Community Voices Clinic Expands to Marvine Elementary School

Lehigh University College of Education’s Community Voices Clinic (CVC) has expanded to Marvine Elementary School, giving the school-based mental health clinic three locations serving children and families in the Bethlehem community.

The new Marvine Elementary School location joins the clinic’s established sites at Donegan Elementary School and Broughal Middle School. The expansion represents the latest chapter for a program that has provided mental health services in partnership with the Bethlehem community for more than a decade.

“As the year starts, our main operational focus has been successfully launching our new site at Marvine Elementary School,” said Cheré D. Hunter, director of the Community Voices Clinic and professor of practice in Lehigh’s College of Education. “We’re currently working through the initial transition phase to make sure all three of our locations are fully aligned, supported, and running efficiently. It’s an exciting chapter of growth for the clinic, and I’m looking forward to what we accomplish across all three sites this year.”

The Community Voices Clinic was established in 2012 through a partnership involving the Bethlehem Area School District, St. Luke’s University Health Network, and the College of Education's Counseling Psychology program. The clinic provides mental health services at no cost to uninsured or underinsured Bethlehem children, adults, and families. 

Services offered through CVC include individual counseling, group and family counseling, psychoeducational groups, career counseling, workshops, and community outreach programs. The clinic’s approach incorporates evidence-based practice, multicultural competence, and social justice, principles that are also central to Lehigh's Counseling Psychology program. 

Adding Marvine expands a model that brings mental health services to where children and families already spend much of their time: neighborhood schools.

School-based services can reduce some of the practical barriers families may encounter when seeking mental health care. By operating within local schools, CVC connects counseling resources with communities while maintaining close relationships with educators, families, and other organizations that support children.

For Lehigh, however, the clinic has a second purpose.

CVC also serves as a clinical training site for graduate students in the College of Education’s counseling programs. Under faculty supervision, master’s and doctoral students gain experience providing counseling and other mental health services while working with children, families, and communities. As such,  the clinic is an important source of real-world clinical experience for graduate students. 

Trainees at CVC participate in individual, family, and group counseling, as well as career counseling and community outreach. They receive individual and group supervision and participate in continuing clinical education as part of their experience. The combination of community service and student preparation reflects the College of Education’s scientist-practitioner approach, connecting graduate education with the needs of the surrounding community.

Hunter, a counseling psychologist and alumna of Lehigh’s Counseling Psychology program, has served as CVC director since 2022. Her clinical interests include trauma-informed care, crisis and risk management, and supporting students and families from diverse backgrounds. In 2025, she received the College of Education’s Percy Hughes Award in recognition of her commitment to public service and efforts to strengthen mental health support for children and young people who otherwise may have difficulty obtaining care. 

The addition of Marvine reflects continued growth in demand for accessible mental health services and the value of partnerships between universities, schools and community organizations. For CVC, the immediate priority is ensuring sustainable growth.

Rather than viewing Marvine as a stand-alone addition, Hunter said the clinic is concentrating on integrating the new location with its existing operations at Donegan and Broughal so clients, trainees and staff receive consistent support across the three sites.

With Marvine now part of the Community Voices Clinic partnership, Lehigh’s College of Education is extending a model that brings together community mental health care, university-school partnerships, and the preparation of future counseling professionals.