Most of the Clients Are Families...
The Counseling Program is one of APA's clinical programs. Over the years, APA recognized a number of clients in need of psychological counseling who failed to receive proper care because of the cultural differences between the clients and the existing mental health program. Due to the great demands of a separate counseling program for the Asian immigrant families, APA Family Support Services began offering counseling for families with mental health care needs in April of 1998. This program has been running for 2 years, and currently it is serving about 70 families in the Bay area. Most clients being served are of Asian immigrant background.

The program provides culturally appropriate counseling regarding parenting, relationship, marriage and family issues. It also provides immigration and cultural adjustment support by counseling the clients on how to better cope with the various emotional stresses inherent in immigrating to a new country. Due to the program's specialization, most of the clients are families with young children. The program also provides support for the children of the families in dealing with their stresses at school including peer relationship issues.

The staff providing the services are clinical professionals with master degrees and graduate students specializing in psychology or counseling psychology from various universities and colleges. These interns must have completed basic behavioral science courses required by their various fields of psychological studies before they accepted as counseling interns. Licensed social workers and psychotherapists provide on the job training by supervising interns' counseling sessions. Due to limited funding, APA only provides bilingual counseling for Chinese and Filipino clients.

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