The Mitchell Family Counseling Clinic and Family Focus Resource Center recently announced a partnership with The Ed Asner Family Center to train therapists who have the skills to work with individuals on the autism spectrum and their families.
“The partnership between CSUN and The Ed Asner Family Center will bring CSUN’s student and faculty expertise together with The Ed Asner Family Center’s supportive environment to create a wonderful service for our community. We are grateful to the Asners for their leadership and look forward to advancing our work together”, says Interim Dean Shari Tarver-Behring.
Navah Paskowitz-Asner and her husband Matt Asner, co-founders of The Ed Asner Family Center, also celebrated the partnership, noting the impact it will have in the community. “Based on our own experiences as parents of children with special needs, we know how difficult and cost prohibitive it is to find quality mental health serves with people who are trained to work with individuals with autism,” said Paskowitz-Asner, COO of the Asner Family Center. “Our partnership with CSUN begins to fulfill a desperate need in our community.”
Asner, president and CEO of the Asner Family Center, agreed. “Our goal, when we were envisioning The Ed Asner Family Center, was to create a place of excellence for families to thrive in,” Asner said. “This exciting partnership with CSUN is a huge step in the mission of realizing that vision.”
The Ed Asner Family Center, named for Matt Asner’s father, award-winning actor Ed Asner, launched in 2018 and is located at 7915 Lindley in Reseda. It offers arts and vocational enrichment and health and wellness, including meditation and mindfulness, to individuals with special needs and their families. They also offer low and no-cost mental health services.
Under the partnership, CSUN’s Mitchell Family Counseling Clinic will supervise and train therapists to work with individuals, couples, families and groups at The Ed Asner Family Center. Specifically, the therapists will be trained in how to work with individuals on the autism spectrum. Assisting in the training will be Sarita Freedman, a recognized psychologist in the field and author of a book on college students with autism.
For more information, please contact Deborah Buttitta or Ivor Weiner.