Openness of heart and mind. Welcome
Our goals
In 2022/2023, we began to identify goals appropriate for this startup organization.
Goal 1: Identify the Community Service Area: (See our map)
Outlined in the first report (see section: Our Unique Features), we identified a service area encompassing nine cities, covering approximately 101.2 square miles. This area comprises approximately 504,697 residents and is represented by 12 distinct postal ZIP codes (excluding PO Box ZIP codes).
Goal 2: Identify Existing Mental Health Programs in the Service Area:
Our first report documented the following existing mental health services within the service area: 46 brick-and-mortar organizations, 4 crisis service providers (including 911 and 988), 115 private practitioners, and 22 faith-based mental health programs.
Goal 3: Determine Additional SERVICE Needs:
The second report (see section: Our Unique Features), recommended that in-person interviews be the next step. However, out of respect for the identified service providers' time, privacy, and confidentiality, we decided to develop the Greater Northridge Community Mental Health Services Questionnaire. Service providers completed the survey through Qualtrics to help determine a population to be served by a proposed Tele-Mental Health (TMH) program. We identified 233 mental health service providers who received our questionnaire in August of 2025.
Goal 4: Prioritize Identified SERVICE Needs:
As a consequence of achieving many of our goals to date, TWC will continue to emphasize the importance of Macro skills training, but is now able to place a stronger emphasis on integrating foundational clinical concepts essential to an effective TMH service program.
Goal 5: TMH Service Program:
During the 2026-2027 academic year, TWC will provide a no-cost TMH service program to the community, staffed by trained and supervised second-year interns and augmented by recently graduated MSWs enrolled in the ACSW licensing program.
Our core training for such a program will emphasize fundamental clinical concepts, highlighting their use in actual situations, supported by evidence-based research.
