The Counseling and Mental Health Professions Clinic assists individuals, couples, and families as they explore and solve problems in a confidential, safe environment. It is our mission to provide high-quality, affordable services to the community in a warm, safe, and professional environment. The CMHP Clinic is composed of multiple programs in counseling: Mental Health Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy, Rehabilitation Counseling, and Creative Arts Therapy Counseling.
The CMHP Clinic provides the following services to residents of Long Island and the surrounding areas:
- Individual, couple, and family therapy
- Community education seminars
- Group therapy to individuals, couples, and families
- Speakers for schools, hospitals, and agencies
All clinical services are provided under direct supervision of an approved supervisor and experienced faculty.
The Counseling and Mental Health Professions Clinic provides individual, couple, and family therapy. Due to COVID-19 concerns, all of our services are being offered through telehealth on a HIPAA-compliant Zoom platform. If you are interested in learning more about our services or making an appointment, please call 516-463-5234 or email us at cmhpgradasst@gmail.com.
Director's Message
Welcome to the Counseling and Mental Health Professions Clinic at Hofstra University. It is our mission to provide high-caliber, low-cost services to the community. We do so in a warm, safe, and professional environment. Our clinic is housed within the Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center, which offers access to four other disciplines as well. The bulk of our clients come from Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens Counties.
Types of Counseling
Marriage and Family Therapy
Marriage and family therapists work with couples and families to explore and improve conflict resolution skills in relationships that develop across the lifecycle. We provide couple counseling to heterosexual and same-sex couples and help families deal with myriad developmental issues, including parenting strategies, coping with divorce, processing the impact of grief and loss on the family system, and improving family functioning.
Marriage and family therapists are specifically trained to work with family- and couple-centered issues. After extensive training in family systems, students apply their knowledge to their work with clients under intense supervision. Several models of family therapy are utilized in the clinic. Some models focus on the perceived structure of the family, while others concentrate on collaboratively finding solutions to presenting issues. All of the models seek to address issues on a short-term basis. While the length of therapeutic engagement varies from family to family, a typical course of therapy can be 3 to 4 months.
Mental Health Counseling
Mental health counselors are highly skilled professionals trained in counseling and psychotherapy to treat individuals with mental and emotional disorders and other behavioral challenges. Mental health counselors help to address mental health, human relationship, education and career concerns within preventive and treatment contexts. Mental health counselors demonstrate a concern for the short-term and long-term well-being of individuals, couples, families, groups, and organizations.
Mental health counselors employ evidence-based methods of counseling and psychotherapy to treat individuals, couples, and families dealing with problems such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, eating disorders, traumatic loss, academic and career decision-making, stress and crisis management, disruptive behaviors in youth, transitions in aging, and personality and adjustment disorders.
As part of the clinical treatment team in the Hofstra CMHP Clinic, mental health counselors follow a strength-based, time-limited approach to assist clients to further develop their natural capacities, skills, and strategies to address problematic issues in their lives.
Rehabilitation Counseling
Rehabilitation counseling is a systematic process which assists persons with physical, mental, developmental, cognitive, and emotional disabilities to achieve their personal, career, and independent living goals in the most integrated setting possible through the application of the counseling process. The counseling process involves communication, goal setting, and beneficial growth or change through self-advocacy and psychological, vocational, social, and behavioral interventions (Scope of Practice Statement by CRCC).
Specific services rehabilitation counselors can provide within the CMHP Clinic include:
- Assessment and appraisal
- Vocational and treatment planning
- Career (vocational) counseling
- Individual and group counseling to address adjustment to the disability
- Case management, referral, and service coordination
- Interventions to remove environmental, employment, and attitudinal barriers
- Consultation about rehabilitation technology and workplace/independent living accommodations
- Advocacy for the rights of persons with disabilities
Creative Arts Therapy
Art therapy is a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the art therapist, use art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to explore their feelings and reconcile emotional conflicts. Research supports the use of art therapy within a professional relationship for the therapeutic benefits gained through artistic self-expression and reflection for individuals and groups who experience illness, trauma, and mental health problems and those seeking personal growth.
Art therapy practice requires knowledge of the visual arts and the creative process, as well as human development and psychological and counseling theories and techniques. Master's level art therapists practice in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals, psychiatric and rehabilitation facilities, wellness centers, forensic institutions, schools, crisis centers, senior communities, private practice, and other clinical and community settings conducting both individual and group sessions. In New York, art therapists are required to hold a license (LCAT) to practice. Art therapists are also encouraged to become nationally registered and board certified (ATR-BC) through the Art Therapy Credentials Board.
At the Saltzman Community Services Center, the approaches and modalities utilized in creative arts therapy help identify and clarify personal and collaborative struggles. Through the use of visual elements and the creative process, therapeutic interventions can help provide awareness and understanding to children, adolescents, and adults. Different techniques help individuals express themselves through images when verbal expression is too challenging.
Weekly Workshops
Groups Now Forming: Space is Limited!
Please call 516-463-5234 or send an email
All groups are held at:
Saltzman Community Services Center
Counseling and Mental Health Professions Clinic
131 Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11549-1310
Days and times are subject to change.
Effective Parenting Workshop
(Available in English and Spanish)
6 sessions held via Zoom
Certificates of completion are available. Learn about parenting styles and enhance your relationship with your child. Connect, learn, and build relationships with parents in the local area. $15 per session. Monday evenings, 8-9 p.m. Registration is ongoing.
Konfident Kids
Saturdays, 1-2:30 p.m.
A group for kids, ages 6-12. Six sessions $15 per session. Konfident Kids is a fun and safe place for kids to:
- Improve self-esteem
- Develop decision-making skills
- Encourage positive self-image
- Build confidence
- Improve social skills
Registration is ongoing.
Clinic Staff
Teresa Grella, MA, LMFT, is director of the Counseling and Mental Health Professions Clinic at the Saltzman Community Services Center at Hofstra University. Ms. Grella is a New York state-licensed marriage and family therapist and a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. She served as president of the LIAMFT from 2010 to 2012 and remains active in the New York Division for Marriage & Family Therapy. In addition to her administrative duties, Ms. Grella is a clinical supervisor at the Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center and an adjunct instructor in Hofstra University’s Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program. She is also a graduate of Hofstra University’s Marriage and Family Therapy program. In private practice, Ms. Grella specializes in relationship issues of all types, particularly those that involve marital difficulties, families in recovery, and life cycle transitions.
In the News
Proposed Mental Health Days for Schoolchildren
Clinic Director Teresa Grella was interviewed by Newsday for their cover story in early December about legislation proposing that New York school districts offer “mental health days” to children.
Class Spotlights Changing Roles for Dads
Clinic Director Teresa Grella was interviewed by Newsday about the changing role of fathers for the article: “Dads with daughters sign up to raise their hair-braiding game.” The story is about a popular Long Island class that teaches fathers how to braid their daughters’ hair in several different styles.
Broaching the Vaccination Question
As COVID-19 restrictions regarding socializing and get-togethers relax, Clinic Director Teresa Grella was interviewed by Newsday about how to ask family, friends and co-workers if they have been vaccinated without angering or alienating them.
Mental Health Support During Family Illness
Clinic Director Teresa Grella was interviewed by Conde Nast/Self Magazine for a video segment, “Peace of Mind and Body,” about long-term hospital care and why the mental health of both the patient and their family is just as critical as the physical effort of fighting through an illness.
Building Family Resiliency
How can parents, grandparents, and other family members have validating conversations about missed milestones with children, teens, and young adults (ie. athletic events, graduation ceremonies, proms), and other disappointments as a result of the social distancing mandated by the COVID-19 crisis? Two leaders from Hofstra's Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center lead the conversation.
An Excused Day for Mental Health
Legislation has been introduced that would allow schools throughout New York state to offer an excusable absence to students who are in genuine need of a mental health day. News 12 Long Island interviewed Clinic Director Teresa Grella about why this bill would be beneficial to young people and may encourage them to consider their mental well-being as part of their overall health.
