Dinelia Rosa, Ph.D., Director
Center for Educational & Psychological Services
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter is in enthusiastic support of Ms. Terry Wise’s publication of her book.
Ms. Wise presented a lecture to our Counseling and Clinical Doctoral students. The focus of her presentation was on her experience with suicidal depression, the topic of her recent book. As Director of the training clinic for clinical and counseling doctoral students, I could not agree more with the fact that her presentation was one of the most compelling, and impressive presentations that we have had in quite some time. In her simple and clear style Ms. Wise was able to convey the cognitive process, planning and internal experience that led her to follow the suicide path. She was able to walk the audience through what seemed to be the obscure tunnel that she went through until light was seen on the other side. The power of the “therapeutic moments” conveyed by her during the presentation, the uniqueness of the patient’s perspective about the treatment of suicidality, and the treatment of depression provided the students with an opportunity to hear a well-rounded perspective rarely seen in training.
I strongly believe that Ms. Wise’s book offers a great contribution to mental health providers in-training and professionals at large. Since this is a topic that for the most tends to be avoided by professionals and patients, the fact that Ms. Wise shares it in such a candid manner offers an opportunity to demystify it, inviting students and professionals to delve into it. This will be of enormous training enrichment to our students.
Furthermore, as a professor of the course “Intake Assessment” which consists of teaching basic techniques for initial intake evaluation, including suicidal assessment; I look forward to adding her book as a required reading for the course.
Last but not least, as a Latina psychologist, I have encountered many occasions where there is a lack of good written resources to offer my clients experiencing suicidal depression. Having Ms. Wise’s book translated into Spanish will be an additional, magnificent contribution.
We are extremely eager too see Ms. Wise’s book published and look forward to adding it to our list of well recognized training materials!
Sincerely,
Dr. Dinelia Rosa
Director, Center for Educational & Psychological Services
Teachers College, Columbia University, NYAdjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling & Clinical Psychology
