As a community organizer and journalist, I try to stay behind the scenes, highlighting stories and connecting folks to information without using my own voice. However, I would be doing a disservice to the story of mental health without sharing my personal story. 

Through the years, I have struggled off and on with deep grief, postpartum anxiety and depression, and emotional regulation issues. My mental health has been affected by a variety of lived experiences that I had a hard time handling. I am at a place now where I can safely say that treatment and regular investment in self-care have kept me at an even keel. 

I share this to say that during the toughest times, I looked for low-cost and affordable mental health care throughout the neighborhood. It’s hard to do when you’re struggling with basic day-to-day activities. 

One of the first places I found many years ago was La Salle University’s Community  Psychological Services. I only went to a couple of sessions, but it provided me the impetus to look for resources and research what made sense for my specific needs.

Dr. Jessara Bowenschulte directs La Salle University Community Psychological Services’s training clinic on campus. 

The staff, including the clinicians, are all doctoral students in the PsyD program (meaning they already have bachelor’s degrees and many of them have master’s degrees), and Bowenschulte is one of eight licensed supervisors who oversee the clinical work. 

She started in August of 2023 and loves the work she does at the clinic, which she says is staffed by incredible students who are passionate about their work. They are currently doing outreach to help more folks in the neighborhood learn about their services. 

The clinic provides neuro-academic testing and psychotherapy services, which can professionally diagnose ADHD and various learning disabilities. All the testing services have waiting lists and are offered for $350.

They also have six therapy teams: emotional regulation, child and adolescent, depression and postpartum care, adult anxiety, health psychology, and the general mood team. All are open to taking new clients right now. They do not take insurance but instead offer a low-cost sliding scale for sessions, ranging from $5 to $20 (much cheaper than a typical therapy session in Philadelphia, which can cost anywhere from $30 to $150).

Bowenschulte says one reason their services cost less is that they are a training clinic, but she dissuades people from dismissing them.

“If people are looking for therapy for the first time, I often direct them to training institutions because people are getting more supervision and more consultation than you are going to see in a lot of different places. And so they’re providing very excellent evidence-based care,” she says. 

They center evidence-based practice, which includes three factors: (1) Research for what is effective in working with clients for certain presentations or for certain diagnoses with what they need, (2) client factors and the systems clients are working in and how that can adapt the research and the treatment, and (3) clinician factors or competence of the clinician and where they are and what they know. 

An example of what that may look like is a client who may be recommended for a treatment plan that includes a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) protocol with a more rigorous time commitment. Still, they may not be able to get to sessions as frequently as needed. This is when the student clinicians work with their supervisors to adapt and make a treatment plan that works for that specific individual. 

They also just want to be more accessible. Bowenshulte and the team know how much of a need there is for high-quality mental health services, and they want to be able to provide them for the neighborhood and beyond. 

This year, she and her team have been focusing on ensuring they are out in the community and understanding the specific needs of people who live near the university. They’ve participated in a community health fair and are in talks with nearby schools and libraries to give a presentation on what they do and what their services entail. 

“We also recognize that trust is needed to be vulnerable and come seek support for your mental health. And we don’t want people just to come and say, oh, they’re trustworthy. We know that that needs to be earned. And so we’re trying to get our students out there so that folks know who we are, what we care about,” says Bowenschulte.

She also knows that even though their prices are affordable, other barriers could include not being able to afford the time, the stigma of therapy, or just the resources to get to sessions. So, one of their big goals is to increase their free psychoeducational opportunities to community members and places that are a little bit more accessible to them.

“We are focused on clinical work, but our students are also researchers. And one thing that we’re really centering right now is serving and looking at ways to provide for underserved communities,” says Bowenschulte. 

In practice, this looks like the PsyD program finding and offering scholarships during the admissions process for students who are centering their research and clinical interests around communities that may traditionally not have as much access to psychotherapy services, such as immigrant communities and folks with lower incomes. 

Folks interested in therapy services can call for a phone screening. During this screening, they can ask questions and get a general sense of what they need support with and what specialty team might work best for them. If the team can provide the services they need, they can then schedule an in-person intake session with that team. 

If they cannot provide the best services, they can guide and direct you to other programs in the area that they believe would work best for you. 

Because it is student-run, it might take a little longer to schedule appointments. However, Bowenschulte says all its teams currently have openings and are open to working with neighbors to get them the help they need. 

The director sees the students going the extra mile to be effective and ensure their clients get the best services, and points out that La Salle generally tries to be community-minded and provide services locally.

This is one of the reasons they are connecting to local libraries and neighborhood centers to let them know about their clinic. She wants folks to know their training institution status can benefit the community. 

To learn more, contact La Salle University’s Community Psychological Services at (215) 951-1006.

Other low-cost and sliding scale mental health resources in and around Northwest Philly: 

Abbottsford-Falls Family Practice & Counselling Network: Abbotsford-Falls FPCN is a federally qualified health center that provides primary care and behavioral health services. It accepts insurance and offers sliding-scale services. Although it is not currently accepting new patients, it can direct people to other services. 

Black Lotus Holistic Health Collective: Created and founded by Dr. Cassandra Bolding, Black Lotus Holistic Health Collective offers various services from BiPOC healers and practitioners to support your mind, body, and soul. There are sliding scale therapy services, Reiki, meditation, sound therapy, massage, and other healing services in their space, and they are partnered with other organizations and institutions. They also host hikes in the Wissahickon as outdoor therapy for their community.

Gemma Services: Gemma Services is located in Mt. Airy and offers outpatient therapy services for children ages two to 18. Most of their services are covered by insurance. For intake and referrals, call (215) 730-2336.  

Mental Health Partnerships: Mental Health Partnerships hosts free support groups across the city for families with loved ones who are dealing with mental health illnesses or are in recovery, certified peer support training, and other direct services that support folks with mental health challenges.

NAMI Philadelphia: The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)  Philadelphia branch is a local organization supporting quality of life issues for people with mental illnesses through support, education, and advocacy. It hosts support groups throughout the city and can connect folks to other local resources and information for mental health services. While their headquarters is in the Northeast, they have virtual and in-person offerings in the Northwest.

Sankofa Healing Studio: Sankofa Healing Studio offers sliding-scale, low-cost therapy and other healing and mental health services, focusing specifically on the Black community. Check out their website for a list of their offerings and partnerships, or call (215) 802-3533.