MODERNIZING MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM

Photo provided by Mt. Hood Community College

Just over a month ago, MHCC gained a new instructor in the Mental Health and Social Services program.

Drew Assini hails from the bustling suburb of East Brunswick, New Jersey, just outside New York City. Although his hometown is in central Jersey, he has lived all over his home state. In 2011, he earned his master’s degree in mental health counseling at Rowan University in northern New Jersey. His focus in college was on substance use disorder and addiction.

Assini then moved to southern New Jersey, where taught at different universities and community colleges. He first came across the job opportunity at MHCC while browsing online. He had visited the Pacific Northwest and felt like it would be a great place to live, and so he followed through.

Since starting at Mt. Hood, Assini has begun work updating the Mental Health and Social Services program. With online classes becoming more popular and easier for students who don’t live close to campus, the leaders of the program would like to make it more available for students online, offering more of the classes in distance-learning format.

Assini teaches classes on group counseling, interviewing, and abnormal psychology. Between teaching and modernizing the MHCC program, he finds himself pretty busy on the job. However, he hopes in the future he will be able to make an impact on the wider community, by way of hosting some public programs or seminars on the topics he teaches.

Still new to the area, Assini has been doing some exploring in his free time. He is interested in exploring the Mt. Hood National Forest area more thoroughly, as many newcomers here are. He also plays guitar and enjoys all kinds of music, from Indian tabla (drum) playing to the Grateful Dead.

If you are interested in a career in addiction counseling, youth mentoring, or community correction work, or just advocating for such efforts, an in-depth overview of the program will be held on March 20.

The session will run from noon to 1 p.m. on in Room 2761.

Advocate Staff