Carolina Pastoral and Family Counseling Center
Changing Lives Confidentially
About Us:
Carolina Pastoral and Family Counseling Service was founded in 1969 as The Pastoral Counseling and Referral Service with The Rev. Dr. W. Paul Carlson as its part-time counselor and the late J. Drake Edens as its committee Chairman. It was and continues to be headquartered in the education building of Trenholm Road United Methodist Church. (only one in the midlands….may be oldest in SC)
Since its founding, Carolina Pastoral and Family Counseling Service has helped over 5000 people overcome difficulties which had kept them from living satisfying, productive lives, and has provided close to 100,000 hours of subsidized counseling services. In that time we have set the standard for the treatment, care, and confidentiality of persons who are experiencing difficult and often destructive lifestyles and family issues.
CP&FCS from the beginning has served our community. Fewer than 4% of our clients have been members of Trenholm Road United Methodist Church. Approximately 10% of our clients have been Methodists. The remainder have come from other congregations, denominations or traditions.
CP&FCS is a community service organization which has been sponsored primarily by Trenholm Road United Methodist Church. Because it is service based, no one is turned away because of lack of funds or insurance coverage, yet everyone pays something.
This organization was founded in the missional tradition of John Wesley whose life reflected a concrete attempt to make the Kingdom of God real in human history, thus he and his followers visited the sick and imprisoned, established schools, orphanages, hospitals, and homes for widows.
Our work is specialized work. It is not our purpose to persuade people to accept our religious belief system, nor to unite with a particular congregation. This is not because we have abandoned our faith, but because this particular form of healing is one of sensitive listening, understanding, guiding, teaching and supporting. We use what we consider the best resources from the Judeo-Christian tradition and the mental health arena.. We work to help individuals, families, and couples to increase their ability to deal constructively with difficulties and to take charge of their lives.
There are persons who come through our doors who want to openly discuss spiritual issues as part of the counseling process, others appreciate talking with someone who shares his or her religious tradition or belief system, others who may have a different belief system appreciate going to a place where there is an atmosphere of acceptance and understanding rather than one of criticism and judgment.
Early in its history CP&FCS began to provide training for counselors, clergy, and social workers. Graduates of this program now work as school guidance counselors, therapists in private practice, counselors and social workers in hospitals and nursing homes. Our alumni also serve as executive directors of counseling centers in Columbia, Myrtle Beach, and Louisville, Kentucky, faculty members at USC, and as the recent past president of the S.C. Board of Examiners for Counselors, Therapists and Psycho-Educational Specialists.
Carolina Pastoral and Family Counseling Service is a place where:
People who might have taken their own lives are now living productive lives.
Couples and families that were on the edge of being torn apart have learned to live together in harmony.
People in the pit of grief and depression have found hope and have moved on.
People caught in the addictive web of alcohol and other drugs have learned to live drug free and sober lives.
Individuals shattered by divorce have learned that it was not the end of life, and have found new harmony and meanings to life and children have had a place to grieve and adjust to their new family configuration.
Adults have learned how to be better parents.
Couples have learned how to have happier and more satisfying marriages.
People who were swamped by stress and anxiety have learned how to cope with what life brings to them and have found peace.
Abused children have found a safe place to heal emotionally.
Physicians have found a place to send their patients who are struggling with emotional, as well as physical issues.
Attorneys have found a place to send their clients who are struggling through a divorce or loss of a family member when grief possesses their every thought.
Many clients fees must be reduced for those in need. Thus, many people receive the counseling they could not otherwise afford.
People combating cancer and living with chemotherapy have faced their fears and been able to move ahead with life.
Teenagers who struggled with school and parents and sometimes the courts, have become responsible, contributing citizens.
Persons who were struggling in adjusting to their aging bodies have found resources for living productive, fulfilled and satisfying lives.
Children who are caring for aging parents have been able to adjust and find emotional stability in very difficult situations.
People have learned to control their anger keep their jobs.