Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center

The Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic
Message from the Director

Welcome to the Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic at Hofstra University. It is our mission to provide high-caliber, low-cost services to the community. We do so in a warm, safe, and professional environment. Our clinic is housed within the Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center, which offers access to four other disciplines as well. The bulk of our clients come from Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens Counties. Our staff is mentored by New York State Licensed Practitioners as well as by supervisors, approved by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

The Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic offers graduate students the opportunity to utilize their academic education in a clinical setting. After extensive didactic training in Counseling, Family Systems Theory, Psychopathology, Sexual Issues, and Professional Ethics, students apply their knowledge to their work with clients in the MFT Clinic under intense supervision. Our clients, who generally come from Nassau, Suffolk and Queens Counties, consistently report their appreciation for the quality of care and affordability of the therapeutic services they receive in the clinic.

While other mental health disciplines are trained to treat the individual, our staff is specifically trained to work with family and couple centered issues.  Several models of family therapy are utilized in the Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic. Some models focus on the perceived structure of the family, while others concentrate on collaboratively finding solutions to presenting issues. All of the models seek to address issues on a short-term basis. While the length of therapeutic engagement varies from family to family, a typical course of therapy can be 3 to 4 months.

In addition to individual, couple or family therapy, the Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic presents workshops and provides group therapy covering a multitude of specialty areas. Workshops are presented both on and off-site. Group topics vary according to ongoing interest levels. These groups are both psycho-educational and supportive. Typical groups include such topics as parenting, caring for caregivers, divorce support, bereavement, teen talk, and ADHD skills training.

Please feel free to contact the staff of the Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic at (516) 463-5234. I also invite you to contact me directly by calling: (516) 463-1917. I would be more than happy to provide you with any necessary information regarding our services. I would be delighted to arrange for a tour of our facility as well.

Sincerely,
Teresa Grella-Hillebrand, M.A., LMFT
Director, Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic