Valley Pastoral Counseling History

 Personal reflections cont.....So VPCC was ready to launch and indeed did so with the hiring of our first Executive Director, Pastoral Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Teacher, Leigh Conver, Phd. Leigh began on February 8, 1982. He was highly qualified to lead the new Center. He would soon be completing his Phd degree in the Psychology of Religion and Pastoral Care from the Southern Baptist Theological seminary in Louisville , KY. His Phd supervisor there was Edward Thornton Phd, a well known AAPC Pastoral Psychotherapist and Chair of the Psychology of Religion Department. Thornton had studied under the leading Pastoral Theologian and Psychotherapist Wayne Oates Phd. Prior to his doctoral work Dr. Conver had served in the roles of pastor, chaplain, and pastoral counselor. He was also a teaching fellow at Southern Seminary. Leigh attained the level of Fellow in AAPC (The American Association of Pastoral Counselors), now merged with ACPE( the Association of Clinical Pastoral Educators.) So in Leigh Conver the new counseling center had a young but highly trained clergy person with a specialty in pastoral psychotherapy to lead them. He was also a teacher, supervisor, and administrator. He and his spouse were members of First Baptist Church Waynesboro VA, where the Center would open a satellite office that would eventually become the primary location of VPCC. (to read more of my History of the Valley Pastoral Counseling Center, go to my Facebook and/or Linkedin page, and scroll down in the posts to the summer of 2021 when I wrote this History through the year 2000. It was that year I first became the Executive Director, and served in that position until 2008. You may also email me at calanmeltonw@gmail.com) calanmeltonw@gmail.com).........................................................................................................