The Mental Health Collective

04/17/2026

"I use the word 'becoming' a lot in my sessions. Becoming integrates the idea that there’s no end, that there’s constant transformation, and there’s the ability to be flexible with the different parts of yourself at different points in time. I found people really like that concept because it’s not totalizing and it’s not encapsulating of only one identity or one part of you, but rather all these parts that get to exist and be seen and be valued." - Dr. Nazneen Nizami, PsyD, LMFT : Assistant Clinical Director
To learn more, watch Dr. Nizami's interview 'Identity Work + A Preferred Way of Living' at https://bit.ly/3LiSqgS or click Sprout 🔗 in bio

04/14/2026

TEAM HIGHLIGHT :: KATI MCILROY, OT :: OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST
UNIVERSITIES + DEGREES: California State University, Dominguez Hills [Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy]

CLINICAL SPECIALIZATION: Kati McIlroy is a licensed Occupational Therapist with more than 20 years of clinical experience working across a wide spectrum of populations and care settings. She has dedicated her career to helping individuals develop the functional, cognitive, and adaptive skills needed to live meaningful and independent lives.

Kati has developed a uniquely diverse clinical background spanning mental health, early intervention, hospital-based rehabilitation with adults, and neurodivergent learning support. Her early clinical training included work with at-risk adolescents in Juvenile Hall, where she gained extensive experience supporting youth facing complex emotional, behavioral, and environmental challenges. She later expanded her practice into pediatric occupational therapy, working with children and young adults from birth through age 22 who present with learning differences, developmental delays, and physical conditions, as well as hospital-based rehabilitation with adults ranging from acute medical needs to rehabilitative support.

In addition to her clinical work, she has traveled nationally as a speaker and educator, presenting at conferences focused on supporting individuals with dyslexia and other learning differences. Her work emphasized the integration of assistive technology and adaptive tools that empower individuals to access education, communication, and daily life with greater independence.

CERTIFICATIONS: Kati holds a Certification in Assistive Technology, reflecting her commitment to innovative approaches that support neurodiverse learners and individuals with cognitive or learning differences. Her clinical philosophy is rooted in a holistic understanding of how mental health, cognitive processing, sensory regulation, and environment influence an individual’s ability to function and thrive.

04/14/2026

The Collective Treatment Programs is proud to announce its official designation as an Institutional Member of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF). This prestigious membership recognizes The Collective’s commitment to providing high-level, evidence-based care for individuals living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related conditions.

“OCD deserves the most rigorous treatment science has to offer, and our clients deserve to receive it in a practice that sees them as whole people. Joining the IOCDF as an Institutional Member reflects both of those commitments: advancing evidence-based modalities like Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT) while staying grounded in what our clients actually tell us works for their lives.” - Kristen Zaleski, PhD, Chief Clinical Officer at The Collective Treatment Programs
To learn more about the designation as an Institutional IOCDF Member, https://bit.ly/4tJovTi or click Sprout 🔗 in bio

The Collective Treatment Programs is proud to announce designation as an Institutional Member of the International OCD Foundation...

04/07/2026

From Autistic Experience to Clinical Adaptation: Neurodivergent-Informed Care Across Therapy Models - An Online CEU Event!
Traditional therapy models are facing a long-overdue reckoning. Research increasingly shows that conventional clinical approaches often fail to align with neurodivergent neurobiology, creating a "model mismatch" that can hinder treatment effectiveness. To address this critical gap, Family First Adolescent Services and The Neurodivergent Collective are proud to present a specialized virtual clinical presentation: "From Autistic Experience to Clinical Adaptation: Neurodivergent-Informed Care and Model Mismatch in Therapy."
The presentation features two leading voices in the field of neurodiversity-affirming care: Dr. Ali Cunningham of The Nest by Family First and Dr. Tony Meiners of The Neurodivergent Collective. Together, they will guide clinicians through a historical and contemporary exploration of how mental health systems have interacted with autistic individuals.
Event Day: Friday, April 10, 2026
Event Time: 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM PDT / 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM EDT
To learn more and register, visit https://bit.ly/4bq7Gq6 or click Sprout 🔗 in bio

04/03/2026

"I work with a lot of people where the use of AI has become compulsive." - Sarah Schall, PsyD
Watch Sarah's interview 'Is AI Negatively Impacting Your OCD?' at https://themhcollective.com/is-ai-negatively-impacting-your-ocd/ or click Sprout 🔗 in bio

04/02/2026

SMALL BY DESIGN built as a small client centered community, our clinicians have the time and focus to develop therapeutic alliances to ensure individualized care while maintaining an intimate and emotionally safe environment. Our small design focus results in trust, meaningful therapeutic work, optimal functioning, and long-term outcome success.
Learn more about The Mental Health Collective's philosophy at https://bit.ly/3ob0GY6 or click Sprout 🔗 in bio

03/31/2026

TEAM HIGHLIGHT :: MICHAEL HWANG, MD :: STAFF PSYCHIATRIST
UNIVERSITIES + DEGREES: UC San Diego [B.S. in Biology], New York University (NYU) [M.D.], Tulane University [Residency in Psychiatry], UC Irvine [Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry]

CLINICAL SPECIALIZATION: Dr. Hwang is board-certified in Psychiatry (general), as well as Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He believes in a scientific and evidence-based approach that is overlapped with his compassionate, humanistic understanding and care - skillfully balancing medication management with therapeutic interventions to support the "whole person" rather than just treating symptoms.

Dr. Hwang has an extensive and varied clinical experience. He served on staff at Kaiser Permanente - treating children, adolescents, and adults in the outpatient setting. He later was an attending physician and associate professor at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), where he worked within a variety of settings: the inpatient psychiatric unit, the outpatient clinic, and the BAN clinic (eating disorder). He also served as the Medical Director for the SoCal Adolescent Wellness Intensive Outpatient Program.

Dr. Hwang has an interest in the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders (ADHD, ASD), mood disorders, and eating disorders, bringing a wealth of expertise to families navigating complex developmental and emotional challenges.

CERTIFICATIONS
▫️ American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology [Diplomat in Adult Psychiatry]
▫️ American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology [Diplomat in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry]
▫️ Diplomat Medical Board of California Physicians and Surgeons

03/27/2026

IS IT TRAUMA OR GRIEF? :: "The difference between trauma and grief is that the trauma is fear-based. It’s terrifying. There’s distress. Grief feels sad. It feels heavy, but it’s not terrifying." - Sarah Douglas, LMFT
Watch Sarah's interview 'IDENTIFYING TRAUMA VS GRIEF' at https://bit.ly/3MT77Im or click Sprout 🔗 in bio

03/26/2026

Psychosis Is Frightening – But It Is Treatable :: Written by Michael Christian Cilnis, LPCC :: Clinical Therapist
A trauma-informed approach integrating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) and nervous system regulation strategies, such as the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM)

"As stability grows, individuals often begin making sense of past experiences in ways that feel more organized and less intrusive. Over time, recovery becomes less about symptom management and more about reconnecting with life itself — relationships, work, education, creativity, and personal goals. People begin to experience themselves as more than what they have been through." - Michael
To read Michael's full post, visit https://bit.ly/4uPBLaB or click Sprout 🔗 in bio

'Psychosis Is Frightening - But It Is Treatable' is written by clinical therapist Michael Christian Cilnis, LPCC of The Mental Health...

03/19/2026

Shifting Avoidance to Self-Validation :: A short interview with Sarah Douglas, LMFT :: Trauma Program Manager
Video Caption - "When we're talking about avoidance, clients aren't just avoiding their external world. They're really avoiding their internal world. And oftentimes when they're coming into treatment, they have so much shame, embarrassment, guilt of the ways that they've tried to avoid. Whether it be substance use or abuse, shopping, being a workaholic, gambling, promiscuity, self-harm. And I think that one of the messages I really want people to know when they're coming here is that they've done the best that they could to survive to get to this point in their life. People use these different strategies, yes, problematic in and of themselves, but it's helped them oftentimes to keep going, and now they're here to do this work. When we're helping people to cope and learn these strategies, we're teaching them how to turn inward... when their instinct has been to run away from what they're experiencing and numb it in some way. Mindfulness of what's being experienced in the body, whether it be a thought, a feeling, a body memory, which are really common. It's really the first step in self-validation. You can't regulate an emotion or a feeling until you know, A - that it's there. Accept that it's there. Be able to know maybe where it came from so that you can work through it." - Sarah
To learn more about treating trauma at The Mental Health Collective, visit https://bit.ly/4bmGHMo or click Sprout link in bio