What the evidence supports
Why Church Street is a distinct Gestalt practicum entry
CIIS calls Church Street the country’s only university-affiliated Gestalt/existential therapy center. That makes it materially different from an institute workshop or postgraduate certificate: it is a working community clinic inside a licensure-track graduate program, with students seeing clients under supervision.
Who may train there
The current clinic page says its counselors are advanced graduate students enrolled in CIIS Integral Counseling Psychology. It does not describe Church Street as an open field-placement site for students from other universities, nor does it promise a Church Street placement to every CIIS student. Prospective trainees should confirm eligibility and selection with the CIIS field-placement office.
How it connects to the CIIS degree
CIIS describes Integral Counseling Psychology as a three-year on-campus program with a 60-unit LMFT route and a 70-unit LPCC route. Students complete a year-long supervised practicum at one of three Integral Counseling Clinics or at an external site. The curriculum separately names a three-unit Gestalt Therapy course; a named course and a Church Street placement are related opportunities, not evidence that every student's full degree or practicum is exclusively Gestalt.
Clinical orientation
The clinic describes a holistic, multicultural, and mindful Gestalt/existential approach. Its published values emphasize awareness and choice, difference and inclusion, social justice, and attention to the whole person. This is the clinic’s stated orientation, not a separate state license or institute certification.
Clients and presenting concerns
Church Street publishes low-fee individual and group counseling for adults, couples, families, seniors, adolescents, and children. It lists relationship concerns, anxiety and stress, depression, loneliness, family problems, abuse and trauma, grief and loss, life transitions and crises, work concerns, sexuality and body image, and personal or spiritual growth among the concerns served.
Service delivery and access
The clinic publishes both in-person and online counseling, weekday and weekend hours, and a sliding scale based on income and circumstances. It says services may be available in multiple languages depending on current staffing. Those client-access facts do not disclose a student trainee's schedule, caseload, compensation, or placement capacity.
Supervision and legal status
CIIS says each counselor is closely supervised by licensed psychotherapists and that the clinic follows California licensing law and professional ethics. The reviewed pages do not publish supervision ratios, supervisor assignments, evaluation methods, trainee liability coverage, paid documentation time, or whether any current role continues after graduation as registered-associate employment.
Leadership and institutional setting
The current clinic page identifies Deborah Stone as Clinical Director, Victoria Julita Spiers, LMFT, as Clinic Manager, and Anna Benassi as Executive Director of Clinic Services. Church Street is one of seven CIIS public counseling clinics in the Bay Area, where CIIS students provide in-person and virtual psychotherapy under faculty supervision.
Historical scale—context, not a current census
A CIIS article dated 28 October 2018 reported about 30 student clinicians and post-graduate interns, roughly 200 sessions per week, and 250–300 clients per year. Those figures are preserved only as dated historical context; they are not presented as current staffing, caseload, placement capacity, or proof that post-graduate associate positions exist now.
Questions to ask before ranking this placement
Ask whether Church Street accepts your exact CIIS pathway and cohort; how students are matched or selected; which semesters the placement covers; the expected weekly client, documentation, meeting, and supervision hours; whether therapy with children, couples, families, or groups is optional or required; how Gestalt supervision is structured; whether any stipend or fee share exists; and what happens if client volume is insufficient.
What this does not establish
This page does not treat modality training as a qualifying MFT degree, school-approved field placement, BBS registration, supervised job, or promise of admission. Compensation, benefits, supervision payment, caseload, and openings remain “not stated” unless a source explicitly publishes them.
Primary-source ledger
These are the organization pages used for this profile. The evidence was re-read on 23 August 2026; readers should re-check time-sensitive dates and prices before acting.
- https://www.ciis.edu/ciis-in-the-world/counseling-clinics/church-street-integral-counseling-center
- https://www.ciis.edu/ciis-in-the-world/counseling-clinics
- https://www.ciis.edu/academics/graduate-programs/integral-counseling-psychology
- https://www.ciis.edu/academics/graduate-programs/integral-counseling-psychology/about
- https://www.ciis.edu/news/bothin-foundation-grant-helps-clinic-create-safer-space
