Collective Care Center

Overview

The CCC prioritizes transformation through training and education, treatment and healing, and service and outreach emphasizing liberation, empowerment, and evidence to address identity-based adverse experiences. Herein, we train clinicians to provide specialized care to disenfranchised communities under the supervision of informed leaders/clinicians.

It is the mission of the Collective Care Center to be a premier clinic in the area of evidence-based identity-based responsive treatment of socioemotional distress through both therapy and assessment. Additionally, we endeavor to engage in community education and comprehensive clinical training on identity-based adversity.

The CCC annually provides clinical services (therapy and assessment) to ~100 individuals navigating identity-based adversity and has trained 1,000 clinicians to do the same, nationally and internationally.

Therapy/Assessment Services

The CCC provides accessible individual, family, and group therapy which prioritizes identity development through affirmation, exploration, and coping. Individuals from various backgrounds experience emotional distress due to consistent exposure to systemic issues. This exposure can lead to feelings such as sadness, anxiety, worry, anger, frustration, and hopelessness. Additionally, the aforenoted individuals can become stressed and worried because they feel that they cannot control or respond to identity-based adversity in ways that feel helpful to them and will keep them and the people they care about safe. The experience of these feelings can contribute to difficulties in relationships with friends and families, challenges on the job, and a general lack of mental wellness.

Identity-Based Adversity

Here at the Collective Care Center (CCC) we believe that those navigating identity-based adversity can experience a reduction in the negative effects of these challenges through three main steps: (1) developing their identity, (2) processing experiences of racial identity-based adversity, and (3) building and practicing skills for future challenging events. The CCC offers services across the lifespan including individual, family, and group therapy as well as identity-based psychological assessment.

Community Engagement, Partnerships, and Education

The Collective Care Center is committed to increasing access to information concerning: (1) Defining Identity-based adverse experiences, (2) Understanding the Impact of Identity-based adverse experiences, (3) How to get help for Identity-based adverse experiences, and (4) How to help others get help for Identity-based adverse experiences.

In addition to the CCC’s in-house clinic at Spalding University, the CCC provides informed identity-based responsive treatment and assessment services at satellite sites throughout the city of Louisville including university/college settings, community-facing centers dedicated to communities facing a lack of resources, as well as centers that prioritize communal healing.

The CCC has conducted a number of local, national, and international presentations that equip mental health networks and other organizations with the knowledge and skill needed to reduce the impact of identity-based adverse experiences.

Director, Collective Care Center

Lucille Gardner, PsyD

Dr. Gardner is an alumna of Rutgers University where she studied psychology and music. She earned a MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Indiana State University, and a MA and PsyD in Clinical Psychology from Spalding University. She completed her internship at the University of Illinois at Chicago and her postdoctoral fellowship within Student Wellness at The University of Chicago. Dr. Gardner is an integrationist. She believes in the nature of collective healing and the value of being grounded in both identity and community. Thus, her approach to therapy (thinking about, teaching about, and doing) is collaborative, contextually informed, safety-informed, liberatory, and affirmative. She seeks to center those disadvantaged by systems that have far long deferred fault. Dr. Gardner works to reconcile the relationship between evidence and practice for the disenfranchised as she establishes her place in the field of psychology through clinical work, leadership, and in the classroom.

CCC Student Clinicians

​Renija Redman

I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. I want to become a clinical psychologist to provide diagnostic clarification, accessible mental healthcare, and education regarding mental health services to marginalized populations. I am excited to learn more about my theoretical orientation and my personal style as a psychologist in training. In my spare time, I enjoy concerts, movies, festivals, parks, travel, and painting/coloring.  A fun fact about me is that I am also a special education teacher.
 

David Davis

I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama. Many people hope to “change the world” in one way or another. I have a similar ambition, but with a different perspective. Each of the people that I work with is an individual that has lived a life full of unique experiences; therefore, I believe the best way to “change the world” is to have a positive and healing impact on the individual “worlds” of each person with whom I will work.” I am most excited to contribute an optimistic mindset, the ambition to grow and develop in the field of psychology, and my previous experience with assessment/therapy for children, adolescents, and families.

 In my free time, I enjoy playing and watching various sports, practicing martial arts, outdoor recreation, and spending quality time with friends.

 

Akira Isaac

I grew up on the beautiful twin island of Trinidad and Tobago! I want to be a psychologist because I am passionate about mental health, research, and working with children and adolescents. I hope to foster healing and growth by creating safe spaces where children and their parents/caregivers feel respected, heard and understood. I am eager to serve, connect with, educate, and learn from the Louisville community through the CCC. I enjoy brunch, baking, arts and crafts (e.g., painting, basket-making), video calls with my nephews and sharing time with my loved ones.

 

Sam Hollis-White

Sam Hollis-White is a fourth-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology doctoral program at Spalding University. She grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. From a young age, she was interested in understanding people around her and enjoyed helping others tap into their inner strengths. Sam is passionate about dedicating her career to working with those with marginalized individuals and disenfranchised communities. She loves the idea of being a psychologist because she loves puzzles; she wants to help adolescents and adults’ piece together their strengths, personality traits, and therapeutic techniques to help them improve their lives. A fun fact about Sam is that she rode horses at an equine center for ten years!