The change of seasons provides the perfect time for reflection, particularly the transition to fall when a hint of summer still remains in the air. We hope you had a great spring and summer. We certainly did at The Sanville Institute, and I would like to share some of our news and accomplishments with you.  But first I’d like to say that I am hoping that the work we do at the Institute and our outreach to the community will resonate with you, and you will join me in giving generously to our fall campaign.

First, some exciting personnel announcements:

• We have a new Dean as of July 1, Judith Kay Nelson. Dr. Nelson has been with Sanville since her student days in the late 1970s. She is a highly skilled clinician and academician with a wide range of talent and experience. She has just returned from another summer of teaching in our collaborative partnership with Smith College School of Social Work, an innovation which was initiated and funded by our founding Dean, Dr. Jean Sanville, two years ago.
• On June 1, Renetia Martin joined the Sanville team as Director of Marketing & Development. She brings over 30 years of clinical, organizational, and administrative expertise to the team. 
• As the new chair of the Board of Trustees, I bring my experience of serving in many capacities on the Board during the last eight years and my tremendous commitment to The Sanville Institute and its mission.

And now, an exciting program announcement: Over this past summer, we developed and marketed our new two-year Certificate Program, entitled The Integration of Theory and Practice in Cultural Context. We are thrilled to report that six new students already began their first fall trimester of this program in September. 

There is much to reflect on when we see that the state of our health and well-being as a culture is in continual crisis. The mental health needs of our general population are chronically not given the attention they deserve. As a society, we face continuing challenges – one crisis after another – and often the unchecked mental health issues result in another violent news headline. The primary goal of The Sanville Institute is to provide high-quality educational programs to our PhD students, our certificate students, and the clinical community at large; it is precisely this advanced learning that these practitioners then take into their direct service agencies and private practice settings to better address the mental health challenges of the people they serve.

Another example of Sanville’s commitment to the mental health needs of underserved populations is The Psychotherapy Services of The Sanville Institute, a low-cost treatment service in Los Angeles, where for many years Sanville alumni have volunteered both supervision and the use of office space. We now have an opportunity to provide the same quality educational experience to master’s-level clinicians working with the underserved in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco and are in the process of implementing this new program. 

In order to maintain our leadership position in the community of mental health professionals, we must continue to expand our academic offerings, to seek out new students with diverse backgrounds, and to extend our reach to underserved communities. To that end, we have established a goal to build our reserve over the next three years, with the aim of reaching $500,000 by 2010.

Education is what we do. And we do it well. To maintain and expand our academic excellence, we need to establish long-term financial solvency and stability for the Institute. That means building a stable infrastructure to support our vital programs and services and to re-invigorate the academic discussion within the larger community with more offerings such as Saturdays at Sanville and community educational forums – presentations that take on the hard-edged social issues of the times. 

We need your help to accomplish our goal. Sanville has a 33-year history of social change and enlightened education. We rely on your generosity to support our vision and our ability to continue to help others meet the challenges presented by our culture today and in the future.

Please take a moment to fill out the enclosed reply card and consider a generous contribution that will allow this stellar organization to thrive and grow.

Sincerely,

 

Myrna Klee Robinson
Chair, Board of Trustees

P.S. Please check out our newly redesigned website: www.sanville.edu. Also, there are two new additional ways to contribute to Sanville – with a credit card or with appreciated stock. To make a contribution by credit card, please fill in your credit card information on the enclosed reply card and include your signature, or call our office at 510.848.8420 or toll-free 866.848.8430. Also call our office to learn more about the advantages of donating appreciated stock.