Tiffany L. Mayers, MSW, LCSW is the Director of the Administrative Services Center within the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. Ms. Mayers is also a part-time mental health clinician, specializing with children, teens, and young adults between the ages of 5-25 years old. Additionally, Tiffany is a mental health advocate and consultant through her company Mental Health T Enterprises, primarily consulting with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-NJ) as their African American Outreach program, AACT-NOW, Central Jersey Regional Coordinator.
Tiffany has earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a minor in Social Work, from Seton Hall University; her master’s degree in Social Work from Rutgers University; and is completing her Doctor of Social Work (DSW) degree, with a concentration in administrative and organizational leadership, from the University of Kentucky in May 2023. Ms. Mayers’ research interest focuses on the importance of eradicating mental health stigma in order to improve the well-being of children and families, especially those within the Black community. Tiffany’s capstone particularly explores the necessity of ending mental health stigma, addressing systemic barriers that have precluded the Black community from seeking mental health services, and creating a new approach to working within the Black community from an empowering, feminist approach, so as to increase the utilization of mental health services for Black children and families.
As a member of NAMI NJ since 2008, Tiffany is aware of the challenges that many Black families face when needing to seek help for themselves or their loved ones. Likewise, Ms. Mayers experienced many of these barriers while she was seeking mental health services for a child within her family. Rather than surrender, Tiffany became an advocate for her family and other family’s that needed help, whether Black or otherwise, in hopes to break the cycle that many children within urban areas face regarding mental health.
Ms. Mayers was led to join the Family Support Organization of Union County (FSO-UC), and now serves as their Vice President of the Board of Directors, due to the affinity that she has for this organization as they, and NAMI NJ, were the first two organizations that assisted her along the mental health journey with her loved one. Ms. Mayers is very passionate about mental health, overall, but works tirelessly at creating, and helping other organizations create, culturally sensitive and safe spaces for Black people to turn to in regard to the discussion of mental health. She is also a long-standing member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW-NJ) where she has held multiple positions and has written articles for their NJ FOCUS publication (NJ FOCUS). Also, Tiffany is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, serves on the Rutgers School of Social Work Alumni Council, and resides in South Brunswick, NJ, nearby her family and loved ones. She can be followed on social media @MentalHealthT where she continues to highlight the nuances of the mental health journey for herself and others.