In response to the growing mental health workforce crisis in California, CIIS will launch a groundbreaking concentration in Community Mental Health through its Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program in fall 2008. The Institute will simultaneously offer a new Certificate in Community Mental Health designed for those with a master’s degree in counseling psychology.

The two programs are designed to help build a diverse mental health workforce trained to provide effective and culturally competent therapeutic services in the public sector.

“This program has the potential to serve as a national model for training counseling psychologists who can work in public and community mental health agencies, fulfilling the needs of a diverse clientele,” said CIIS President Joseph Subbiondo.

The Community Mental Health program represents an important collaboration between the academic and public mental health sectors. Community and public agencies have indicated their interest in working with CIIS to develop and implement the program. An advisory council will help ensure that the program continues to meet the needs of these agencies and will help strengthen the ties CIIS has to organizations that are the potential employers of its graduates.

Clinics and community-based treatment programs report that many of their clients have severe psychopathology, dual and triple diagnosis, and may also be grappling with substance abuse and homelessness. Many agency directors and clinicians say they look forward to working with CIIS graduates who will intern at their clinics or be hired as new staff.

“Graduates of CIIS’s Community Mental Health program will have received core course training in areas such as cultural competency and case management, eliminating the need for clinic staff to spend valuable time training them in essential areas of client need,” said Academic Vice President Judie Wexler.  “Our graduates will enter the field of community mental health with a greater level of expertise and thus be able to offer quality treatment to their clients.”

Read more about CIIS new Community Mental Health program.