Institutes + Centers
Adler Community Health Services (ACHS), a non-profit clinical training center of Adler University, delivers comprehensive, trauma-informed mental health and substance use prevention and intervention services to our neighbors located in primarily underserved, high-need neighborhoods. Functioning as a third-party provider, ACHS collaborates with local mission-aligned organizations eager to provide or augment services within their communities. Our community-centric approach empowers ACHS to let the community itself shape our role as mental health practitioners and advocates for societal transformation.
Offered at no cost, ACHS services are provided by master’s and doctoral-level student-clinicians, all under the direct supervision of licensed/registered clinical faculty. Being deeply rooted within these communities, ACHS not only mitigates obstacles to accessing care but also enhances the quality of the care delivered. This immersive model equips our student-clinicians with firsthand experiences, teaching them the intricacies of working in community health interprofessional teams, integrating community strengths into therapeutic processes, and understanding the symbiotic relationship between individual well-being, community health, and policy decisions at various governmental tiers.
ACHS has three divisions: each with their own team of faculty, students, training programs, accreditation, and community partner sites.
Division of Community Health Chicago: Serves people across the full life course in the Chicago, Illinois region. The team is comprised of psychology, clinical mental health counseling, and couple and family therapy professions. Click here for the APA-accredited Community Mental Health Internship Program information on the aggregate postdoctoral positions of the previous three intern year cohorts, internship program admission requirements, and internship program financial and benefit support.
Division of Community Health Vancouver: Serves people from the adolescent through elder life course in the Vancouver, British Columbia region. The team is comprised of psychology, counselling psychology, and counselling psychology-art therapy professions.
Division of Teen Wellness and Opportunity: Serves adolescents and their family/caregivers in the Chicago, Illinois region. The team is comprised of the psychology profession. Click here for the APA-accredited Adler Teen Wellness and Opportunity Internship Program information on the aggregate postdoctoral positions of the previous three intern year cohorts, internship program admission requirements, and internship program financial and benefit support.
Opened in 1972, the Dreikurs Psychological Services Center, named after one of Adler University’s founders, Rudolf Dreikurs, stood as the institution’s first mental health training clinic, situated in its downtown Chicago campus. The clinic offered mental health and substance use outpatient treatment to the public. Academic program faculty supervised graduate students fulfilling their training requirements there. Though most services were provided on campus, the early 1990s saw the center branching out to provide care within the community. Collaborative training programs were established within the Illinois Department of Corrections (at both Dixon Correctional Center and Illinois Youth Center – St. Charles) and St. Leonard’s Ministries. By 2009, a significant 97% of the care had transitioned from the on-campus clinic to community-based locations. This period marked a pivotal shift in the university’s approach and ethos, resonating deeply with Dr. Alfred Adler’s philosophy of the powerful connection between community and individual health.
In 2010, the on-campus clinic ceased operations, paving the way for the establishment of Adler Community Health Services and inaugurating an era of socially responsible practice. This new model emphasized reaching communities most in need. The Division of Community Health Chicago emerged as the first branch from the restructured Dreikurs Psychological Services Center. By 2013, ACHS was approached to assume responsibility for the last Illinois Department of Corrections’ remaining training program at Illinois Youth Center – St. Charles. This integration birthed the Division of Juvenile Justice Illinois in 2014. Meanwhile, Adler’s Vancouver campus in British Columbia, Canada experienced substantial growth in its mental health degree programs. Recognizing the need for quality training placements, the Division of Community Health Vancouver was founded in 2018. In 2019, the Illinois Department of Corrections notified ACHS of the cessation of its contract due to the dramatic drop in youth incarceration numbers. This led the Division of Juvenile Justice Illinois to reimagine its role, transitioning in 2020 to the Division of Teen Wellness and Opportunity, with a renewed focus on youth empowerment and success.
Today, ACHS includes 16 full-time clinical positions, 1 psychology postdoctoral resident, 15 psychology doctoral interns, 12 psychology doctoral externs, 6 master of counselling psychology externs, 4 master of couple and family therapy externs, and 2 master of counselling psychology-art therapy externs. Annually, this dynamic team provides an average of 12,000 hours of direct clinical services and 8,000 hours of clinical support and consultation to our community partner organizations.
ACHS offers our community partner agencies a full suite of trauma-informed services that can be provided both in-person and through telehealth:
ACHS does not profit from its clinical training partnerships. ACHS charges a per-day-of-service fee versus a fee-for-service model. This allows partners access to the broad menu of clinical services for one set per-day fee versus a traditional per-use charge for each service. This model allows our community partner sites to flexibly utilize different services as the demands within their community population change.
As socially-responsible practitioners, ACHS is committed to seeking alternative funding in the form of government and foundation grants, and individual and/or corporate donations. ACHS, in partnership with Adler University’s Office of Institutional Advancement, explores fundraising opportunities that will pay for the contract fees of our community partner sites. If ACHS secures funding that covers a partner’s contract fee, ACHS adjusts the contract terms to decrease or eliminate the unpaid portion of the contract due from the partner that the new funding now covers. ACHS asks our partners to submit a letter to us as to how the partner reinvested the funds into their community/agency that they would have paid ACHS for services. ACHS submits this letter to the funder to demonstrate the additional impact their gift provided to our community partner site.
The Division of Community Health Chicago resides within Adler Community Health Services (ACHS), a center of Adler University. The Division of Community Health Chicago provides an extensive suite of behavioral health services to communities in need. Services are primarily provided by a multidisciplinary team of master- and doctoral-level graduate students supervised by licensed clinical faculty. The Division of Community Health Chicago serves a diverse range of people throughout the Chicagoland region at the following agencies: Aunt Martha’s, City Year Chicago, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, St. Leonard’s Ministries, and Thresholds.
Click here for Community Mental Health Internship Program information on the aggregate postdoctoral positions of the previous three intern year cohorts, internship program admission requirements, and internship program financial and benefit support.
Please click the links below for more information on each of our training programs.
Adler Community Health Services’ Division of Community Health Chicago has been a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) since 2004. Our APPIC member number is 1254.
The Community Mental Health Internship Program at Adler Community Health Services is accredited by the American Psychological Association. The Commission on Accreditation of the APA can be contacted at:
Commission on Accreditation
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 First St. NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
(202) 336-5979
[email protected]
The Division of Community Health Vancouver resides within Adler Community Health Services (ACHS), a centre of Adler University. The Division of Community Health Vancouver provides an extensive suite of behavioural health services to communities-in-need. Services are primarily provided by a multidisciplinary team of master- and doctoral-level graduate students supervised by registered clinical faculty. The Division of Community Health Vancouver serves a diverse range of people throughout the Vancouver region at the following agencies: Providence Health Care, LaSalle College Vancouver, Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House, Columbia College, and Squamish Nation.
Please click the links below for more information on each of our training programs.
The Doctoral Psychology Internship in Clinical Psychology program is applying for APPIC membership in the 2023-2024 academic year.
The Doctoral Psychology Internship in Clinical Psychology is an unaccredited internship program. The program is actively in the process of preparing a self-study for accreditation consideration with the Canadian Psychological Association.
The Division of Teen Wellness and Opportunity resides within Adler Community Health Services (ACHS), a center of Adler University. The Division of Teen Wellness and Opportunity provides an extensive suite of behavioral health services to youth and their families. Services are primarily provided by a team of doctoral-level psychology graduate students supervised by licensed clinical faculty. The Division of Teen Wellness and Opportunity serves a diverse range of youth and their families at After School Matters and the Chicago High School for the Arts.
Click here for the Adler Teen Wellness and Opportunity Internship program information on the aggregate postdoctoral positions of the previous three intern year cohorts, internship program admission requirements, and internship program financial and benefit support.
Please click the links below for more information on each of our training programs.
Adler Community Health Services’ Division of Teen Wellness and Opportunity has been a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) since 2012. Our APPIC member number is 1261.
The Adler Teen Wellness and Opportunity Internship Program at Adler Community Health Services is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). The Commission on Accreditation of the APA can be contacted at:
Commission on Accreditation
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 First St. NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
(202) 336-5979
[email protected]
Support ACHS in increasing access to mental health services for high-need patients through its community-embedded service model.
Adler University was recently awarded several grants from foundations and corporations to support our work to engage communities and advance social justice.
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