David Mandani, MATS (in progress), MSW, LCSW-S has over twenty years of direct practice and executive leadership in nonprofit settings, including board governance, program development and evaluation, and technical assistance/consulting (capacity building) for nonprofit start-ups and churches across the globe. He formerly served as Vice President of Programs at one of the largest privately funded rescue missions in the nation, where he developed a comprehensive mental health and case management model of care. He is presently part of the team at GrowthPoint Counseling and Consulting and is a Graduate seminary student at Dallas Baptist University (DBU) in the Dallas-Ft Worth, Texas Metroplex, studying in the MA in Theological Studies (MATS) program. He serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Biblical Counseling/Marriage and Family Therapy program at the Kings University in Southlake, TX and has served as a faculty member, community board member and special guest speaker to primarily Christian audiences (schools and churches) across the US. He has also been in church ministry since 2003, most recently serving as the Pastor of Mental Health at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA.
Licensed as a Clinical Social Worker and Supervisor (LCSW-S), David has frontline experience working as a clinician, including several mental and behavioral health care facilities, emergency department and in-patient psychiatric units. Diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 18, David offers a unique perspective as a person with lived experience, and he is passionate and fully committed to advocating, educating and sharing holistic tools and resources, as well as the comfort and hope that he has personally found in Jesus Christ.
David continues to share his story and serve as a consultant and trainer nationwide. His audiences have included county mental health workers and various healthcare personnel; students, staff and faculty at schools and universities; first responders, law enforcement agencies, other nonprofit organizations; community members, cross-denominational clergy and church leaders/laypersons, missionaries and congregations at large. Training topics have included but are not limited to crisis intervention, best practices related to suicide prevention and intervention, substance abuse and treatment, introducing various models of care, how to navigate the mental health system, how to develop a mental health ministry or program, and individual case management practice.
