New Around the Mission
Women Reach Other Women Through Free Counseling Service
March 29, 2011
Ever feel like you have a problem, but no one to confide in?
Resurrection Center for Women’s Ministries in Chesterfield, Missouri, is seeking to alleviate that problem for women in the St. Louis area. The free, faith-based counseling service opened last month in an educational wing of Church of the Resurrection and comes alongside women in life’s trials and frustrations.
“I saw a need for this ministry because so many churches are in need of assistance with counseling,” says Director Wanda Hults, LPC. “And there is so much stress in women’s lives these days. We offer crisis intervention with a spiritual emphasis.”
Wanda noticed women’s particular needs in her 10-plus years of private practice, as well as through teaching Sunday school and ministering to women in Bible Fellowship.
“Even needs in my own life and the women in my own circle and family have caused me to be aware that women need a special touch—a special opportunity to talk about what’s going on in their lives,” she says.
Resurrection Center offers that opportunity in a safe, loving environment. The Center is a branch of the Center for Women’s Ministries, an international ministry founded by Reova Meredith in 1989 and headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana. Each of Resurrection’s 10 volunteers has completed 30 hours of training in Bloomington using curriculum Meredith developed. They’re not professional counselors, but they are caring and committed.
“There is no secret formula for helping these women,” Wanda says. “It’s the unconditional love of volunteers. It’s women helping heal women.”
Before and after each 50-minute session, volunteers pray for their clients. Then they talk with clients about their struggles with marriage, children, work and other more serious issues, helping establish biblical standards. The Center offers additional Bible studies, support groups and parent training; volunteers often recommend women take advantage of these resources. When necessary, volunteers refer clients to professional counselors.
Though Church of the Resurrection houses the Center and “plays a dynamic part in this work, supporting it wholeheartedly,” Wanda hopes to grow into a separate building in the future. So far, growth is steady, thanks to word of mouth and referrals from network partners Focus on the Family, Prison Fellowship, New Life clinics, Crisis Pregnancy Centers, and the American Association of Christian Counselors.
“The logo for our women’s ministry is a butterfly coming out of a cocoon,” Wanda says. “That truly symbolizes what many women experience when they find healing for their concerns.”
Learn more at ResurrectionSTL.org.
Posted By: Cynthia P. Brust
Categories: Faith in Action
