Our alumni change the world, where will a degree in Community Mental Health take you?

 

Opportunities in the program

The Clinic Without Walls (CWOW) is one of CIIS’ six award-winning community counseling clinics and an affiliated practicum site for the Community Mental Health program. 

Situated in San Francisco low-income housing environments, CWOW aims to provide psychological therapeutic services available to underserved communities, particularly children, adults, and families who have been denied services based on stigmatization, discrimination, and/or socioeconomic factors. All services are provided free of charge.

After graduation

Graduates of the Community Mental Health program are well-equipped to create meaningful change for clients and populations underserved by existing mental health services. Today’s graduates work with individuals, couples, and families in a variety of clinical and organizational settings, including: 

  • Government agencies
  • Community non-profits
  • Hospitals, clinics, and other in- and outpatient settings
  • Schools and other education-oriented settings
  • Private practice

 

As a clinician-activist, my work focuses on bringing compassionate, culturally humble, collaborative, trauma-informed psychotherapy to communities disproportionately impacted by poverty, stigma, discrimination, and marginalization. 

-Amber Mercader, M.A., LMFT, class of 2019

Our Alumni in Action

Get inspired by their stories.

Community Mental Health graduate Dr. Patsy Tito on bringing mental health support to the Samoan and Pacific Islander community

CIIS students participate in collaborative research into school-based psychotherapy programs

CIIS hosted a two-day workshop on Suicide Intervention Skills with aim of creating suicide safer communities in the Bay Area in California