Multicultural Counseling Services
Counseling services to improve wellness in diverse communities
We strive to provide a multicultural environment where everyone feels welcome. Immigrants and refugees face many difficulties accessing mental health services. As a behavioral health provider that resettles refugees, we recognize the significant need for mental health services to support them as they rebuild their lives. Many refugees have trauma from the circumstances that forced them to flee their homeland.
LCS Northwest services are provided without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious belief, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, ability, military or veteran status, source of income or political affiliation. This office serves all clients regardless of inability to pay. Discounts for essential services are offered depending upon family size and income.
To meet the unique needs of immigrants and refugees, our model of mental health care focuses on:
Early Intervention: Coordination of early screening, intervention and linkage to culturally-appropriate care improves emotional wellness.
- Clinical Treatment: We offer Trauma-informed care based on the sanctuary model with individual and group therapy, intensive/medical case management and care coordination.
- Community Wellness and Healing: We build on community strengths to offer hope, healing and inspiration.
- Community Partnerships and Advocacy: We work with and for the community to strengthen the safety net for refugees and immigrants.
Multicultural Counseling
We work with people who live in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties. Our clients include individuals and families from different cultural and ethnic groups who are in need of mental health services. Our dedicated clinicians develop wellness plans while maintaining confidentiality and privacy.
Our mental health services include:
- Trauma Recovery
- Youth and Family Transition
- Grief and Loss
- Marriage and Family
- Senior Services
- Domestic Violence
- Anger Management
- Culturally-specific Counseling
- Medication Management
- Case Management
- Parenting Classes
- Living Well with Chronic Conditions
- Mental Health Assessment and Counseling
- Peer Services
Our clinicians offer one-on-one support and in-depth counseling with the goal of helping all people achieve wellness.
Schedule an Appointment
If you are a client of LCSNW and are having a mental health crisis, please call our crisis line at 503-713-6978.
If you are NOT a client of LCSNW and are having a mental health crisis, please call the Multnomah County Crisis Line at 503-988-4888.
For more information on specific services, eligibility or to schedule an appointment, please call:
In Multnomah and Clackamas County: (503) 731-9589
Services offered in: Arabic, Burmese, English, Farsi, French, German, Italian, Nepali, Russian, Spanish, Somali, and Zomi. We are skilled at working with an interpreter for other languages.
Washington County: 503-924-2448
Services offered in: Arabic, English, Spanish, Farsi, Dari, Urdu and Hindi.
Washington County adult and youth counseling referrals can be faxed to (503)-352-1088.
Insurance Accepted for All Locations:
We accept the Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid).
Uninsured?
If you don’t qualify for Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid), please inquire about possible options for complimentary services. Call 503-731-9587 for details.
Pathways to Wellness
Pathways to Wellness: Integrating Refugee Health and Well-being (Pathways) supports the emotional well‐being of refugees by enhancing adjustment, increasing self‐sufficiency, and creating connections to the community. We use an innovative approach that identifies refugees with significant symptoms of depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress and connect them to the right care that promotes healing.
Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15)
In partnership with Multnomah County Health Department (MCHD), we helped integrate refugee mental health screening (RHS-15) into the mandated physical health screening that all refugees undergo. Refugees who are positive on the mental health screening questionnaire are referred to us for centralized referral and care coordination. This results in early linkage to culturally-appropriate behavioral health treatment and better outcomes for refugee mental health.
Wellness and Adjustment Support Groups
Refugees often experience trauma from the resettlement process. To support refugee well being and integration, we offer adjustment support groups. We explore topics such as culture shock, the refugee experience and mental health. Some of our current groups include:
- Karen Women’s Weaving Group
- Garden Support Group and Wellness programing
- New Arrival Adjustment Support Groups
- Beaverton High School Newcomer Adjustment Support Groups
Refugee Peer Support Training for Professionals
We have adapted an 80-hour state approved peer support program for refugees. The curriculum trains Peer Support/Wellness Specialists in refugee specific emotional health promotion and peer-to-peer emotional support. A 40-hour version is also available.
Content focuses on skill development that decreases stigma while promoting self-care and coping skills. We work with professionals on providing psycho-education, patient navigation and care coordination, along with advocacy across service systems.
We offer trainings twice annually thanks to the support of Meyer Memorial Trust.
Eastern European Services
We have resettled many refugees from the Former Soviet Union to Oregon over the last 30 years. Refugees from Eastern Europe bring histories of religious persecution and a deep faith with them. They hold strong values around the family unit and a very “tight knit” community.
Despite their strength, they have unique challenges including marginalization that comes from not being recognized for their culturally specific needs in the school system, child welfare, criminal and juvenile justice, health and social services. Eastern Europeans are largely invisible to our systems as they are conventionally seen as “white”. Yet their challenges are unique.
We are here to connect our clients to community partners, resources and services so that they can thrive. We have several Russian speaking clinicians who offer culturally specific, linguistically appropriate, trauma informed and recovery oriented services to the Eastern European population.
Multidisciplinary Team
The Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Counseling program, is grant funded through Multnomah county Aging, Disability and Veterans’ Services (ADVS). Our team is comprised of five mental health specialists who are based out of Lutheran Community Services Northwest. The Mental Health Specialists provide mental health guidance to the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) at each of Multnomah County’s Aging, Disability and Veteran’s Services branches. We accept Mental Health referrals from Case Managers, APS investigators, Senior Centers and community partners.
Our team provides intakes, crisis management, outreach, assessments (including cognitive and risk), short-term counseling, treatment planning and referrals as appropriate. The program is designed to provide short term Mental Health services for clients who need help linking to other services, or who are not able to obtain those services elsewhere. The Mental Health Specialists work with clients who receive services through ADVS. Our services are free of charge. For more information, please call 503-231-7480
Minority Aids Initiative Health Navigation
We work closely with HIV (+) refugees to provide culturally specific medical navigation and support. We partner with Oregon Health and Science University Partnership Project (PP) to promote the importance medical care and adherence to medications and to provide tools to help clients function at a level that supports their engagement in care. Special attention is given to empowering clients and their families to voice their own needs and concerns so that they can address their medical needs independently in the future.
We have seen significant strides in clients’ ability to manage the disease and their understanding that through medical treatment and good self care, they can improve their quality of life.
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