Investing in the Well-Being of Our Future
What We Do
Our youth live in a diverse community where they are constantly negotiating the rules, norms and values between the American culture and the culture at home. At MCC, we recognize that we must bridge these cultures together to be able to help promote the mental health wellbeing of our future generation. We all understand mental health from our personal cultural lenses and the MCC Team weaves each family’s belief systems into our personalized service delivery. Staff represent diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and are capable of providing services in Spanish and multiple Asian and Pacific Islander languages.
At MCC, our team of Therapists and Paraprofessionals work at the family’s pace and create a shared understanding of what the “problem” is, and what cultural barriers may be preventing the family and youth from achieving their personal goals.
*COVID-19 Update: Our Children & Adolescent Programs are seeing clients face to face, following public health protocols, in our office clinic. We are also conducting low-risk community based services.
Who We Serve
We provide services to Asians, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Desi Americans and Latinx across San Diego County. In addition, we collaborate with and provide on-site services for eligible Asians, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Desi Americans youth at the following schools:
- Bethune K-8th
- Challenger Middle
- Horace Mann
- Preuss
MCC Information Video (Tagalog)
MCC Information Video (Korean)
Success Story
Through our work with a newly arrived Southeast Asian family, we collaborated with each member of the household, nuclear and extended family, to better understand the symptoms. We identified and worked through the cultural and financial barriers with the parent. By the time services ended, the youth’s mood improved significantly, graduated high school with good grade, enrolled in his first year of college and obtained a part time job. The parent and the youth reported a reduction in disagreements and had a better understanding of each other’s needs.
* Names have been altered to protect client privacy.
Funded by the County of San Diego
Program Manager
Carmen Pat, LMFT
Carmen joined the UPAC family in 2015. She has served as a staff therapist with both the CMH and MCC programs, where she has provided quality, compassionate care to people with diverse backgrounds and needs. Carmen has also provided education and training on topics related to mental health and culture, and engages in outreach to raise awareness of mental health needs among underserved communities. Carmen adopts a person-centered approach to her work and believes that healing and growth are always possible. As Program Manager, Carmen brings this same ethos to her work in serving the clients and staff of MCC.
5348 University Avenue, Suite 108
San Diego, CA 92105
Tel: (619) 578-2211
Fax: (619) 578-2245