Welcome to the Community Counseling Center

Jes Moniz, LMFT (She/Her)

Associate Director of Clinical Services

Jes Moniz, LMFT, is the Associate Director of Clinical Services with extensive experience in mental health care since 2013. She currently oversees the Michael G. Harris and ENLACES Community Counseling Programs, as well as the National University Community Counseling Center at the JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences at National University. Jes previously served as Clinical Director for the Family Justice Centers in Solano and Contra Costa Counties, supporting survivors of domestic violence, abuse, community violence, and human trafficking. In these leadership roles, she managed both clinical services and program operations for multiple federally, state, and locally funded programs.

Jes’s professional journey has included mentoring at-risk youth, guiding emancipated foster youth in life planning, and working as a preschool teacher to foster early childhood development. She has also served as a family service counselor, helping families navigate grief and loss during critical times. In addition, Jes worked as an academic counselor at Los Medanos Community College, supporting multilingual learners, Veterans, and general student populations to promote academic success and personal growth. Passionate about personal development and resilience-building, Jes empowers clients and students to recognize their strengths, manage their emotions, and reauthor their life narratives in ways that foster healing, growth, and meaningful change.

Click here to contact Jez Moniz.

Rae Peralta

Rae Peralta is the Academic Operations Manager for the JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences at National University, where she supports the day-to-day operations and administrative coordination of the school’s community service programs. In this role, she helps ensure these programs run smoothly and continue to serve students and community members effectively. Rae brings more than 20 years of experience in higher education and information technology, with a career dedicated to supporting faculty, students, and academic teams through thoughtful systems, clear processes, and collaborative problem-solving. Before joining National University, she spent many years at Saint Mary’s College of California in leadership roles supporting learning technologies, faculty development, and academic operations across online and in-person programs. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Rhetoric & Communication from UC Davis and is Quality Matters certified. Rae is deeply committed to strengthening the connection between academic programs and the communities they serve.

Dr. Akilah Roberts Vazquez, D.MFT, LMFT

Clinical Supervisor

Dr. Akilah Roberts Vazquez is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, clinical supervisor, and mental health consultant with more than 20 years of experience across behavioral health, public child welfare, private practice, and community-based services. She specializes in trauma, grief and loss, anxiety, depression, relationship challenges, and life transitions, with a clinical approach grounded in trauma-informed and culturally responsive care. Dr. Roberts Vazquez spent 17 years in Alameda County public child welfare, serving in both direct practice and leadership roles supporting children, families, transition-age youth, resource parents, and multidisciplinary professionals. She has maintained a private psychotherapy practice since 2014 and has extensive experience providing mental health consultation and crisis-response services. She is an EMDR-certified therapist and has completed Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy. She has also provided training to resource parents through Las Positas College and Chabot College on trauma, grief and loss, and the emotional and behavioral needs of children impacted by the child welfare system.

Dr. Roberts Vazquez earned her Doctor of Marriage and Family Therapy from National University, where her doctoral research examined the psychological impact of transgenerational Superwoman Schema and racialized impostor phenomenon among African American women. She also holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy and a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution from Golden Gate University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from San Francisco State University. Her experience as an educator includes teaching a university-level course in Social Work and Advocacy. As a Clinical Supervisor with the JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences at National University, Dr. Roberts Vazquez is passionate about supporting developing clinicians in strengthening their clinical judgment, professional identity, ethical decision-making, and confidence. Her supervisory approach emphasizes reflective practice, cultural responsiveness, and an understanding of how identity, lived experience, relationships, and larger systems influence both clients and clinicians.

Alexis Smith, LPCC

Clinical Supervisor

Alexis Smith is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor from San Diego who has extensive experience supporting LGBTQIA2S+, Autistic and ADHD clients of color through mental health therapy and diagnostic assessment. Her clients are often experiencing depression, anxiety, racial/ancestral trauma and challenges navigating cultural identity, gender identity, sexuality, and neurodivergence. Her therapeutic approach is warm, human-forward, community healing-oriented and facilitates an environment for BIPOC nervous systems to feel safe to disarm. 

Her professional background spans across agency, private practice and higher education settings, supporting her to bring in eight years of experience to the JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences at National University. Throughout her career, Alexis has served in many leadership roles aimed at professionally developing incoming counselors and providing more Black representation to the field of mental health. Alexis is deeply passionate about positively shifting the early experiences of new counselors breaking into the field in order to reduce adverse experiences, such as burnout and exploitation. Her work is driven by a personal commitment to leave the field better than how she found it. 

Donna Ho Lee, PsyD (she/her)

Clinical Supervisor

Dr. Donna Lee is a licensed clinical psychologist in California and Washington with extensive experience in clinical practice and supervision. She has been with the National University Community Counseling Programs since 2019, supporting counseling trainees in their early professional development. Dr. Lee specializes in working with children and young adults impacted by trauma, including child abuse and domestic violence, drawing from her pre-doctoral and post-doctoral work in community mental health and domestic violence programs.

Dr. Lee began supervising associate counselors in 2012 and later served as counseling faculty in Hong Kong for four years, providing individual and group supervision. Since joining National University in 2019, she has supervised MFT, PCC, and PsyD trainees, using a developmental approach tailored to each trainee’s skill level. She integrates her psychodynamic orientation into supervision, emphasizing countertransference awareness and providing practical training in clinical documentation, case conceptualization, and treatment planning.

Jennifer Glick, LMFT (she/her/hers)

Clinical Supervisor

Jennifer Glick is a licensed marriage and family therapist and clinical supervisor with extensive experience across outpatient clinics, intensive programs, hospitals, schools, and private practice. She earned her Master’s in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University and has worked with individuals, couples, families, and groups. Her career began in intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) treating adults with dual diagnoses, followed by hospital-based IOPs for older adults and school-based therapy for adolescents and families in partnership with educators. She has facilitated groups focused on mindfulness, trauma, grief, and process work, informed by over 20 years of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) practice and advanced training in Trauma-Focused CBT. Her integrative approach blends Psychodynamic Therapy, DBT, TF-CBT, MBSR, Humanistic Therapy, Imago, SFBT, trauma-informed care, and Existential Therapy.

Jennifer has held leadership roles as a clinical director and supervisor at a privately funded agency serving youth and families, where she led program development and supervised both associates and licensed clinicians. She now maintains a private practice serving adults and couples and provides clinical supervision and training to pre-licensed clinicians through National University’s Community Counseling Programs. Her work is rooted in trauma-informed, mindfulness-based care and a strong commitment to developing compassionate, competent mental health professionals.

Noelle Vitor, LCSW

Clinical Supervisor

Noelle Vitor is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and an advanced Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, bringing over a decade of experience to her role as a Clinical Supervisor with the JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences at National University. Her career has focused on compassionate care to individuals with substance use and co-occurring mental health concerns. Her clinical orientation includes both abstinence and harm reduction approaches as well as work with process addictions, depression, anxiety, stress, personality disorders, transition difficulties and professional burnout. She draws from a strong foundation in trauma therapy as a trained EMDR therapist and integrates evidence-based approaches such as CBT, ACT, DBT, and solution-focused therapy into her practice. In addition to maintaining an active private practice caseload, Noelle currently works with healthcare professionals in monitoring services to support provider wellbeing and licensure maintenance.

Her career has included extensive work in both outpatient and residential treatment settings, where she served as a direct provider and clinical supervisor for licensed, paraprofessional staff and pre-licensure staff. She directed aftercare programming and coordinated referrals and screening activities. She has also held a management position in program quality assurance for the County of San Diego, ensuring compliance with clinical standards while advancing compassionate, client-centered care in substance abuse Medi-Cal settings. She has a passion for coaching and mentoring individuals who are coming into the field and is dedicated to her work that fosters professional growth.

Dr. Paola Theil

Dr. Paola Theil is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Doctorate in Psychology (PsyD) and extensive experience in clinical practice, supervision, and program leadership across hospital, community-based, and private practice settings. Her supervisory approach is grounded in trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and reflective practice frameworks. Dr. Theil supports clinicians in strengthening core competencies, including case conceptualization, risk assessment, clinical documentation, and the effective application of evidence-based interventions. She has significant experience supervising clinicians working with high-acuity populations, including individuals presenting with complex trauma, crisis-related concerns, and co-occurring medical and psychosocial conditions.

In addition to clinical supervision, Dr. Theil has held leadership roles overseeing program coordination, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance within multidisciplinary healthcare systems. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and is committed to fostering supportive and accountable supervisory relationships where clinicians feel encouraged to reflect, build confidence, and continue developing their professional voice while prioritizing client safety and ethical care.

Lindsay Sweetnam, MA, LMFT

Director of Training Outreach

Lindsay Sweetnam, LMFT, is Director of Training Outreach (DTO). As DTO, Lindsay collaborates with all training programs to ensure there are site opportunities for students during their training experiences. This allows for Lindsay to connect with training organizations across the country to further NU’s mission to provide world-class training to NU students. 

She joined JFKU in 2017 and provided direct support to students for five years as a Clinical Supervisor, before spending two years as the Manager of Clinical Training at the JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences at National University. In that role she oversaw the Michael Harris Community Counseling Program and provided operational support for the Psychological Assessment Clinic – both internal clinical training opportunities based out of the Pleasant Hill campus in Northern California. 

After receiving her BA in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Oregon, she returned to her native Bay Area, CA to pursue her Master’s in Counseling Psychology at the University of San Francisco. She gained direct clinical experience working in a variety of settings including K-12 schools, shelter-based and permanent supportive housing for homeless and formerly homeless families, and an adolescent inpatient psychiatric facility before moving into the field of domestic violence. She spent 10 years in the field of domestic violence in roles from direct services and community education to Director of Community Programs at the oldest and largest domestic violence agency in San Francisco. 

She is passionate about supporting students at all stages of their clinical training experience and is working to ensure the best possible experience in navigating this process.

To contact Lindsay Sweetnam, please email [email protected]

Cassandra Lettenberger-Klein, PhD, LMFT (she/her)

Senior Director of Clinical Training

Dr. Cassandra Lettenberger-Klein (Dr. LK) is the Senior Director of Clinical Training in the JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences and oversees the Office of Professional Training. Dr. LK received her master’s degree in marriage and family therapy (MFT) from Purdue University and her doctorate degree in MFT from Florida State University. Prior to working as the Senior Director of Clinical Training, Dr. LK was the Director of MFT Clinical Training at Northcentral University. Dr. LK has held various roles in academia since 2010, including faculty, supervisor, and director. She has also practiced since 2010 and still maintains a small caseload. Dr. LK endeavors to support all those involved in the professional training process with a focus on efficiency, consistency, and accuracy. She is passionate about empowering students to understand and direct their educational experience so that they have the skills needed to achieve their professional goals.

To contact Dr. LK, please email [email protected].

Timothy Ford, MA, LMFT

Associate Dean of Operations

Timothy Ford is Associate Dean of Operations of the JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences, with oversight of the Office of Professional Training, Community Services, the Counseling Center, and other school operational functions. Mr. Ford is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). He received both his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in counseling psychology at National University. He has over 25 years of experience in managerial and executive leadership roles in the private sector at companies including FedEx and Yahoo, as well as within the mental health field.

Mr. Ford joined John F. Kennedy University (JFKU) as Director of Clinical Operations for JFKU’s Community Counseling Centers in 2017. With the closure of JFKU at the end of 2020, Mr. Ford transitioned to National University, serving as Executive Director of the JFK School of Psychology until assuming the role of Associate Dean for the expanded JFK School of Psychology and Social Sciences in 2022. Prior to joining the university, Mr. Ford was the clinical program director for residential treatment centers and Medi-Cal funded school-based mental health programs in the Bay Area, as well as a therapist in private practice since 2009. As a clinical supervisor, Mr. Ford is passionate about training and developing new therapists to meet the demands of the continuously changing mental health profession, especially for historically underserved populations.

To contact Mr. Ford, please email [email protected].