Beverly Schydlowsky, PhD , has been selected as an Alum Fellow of the Creative Longevity and Wisdom Initiative at the Fielding Graduate University. Dr. Schydlowsky received her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1983 from the Fielding Graduate University and has had a lifelong interest in adult development.

One of Dr. Schydlowsky's efforts for the past thirteen years has been to promote positive and successful aging through the development and maintenance of a volunteer Senior Peer Counseling program. This program provides caring and compassionate peer counselors who provide individual and group support to meet the challenges of aging. The counselors participate in intensive 60-hour training in counseling skills. For those who receive their certificate of completion, their ongoing work is supervised by a licensed professional.

In 2005, Dr. Schydlowsky participated in creating a unique model of service delivery in her community of Santa Barbara, CA. Co-sponsorship was created by Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara and Catholic Charities of the Santa Barbara Region, and is called Center for Successful Aging (CSA). Support was also received from the Santa Barbara Foundation and other generous donors. Under these auspices, Dr. Schydlowsky continues as Clinical Director.

Dr. Schydlowsky hopes to leverage her fellowship into a future research component for the Center for Successful Aging program. She proposes staffing this research component with graduate students. Suggested research topics include studying the peer counselors themselves, the client population and the co-sponsorship arrangement.