Valley Pastoral Counseling History

>Personal Historical Reflections on VPCC continued.......So with much preparation work this small group of clergy, laity and mental health professionals, was almost ready to launch the area's first pastoral counseling center. Granted there were a handful of individual pastoral psychotherapists around but they were not organized into a Center for therapy, training, education and outreach. The next question became, " What will the Center look like? What type of model will we use?" You may not know that there are several models of pastoral counseling centers. They range from a pastoral counselor who serves on the staff of a faith community, to a pastoral psychotherapist in private practice who hangs out a shingle like a psychiatrist, psychologist or psychoanalyst. The oldest and largest Center in VA at that time was Vip Care-- The Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, in Richmond VA. They were established in the early 1960's. The Staunton group decided to consult with them as well as AAPC- The American Association of Pastoral Counselors. The decision was that a " Community Based Model" for a Center would be best. So plans to establish just such a pastoral psychotherapy center in the Shenandoah Valley began. The main location chosen was Staunton. ( more later.)........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... #psychotherapy #community #mentalhealth #educationalequity #training