DERRY & WENDY SELDIN
Taking On the Talent Gap

Derry Seldin arrived at Menninger’s former Topeka, Kansas, campus in 1987 as a troubled young adult, burdened by racing thoughts and rollercoaster moods. Over the next ten months of his stay, he thrived in The Clinic’s nurturing environment and began to envision a future for himself.

“Slowly, but surely, I was getting better,” Seldin says. “I was very, very lucky to get the help that I needed—it saved my life.” 

While at Menninger, Seldin struck up a close relationship with John Hart, one of the first licensed clinical professional counselors (LCPC) in the state of Kansas. The two met weekly for therapy. Seldin felt at ease in Hart’s company and made significant progress. “It was just what I needed,” he says. When it was time to leave Menninger, Hart paved the way for Seldin to work at the local Heritage House bed-and-breakfast—a historic farmhouse where The Menninger Clinic originally opened in 1925.

That first job later led to Seldin’s career in the hotel business, a move to St. Louis, and a fateful meeting with his future wife Wendy. The couple will celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary next year. 

Today Seldin has a full and satisfying life. But he doubts he would be on the same path if not for the care and compassion he experienced at Menninger. Alarmingly, counselors like Hart are in short supply. About 37% of the U.S. population, or 122 million Americans, live in areas experiencing a shortage of mental health professionals, according to a USAFacts study published in June 2021.

To address the growing workforce crisis, Derry and Wendy recently endowed a training fellowship at Menninger in Hart’s honor—helping to cultivate new generations of mental health providers known as licensed professional counselors (LPC) in Texas. The new John Hart, PhD, LPC-S Licensed Professional Counselor Fellowship enables those with a master's degree in psychology, counseling, or a related field to earn licensure as counselors. Called LPC-Associates until they are fully licensed, the fellows are trained to work with individuals, families, and groups. 

“It’s good for the community, it’s good for getting experienced clinicians into the mental health community, and it helps by giving fellows the excellent training you can only get at Menninger,” says Hart of the fellowship. “I am very thankful and appreciative of Derry’s gift. It is an honor to have the fellowship in my name.”