frances M. Maguire '55 Healthcare Innovation Center, recognizing the couple’s longstanding support of GMercyU and continued investment in healthcare education.
We are profoundly grateful for the generosity of the Regina Charitable Fund. This gift allows us to name the Frances Cannata Stimmler ’66 and Joseph Stimmler Center for Wellness and Innovation, a second tribute to distinguished alumna Frances Cannata Stimmler ’66 and her husband, Joseph, who have graciously helped shape the future of healthcare education at Gwynedd Mercy University.
——Deanne H. D’Emilio, JD, President of GMercyU