Bowling Green, Ky. - Dr. Page Talley and his wife, Betty, have spent their careers preparing students to be outstanding counselors.  Now their life’s work will come full circle, as the couple has made a $600,000 commitment in their estate to the Family Counseling Clinic at Western Kentucky University.

According to Tom Hiles, WKU’s vice president for Institutional Advancement, the Talleys’ gift will create an operational endowment in support of the Family Counseling Clinic, which is a part of the new Clinical Education Complex at WKU.

Page Talley, a Russellville, Ky., native, received his bachelor’s degree from WKU in 1953.  After several of his professors at WKU encouraged him to go on to graduate school, he completed a Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Mississippi, which was followed by a doctorate from the University of Miami.  He is retired from the Florida Atlantic University where he served as the Professor Emeritus in Counseling.  The Talleys make their home in Sebastian, Fla., where Betty Talley still serves as a counselor in the school system.

“WKU was the start of my academic career,” Page Talley explained.  “My professors ensured me that I had the ability to go on to graduate school.  I then spent my professional life preparing graduate students for the counseling profession.”

Dr. Aaron Hughey, head of WKU’s Department of Counseling and Student Affairs, said the Clinic will principally serve lower socioeconomic families, couples, and individuals in the community who need professional assistance in managing their personal and relationship problems. 

“The Family Counseling Clinic will provide an important service to the community,” Dr. Hughey explained.  “Families experience numerous difficulties, including communication problems, role relationship conflicts, family illnesses, developmental conflicts, traumatic events, family violence, and many other challenges.  Clinical help for these difficulties is needed in our community, and many families and individuals desire counseling to help overcome their problems, but they are unable to afford a counselor.” 

Dr. Hughey said graduate interns will work in the Clinic under the supervision of University faculty who are licensed in Mental Health Counseling and / or Marriage & Family Therapy.

Dr. Hughey said the Talleys’ bequest commitment will support the continued national accreditation of the Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy master’s degree programs by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).  “We are very grateful to the Talleys for their generosity, foresight, and vision in recognizing the unique potential of the Family Counseling Clinic to provide a much-needed service at the local level by offering important services that will serve to further enhance the reputation of WKU,” he said.

Though Betty Talley is not a WKU alumna, she shares her husband’s interest in the program, as she has also spent her career as a counselor.  “We have been involved in counseling for all of our professional lives,” she said.  “There is a tremendous need for family counseling in the Bowling Green area, and we are pleased to provide meaningful assistance.”

The Clinical Education Complex will bring a number of different services for families together under one roof, something Betty Talley finds very significant.  “If families have to go too many places to get needed services, the hassle becomes more than they can cope with,” she said.  In addition to the Family Counseling Clinic, the CEC will also house the Early Childhood Center, the Kelly Autism Program, the Acquired Brain Injury Resource Program, and the Communication Disorders Clinic. 

Hiles said the CEC will be an interdisciplinary and collaborative project that will create a comprehensive clinical setting for education and health and human services professionals.  “The CEC builds upon a strong tradition at WKU to meet local community needs, fill service delivery gaps, provide opportunities for applied research, and enrich both undergraduate and graduate students’ educational experiences through an interdisciplinary team approach,” he said.

According to Hiles, the endowment that will be established through the Talleys’ bequest will provide a permanent source of funding for the Family Counseling Clinic.  “This will allow the Talleys to support WKU and the Family Counseling Clinic in perpetuity,” Hiles said.  “The gift remains intact, while a portion of the investment returns will provide permanent support for the clinic.  We are grateful for the Talleys’ vision for this program.”

The permanence is important to Page Talley as well, since he spent his professional life counseling and preparing graduate students to be counselors, both of which are part of the mission of the Family Counseling Clinic.  “We are pleased that we can give back a little bit of what we gained to help support WKU and the Counseling Clinic in the years to come,” he said.  “When both of us are gone, we will still be counseling – wherever we are,” he said. 

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For more information, contact Tom Hiles, (270) 745-6208.

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