Helping people help themselves with the care and resources to thrive.
Grace Christian Counseling is a nonprofit professional counseling service addressing issues ranging from marital and family challenges to mental health-related disorders.
Grace Christian Counseling will be using the grant money from the LGBTQ Fund of Mississippi to increase marketing for their services, increase access to people all over Mississippi through telehealth, and provide LGBTQ support groups.
“We tend to create group counseling services, particularly targeting LGBTQ-identifying persons, and we want to put ourselves in places where we can share with people what we do and what our services are. We want to connect and network across the state with organizations and individuals that are allies or who identify as LGBTQ members, so that we can get the word out that we are a safe place to go. We are prepared to provide care, support, empathy and understanding for all persons, but particularly LGBTQ,” said Walter Frazier, Executive Director at Grace Christian Counseling.
Increasing access to mental health professionals throughout the state
Grace Christian Counseling Center was founded in 1998, with the support of three different churches in Vicksburg. They have offices in Port Gibson and Canton as well, all supported by local churches.
“We want to make sure that people understand all religions in Mississippi are not against them. Grace Christian Counseling is a place that provides a service of love and compassion and meeting people where they are. We love and care for all people because they’re people,” said Andrew Breland, counselor at Grace Christian Counseling.
They are expanding telehealth services because many areas in Mississippi are underserved by mental health providers. Many providers have switched to telehealth services during COVID-19, but Grace Christian will continue services after the pandemic.
“We’ve got to find a way to make a difference in the state of Mississippi for all people who are in need of professional, quality, cost-effective counseling services,” said Frazier.
Reaching underserved areas in Mississippi
Based on the LGBTQ Fund of Mississippi Needs Assessment, mental health issues like suicidal thoughts, depression, and anxiety are especially prevalent for people in the transgender community.
“I think that the general public also doesn’t notice that maybe there’s not a mental health professional in a certain town, but there is one 25-30 miles away. Sometimes that travel gap, or just knowing that providers are not close, prevents someone from receiving care. But telehealth closes that gap,” said Anna Sanders, a clinician at Grace Christian Counseling.
Change has to start with us
“This is our community, and change isn’t going to happen at the direction of folks from outside of Mississippi. We’ve got to support change from here. People don’t make a transition from their thinking, their understanding, their valuing of others because of what they see on television as much as they do when it’s a friend, a neighbor, a professional,” said Frazier.
“We want to make sure that clients feel loved and by feeling loved they can love themselves, and in turn they can love others and care for others,” said Breland.
“It just takes one person and one organization to stand tall for the LGBTQ community, to make a difference in the community. I think a basic value of the Christian tradition is that we’re called to be a safe place for the marginalized, to hear those that are not heard, to care for those that have been harmed, and so to continue even to stand as a bystander to those within religious communities that continue to ostracize LGBTQ community is just, to me, a conflict with the basic call that Christ has called to Christians,” said Frazier.
Grace Christian Counseling is available for in-person and virtual meetings with groups, individuals, or leaders and is also available to speak at events or to groups. They also have a referral base of medical professionals that are allies to the LGBTQ community, who are prepared and trained to provide those services. For more information, call 601-636-5703 or visit their website.