Erin Mancha

Chief Clinical Director

With over 15 years of experience working with youth and their families in various contexts, I am a therapist with a great passion for working with at-risk youth and those who have experienced trauma. Youth are such a vulnerable population, and helping them to realize their strengths and resiliency, as they grow and learn from their experiences, is a great honor. I use a variety of modalities in my work, along with the skills and knowledge I have gained from my own experiences to create a therapeutic environment that is safe, welcoming, and nonjudgmental.

I have been trained in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, and specialize in equine assisted learning and therapy. I have had the opportunity to work with many different cultures, and have a great appreciation for diversity. My experience working with runaway, homeless, foster, and probation youth in a shelter setting was some of the greatest training I have experienced, and am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to learn so much from these amazing young people. I was also on the Western States Youth Services Network’s Community Youth Development team for 7 years and facilitated youth development trainings for youth services agencies all over the Western United States. This experience gave me the opportunity to work with a variety of community agencies that provide services to young people, and help them to develop their youth programs. I also have had the opportunity to work abroad which further expanded my understanding of other cultures. I lived in Malawi, East Africa for 2 years where I worked with local villagers to better understand the needs of the “girl child,” and helped them to develop and implement a life skills curriculum at Nanthomba Primary School. I also taught a group therapy seminar to psychology students at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

I received my Bachelor of Science in Human Services with a concentration in Community Youth Development from Springfield College in 2010. My Masters of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy is through Alliant International University’s California School of Professional Psychology, a COAMFT accredited school. I received the Alliant International University Educational Stipend Award in 2013, funded through California’s MHSA.
I have been working at Citrus Counseling Services (CCS) since 2013. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Recently, I have been given the opportunity to manage CCS’s ChAT program, which provides mental health service to youth 0-17 year olds who have been the victim or witness to a crime. I am looking forward to further developing this program, and providing services to a population that has a very special place in my heart.