Center for Healthy Families

Presenter: Elif Karakus, Public Health Science, Global Public Health Scholars

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For my practicum, I interned at the Center for Healthy Families (CHF), located in the University of Maryland's School of Public Health. CHF serves as the primary clinical training site for the Couple and Family Therapy graduate program and provides therapy services to families, couples, and individuals in the surrounding community. I was mentored by Tiara Fennell, the Clinic Director and Assistant Clinical Professor. During the internship, I observed therapy sessions led by graduate students, attended weekly evening supervision groups, conducted intake calls, found and created client resources, and helped prepare materials for therapy sessions. During this experience, I learned the importance of thinking systemically in mental health care by observing how family dynamics, social roles, and larger community structures shape a person’s well-being. I also observed how therapy models like CBT and attachment theory are applied in therapy sessions. CBT allows therapist to understand how behaviors, thoughts, and emotions affect their client's mental health. Lastly, another big takeaway was understanding how systemic barriers, such as insurance policies and therapist burnout, impact mental health access. I now have a stronger understanding of the challenges clients and providers face and how these are often tied to larger public health issues such as accessibility, inclusivity, and the social determinants of health. This clinic plays a huge role in accessibility by operating on a flexible sliding fee scale. Their work is important because they work with clients to find affordable pricing and flexible therapy options. Also, CHF emphasizes the importance of inclusivity by acknowledging and learning from diversity courses and directly from clients. Overall, this internship deepened my knowledge of mental health care, health equity, inclusivity, and community care.