We are commanded in Matthew 22:36-40 to love God and love people. At Counseling Creations
Charities, we thrive on sharing the love of God with clients through helping them heal from their
trauma. We believe in offering a life preserver to those who feel like they’re struggling to stay afloat in
life. Despite the fact that many of us think of missions work as occurring overseas, at Counseling
Creations Charities, we believe that missions start by helping our neighbors feel the love of Christ in
their healing journey.
Kim had a long history of trauma by the time she was fifty years old. At age four she had her first of
many concussions when a horse came down on her head. From ages ten to thirteen she was molested
by a gymnastics coach. In the seventh grade, she was suicidal due to her trauma. Attending church
helped her survive but emotionally, she was out of control. Early on, Kim knew that she responded
differently to the world than those around her which led her to be quick to anger and slow to trust. She
lived on an emotional roller coaster ride.
At age fifty, Kim went back to school to become a Licensed Professional Counselor. As a teacher, she had
already intervened with teens who were suicidal and she wanted proper training to continue. She was
not aware that going back to school would help in her own healing. She took a class on “Trauma” that
changed her life. She became aware of how she exhibited traits of someone who had experienced
trauma. As a result, she began studying trauma therapy specifically. Sometime later, she found the work
of Eric Gentry and Robert Rhoton. Their research and work provided the missing skills for Kim which led
to her emotional regulation, improvement of her relationships, and her success as a professional
counselor. Kim wondered how she ever did counseling without the principal training of these two men.
She referred others to the training, but it did not have the same impact on them as they were not
struggling in the same way with trauma. Many counselors avoid trauma work because they do not
understand it. Others approach it without the proper training and do more harm than good.
In 2019, Kim opened her own practice helping participants with a variety of needs, and found trauma
work her specialty. Very few counselors in her area had specialty training for trauma. After having more
participants than she could handle, she began looking for other counselors to join her practice. Yet, she
could not find anyone with trauma training to hire. Thus, she hired solid counselors and began to train
them in trauma treatment. Years later, she became a formal supervisor for professional counselors
seeking certification. Her business thrived with personal referrals for new participants. She also worked
with the Veteran’s Administration who referred severe cases of trauma to her. This was extremely
rewarding work. She continued to do more and more research and also experienced many potential
participants that needed help with trauma who could not afford it.
All of these things combined with a nudge from the Lord led Kim to creating Counseling Creations
Charities, a non-profit that provides free counseling for select participants who have trauma. In addition,
it provides funding to continue training more counselors with the “trauma informed” methods that have
shown great success in helping many people. Using the very tools she teaches to her clients, Kim has
greatly improved her own emotional regulation over the past few years and she has taught other
participants to do the same.
In order to see a client for the first month, it cost us between $320 and $560 per month, depending on
the level of counselor. We are currently seeing 23 clients regularly with a waitlist that continues to
expand.
In an effort to continue offering our services free of charge, we invite you to partner with Counseling
Creations Charities through a monthly or annual monetary gift. It is time to expand the healing for those
who are suffering with trauma. We ask you to prayerfully and financially join with us in supporting healing in our communities.
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