Lamp Community Welcomes New Clinical Leaders
Dear Friends:
On behalf of Lamp Community and the people it serves, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Leah Carroll, MSW, ASW, as the organization’s new Director of Clinical Services. Beginning in July, Ms. Carroll will provide leadership to ensure that Lamp operates high-quality Wellness Center programming at two locations in Downtown Los Angeles.
Ms. Carroll brings a wealth of experience in clinical service provision and compliance, quality assurance and program development, as well as a keen understanding of Lamp’s target population – namely, homeless adults living with mental illness and co-occurring disorders. Lamp conducted an extensive search, and the organization’s leadership found her uniquely suited to help the agency expand its clinical services and continue its leadership role in the regional and national struggle to end homelessness.
Since March 2009, Ms. Carroll has worked as a Clinical Manager in Lamp’s Medi-Cal-certified Wellness Center program. In this role, she oversaw the provision of all mental health services, including comprehensive and clinically appropriate programming for clients with severe and persistent mental illness. Prior to her time at Lamp, she served as a Program Director at Gay & Lesbian Adolescent Social Services, Inc., where she was responsible for the clinical program operations of their Medi-Cal certified program and was also responsible for developing appropriate bio-psycho-social clinical treatment plans and interventions for more than 80 clients. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from The University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s in Social Welfare from The University of California at Los Angeles.
Lamp is also proud to announce that joining Ms. Carroll is Nadia Akhtar, MSW, as Associate Director of Clinical Services. Ms. Akhtar has served as a clinical therapist at the agency since September 2010 following stints at the Family Insitute of Richmond, Alma Family Services in Long Beach, and the Child Guidance Center of Long Beach. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and a Master’s in Social Welfare from The University of California at Los Angeles.
The inclusion of Ms. Carroll and Ms. Akhtar in these new roles will augment the impressive array of clinical services and mental health care that the agency offers to a particularly vulnerable segment of the homeless population in Skid Row. Studies show that nearly a third of the homeless population in Los Angeles – as many as 16,000 people – suffers from untreated schizophrenia, depression or other serious forms of mental illness. Because of the amazing work of Lamp’s Wellness Center Program, a significant number of Lamp clients see a marked drop in the rate of hospitalizations, incarceration and use of emergency services.
Please join me in welcoming Ms. Carroll and Ms. Akhtar to their new roles. If you have any questions or require additional information, please do not hesitate to call me at 213-488-0755 or email me at donnag@lampcommunity.org.
Warm regards,
Donna Gallup, MSW, LSW
Executive Director
