By Pat Drew, Member, Board of Directors, The Counseling Center

Mar. 9, 2016:  The board of directors of The Counseling Center has accepted the decision of Dr. Richard Shoup, director, and Catherine Nicholas, clinical director, to step down from their directorships at the end of June 2016, as reported by Rosanne Welshimer, chairman of the board.  

"While the organization is sorry to lose them in the leadership roles they have held for many, many years, the board is pleased to announce that Dick and Catherine will continue as staff therapists, treating clients at The Counseling Center," said Welshimer.

In keeping with Dick's and Catherine's devoted service to The Counseling Center, they have prepared their successor directors well. Virgil Roberson joined the organization as a therapist over a year ago, and he will succeed Dick Shoup as director.

Dr. Jane Benjamin, who has been a psychologist at The Counseling Center for twenty years, will succeed Catherine Nicholas as clinical director. The board is so pleased to have had the benefit of Dick's and Catherine's leadership for so many years and to move forward now under the leadership of two other highly qualified professionals. 

Dick Shoup and Catherine Nicholas will be honored at a benefit on May 6 at the home of Mary and Jim Hoch.

Dr. Richard Shoup has served as The Counseling Center's director for twenty years. Among his many accomplishments, he re-established the organization as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit institution, which put The Counseling Center on the road to financial independence with grants, personal contributions, and fees supporting the mission. Under Dick's directorship, The Counseling Center grew to a level of success that now enables the organization to provide subsidies for many clients who are not able to afford full fees. 

Dick also built important relationships with Sarah Lawrence College, NewYork-Presbyterian/Lawrence Hospital, The Reformed Church of Bronxville, and the Orthodox Church, seeking to leverage the center's services with those of other strong organizations. In addition to being a very successful therapist, Dick is also an ordained minister, an organist, and an auto mechanic. Dick has been a fabulous director and a wonderful ambassador for the organization in the community.

Catherine Nicholas has been at the heart of the organization, where she has worked for forty-two years. She was instrumental in effecting important changes, including the separation from a prior parent organization and the relocation of offices. As clinical director, Catherine has been the first voice speaking to new clients, and she has had responsibility for assigning clients to the therapist who could best help them. Catherine is credited with cultivating a remarkably supportive and collegial atmosphere within the organization. For many years, Catherine also put her love of music to work as she developed and oversaw the chamber music series, which brought extraordinary classical music to the community and earned new supporters for The Counseling Center. 

Catherine's professional persona might be summed up in the word "nurturing." Keenly aware of the emotional demands of their occupations, Catherine develops close and caring relationships with staff members, who appreciate her professional guidance and personal encouragement. While Catherine will be leaving the position of clinical director, the culture she created carries forward, and she will continue as a staff therapist. In addition to music, Catherine enjoys travel and tennis.

Incoming Director and Clinical Director

Virgil Roberson, incoming director, received his training at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis and earned a master of divinity degree in psychiatry and religion from Union Theological Seminary. Virgil is a certified and licensed psychoanalyst and psychodynamic psychotherapist and has been in private practice for over 25 years. He has expertise in several practice areas, including marriage and relationship difficulties, grief, career transitions, addiction, depression, and anxiety. In his practice, he works with individuals, couples, and groups. While assuming the new role of director, Virgil will continue to see clients of The Counseling Center in Bronxville and New York City.  

In addition to his accomplishments as a therapist, Virgil's broad experience derives from other positions he has held, including serving as a chaplain at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, as the intern minister at Marble Collegiate Church during the tenure of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and as president of the Bronxville Field Club from 2006 to 2012, during which time the club undertook an extensive expansion.

Dr. Jane Benjamin, incoming clinical director, is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been in practice for almost thirty years, twenty of which have been with The Counseling Center, where she has worked closely with Catherine Nicholas. Jane specializes in working with both late adolescents and adults. She enjoys doing short-term as well as long-term intensive psychotherapy. Her particular areas of expertise include identity formation in adolescents and young adults, self-injury, borderline personality disorder, and depression. She also treats women struggling with infertility. Jane will continue to serve clients when she assumes the role of clinical director.

Jane received her BA from Stanford University and her MA and PhD from the University of Michigan. She also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the department of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Hospital. Board members have known and admired Jane for many years.

Pictured here (top to bottom):  Dr. Richard Shoup, Catherine Nicholas, Virgil Roberson, and Dr. Jane Benjamin.  

Photos by Carolyn Simpson