Celebrating 10 Years of Service and Training
Lewis & Clark’s Community Counseling Center, which provides the greater Portland metro area with accessible resources for mental health services and problem gambling treatment, is celebrating 10 years of service to the community!
Founded in 2012, the Counseling Center was designed as a teaching clinic—a community-based arm of the graduate school—where students enrolled in the graduate school’s counseling and therapy programs complete their practicum while providing services to their community.
The clinic quickly began to expand, adding problem gambling services to its offerings in 2013. As enrollment increased and demands for services grew, additional space was acquired in 2014 and again in 2017, and more classrooms and treatment rooms became available. The Counseling Center is currently undergoing its largest expansion yet, adding robust facilities that will enable art therapy clinical training to take place, and art therapy services to be provided to the community for the first time.
“Our goal is to provide high quality services to individuals and families impacted by gambling addiction, to provide opportunities for graduate students to implement and develop expertise in counseling/therapy competencies under the close supervision of faculty and supervisors, and to serve as a resource to the Oregon area and nationally by providing training, supervision, research and consultation.”
Over the Counseling Center’s 10 years of service, they have hosted 30 cohorts of student-trainees and served over 3800 clients. They now offer telehealth services to all of Oregon. Since its inception in 2013, Problem Gambling Services (PGS) has certified 158 students to become gambling addiction counselors, served 667 individuals and families who are impacted by addiction, and served 34% BIPOC clients since May 2021.
“The clinic provides a great amount of supervision and experience as you are learning to apply the theory you have been studying,” says Lori Henry, marriage, couple, and family therapy ’18. “It is created to be a learning environment where it is safe to try things out and find your voice as a therapist. As an alumnus and supervisor, I think it is a priceless experience.”
The new clinic space is currently scheduled to open in Spring 2023. More information about services offered is available on their website.
