The Lord led me to Richmont through an unlikely series of events. My twenties were spent working in public policy in Washington D.C., where I explored my passion to change the world through legislative advocacy. I loved the fast paced demands and opportunities of the field, but realized over time that people’s hearts were changed for Christ through relationship, not legislation. I left my career for full-time motherhood and moved to Atlanta. Soon after our move, I walked through a very difficult season of personal loss. As I experienced the life-changing impact of faith-based counseling, I sensed God calling me to serve others as a Christian counselor.
After several years of personal healing, I began leading groups for women whose marriages had been impacted by sexual addiction. Seeing the joy this brought me, my husband suggested I pursue a degree in counseling. After taking a mission trip to Kenya with Dr. DeAnne Terrell (Richmont’s Dean of Students), I realized God was directing me to Richmont. I had to laugh at the prospect of being a graduate student again – this time in my forties!
I hope to graduate this May with a Licensed Professional Counseling degree as well as three academic specializations: sex therapy, addiction, and spiritual direction. The synthesis of these three is uniquely equipping. It has been especially providential to study healthy sexuality at Richmont through the Institute for Sexual Wholeness (ISW), with courses taught by field leaders whose work has shaped the landscape of Christian care. Both ISW and Richmont faculty generously and consistently invest in students’ lives and I have been enormously enriched by their mentorship.
Through encouragement I’ve received at Richmont, I’ve had the opportunity to publish on the topic of sexual addiction, to pursue specialized Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) training with Dr. Patrick Carnes, and to work as an intern at HopeQuest – the nation’s only faith-based, clinical residential treatment center for men and women struggling with sexual addiction. Equally meaningfully, I’ve soaked in the richness of many Richmont faculty whose character, integrity, and grace have made an indelible impression on my soul.
After graduation, I hope to pursue my vision of establishing a faith-based center of clinical excellence in Atlanta that will provide comprehensive services to individuals and couples whose lives have been impacted by sexual brokenness. I would love to assemble a team of clinicians with specialized training to provide individual, couple, and family counseling as well as offering support, 12-step, and didactic groups onsite. Such a center would allow the clinical staff to function as a team in providing continuity of care so that treatment for the addict, spouse, and couple would be seamlessly integrated. Atlanta currently has very few faith-based clinical resources for people struggling with sexually compulsive behaviors (particularly females and adolescents) and I hope to be a part of standing in that gap. As the cultural tsunami of sexual brokenness begins to unfurl, it is exciting to sense that God has equipped many soul care providers, through the richness of our tenure at Richmont, to offer hope for such a time as this.