Pasadena-based Fuller Psychological and Family Services (FPFS) is making headlines in Southern California in its mission to train the next generation of clinicians while providing psychotherapy and psychological assessment to the local community. FPFS, the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy clinic, offers safe, effective, inclusive, and affordable services to clients seeking support for their mental health.
Over the years, it has become one of the country’s largest university-based mental health clinics.
“The mission of FPFS is to provide psychotherapy and psychological assessment to underserved communities, while also training the next generation of clinicians,” said Ted Cosse, Executive Director of Fuller Psychological and Family Services and dean of the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. “We are committed to offering inclusive and affordable services to our clients, regardless of their background or financial situation.”
FPFS is unique in that it offers therapy in four different languages (English, Spanish, Korean, and Cantonese), which allows mental health services to be provided to a wide swath of LA County’s population. Another unique attribute of FPFS is that its clinicians are trained to integrate spirituality into psychotherapy. According to a recent survey, nearly 80 percent of Americans practice some form of religion, and studies have shown that spiritual support, meaning-making, and coping predict health and well-being beyond the effects of secular support.
To make its services even more accessible, FPFS offers affordable fees, with the most popular fee at $45 per session and the lowest fee at $5 per session for indigent individuals. This is in stark contrast to the $150 – $250 charged by licensed professionals in LA County. “Our low fees are made possible by utilizing highly trained students who are supervised by licensed professionals,” said Cosse. “These licensed supervisors are Fuller faculty and employees. We are also blessed by the support of several charitable foundations in the Pasadena community that provide funding to support our work.”
Through its psychotherapy services, FPFS treats a range of diagnoses including depression, anxiety, and trauma in helping clients deal with problems with work, relationships, assertiveness, meaning in life, loneliness, identity, and abuse. Through its assessment services, FPFS provides comprehensive neuropsychological outpatient evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults to treat diagnoses such as attention-deficit/
“At Fuller Psychological and Family Services, we believe that everyone deserves access to high-quality mental health services,” said Cosse. “We are committed to providing safe, effective, inclusive, and affordable psychotherapy and psychological assessment to those in our community who have historically lacked access to good mental health care.”