Cardinal Success Program - Nia Center

The Cardinal Success Program @ Nia Center (CSP) is an innovative partnership between the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), Department of Counseling and Human Development, and the west Louisville community. By design, it brings access to quality counseling and psychology services to residents from a traditionally underserved area of the community. Services are provided by graduate-level students working under the direct supervision of a licensed mental health professional who also serves as a UofL faculty member.

Working closely with residents and community leaders, the Cardinal Success Program has been designed to target behavioral health services to the priorities identified by members of the community. In addition to providing individual, group, and family counseling and psychological assessment services, the Cardinal Success Program offers prevention and support programs tailored to the community's needs. Parent education and parent and family support programs designed to strengthen families and parent-child relationships are a central focus of CSP.

Another key element of Cardinal Success Program services is identifying and building character strength in children and adolescents to promote social skills, self-esteem and resilience. This positive psychology approach is woven into individual and group services offered at Cardinal Success. In addition to serving children and families, Cardinal Success Program is committed to providing counseling and wellness services to adults dealing with challenging life circumstances.

The Signature Partnership Initiative (SPI) is a University-wide effort to improve the quality of life and economic opportunity for residents of West Louisville.

Wellness, mental health, education and career and college readiness are inter-related, and SPI seeks to address all these challenges by embedding scholar-practitioners in the community.

The Cardinal Success Program @ Nia Center will achieve these goals by implementing a clinical training model for counseling students, which is similar to the successful clinical model for teacher preparation that has already been established at CEHD Signature Partnership schools.

The clinical training model will allow students to be immersed on site in a diverse community environment for practicum and internship experiences. Graduate-level classes will also be held at the Shawnee site.

Students completing practicum and internships at the Cardinal Success Program are enrolled in master’s and doctoral programs in the College of Education and Human Development, Kent School of Social Work, and the School of Nursing. Faculty and students with the department engage in approved research at both the Nia Center and Academy @ Shawnee locations.