About Us
History:
Aspen Associates/House of Opportunity was founded by Feisal M. Elmi, a Somali immigrant, who has witnessed the chaos and mental illness that plagues his Somali and East African immigrant community and decided he wanted to design culturally specific mental health, substance use disorder and housing services to address those needs. The organization has been licensed to provide outpatient substance use disorder (SUD) services (245G) to adults since 2014, certified to provide Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS) since 2015, and certified to provide Behavioral Health Home (BHH) services in 2017.
Aspen Associates/House of Opportunity is committed to serving the Somali and East African immigrant community through culturally specific services; in addition, the staff are equally adept at serving people from any community who are in need of the services they offer.
Description:
Aspen Associates/House of Opportunity's services description includes: 245D Basic Support Services including 24-hour emergency assistance, Adult companion services, Homemaker, Individual Community Living Support, Night supervision, Personal support, Respite care, in home or out-of-home support. In addition to these services, we have also recently received an opportunity to offer housing support services through Hennepin County.
Aspen Associates/House of Opportunity also employs a Licensed Psychologist with over 20 years of experience who provides outpatient mental health services (diagnostic assessments and psychotherapy) to adults. All of which are billed to Medicaid (enrolled in state fee for service and credentialed with multiple Managed Care Organizations). All of the staff of Aspen Associates/House of Opportunity have deep knowledge of the Somali and East African community with most staff being Somali themselves. Many are bilingual and others are extremely adept at using interpreter services.
Goals:
Aspen Associates is not only committed to serving the Somali and East African communities, it is also intent on developing a strong Somali and East African workforce. By providing practicum opportunities for Somali and East African prospective mental health professionals, Aspen Associates intends to create employment opportunities for the community while also improving services for the community by matching clients served with professionals from their own community.
Aspen Associates/House of Opportunity also sees great benefit for the Somali and East African community by improving the cultural responsiveness of new mental health professionals who are not of Somali or East African descent.
Duties:
Aspen Associates intends to provide practicum students with the opportunity to:
-
Interview clients to gather diagnostic information
-
Formulate diagnoses
-
Write Diagnostic Assessments according to Medical Assistance requirements
-
Provide psychotherapy
-
Complete progress notes
-
Learn exceptional documentation skills
-
Manage timelines of required services for clients
-
Receive clinical supervision in both group and individual settings from a doctoral level licensed psychologist with over 20 years of experience with diverse populations utilizing multiple evidence based practices and clinical models
-
Other duties as needed
