We are excited that you have taken the first step into working at making changes to your future. Our center has many resources that can be beneficial to you and your family in this change process.
At the Heart of the Matter was founded in 2004 as the lead counselor, Eric and his wife, Staci had felt a calling from the Lord to help people in a way that no one had currently been serving. Gaston County had many resources for mental health treatment; however, a transition in the state system was currently taking place and leaving many people without proper resources. No one was servicing the community from a Christian perspective. If someone wanted to see a Christian counselor, they would have to go to the Charlotte area.
Gaston County needed a counseling center that was backed from a biblical perspective. The next question you may have is, "What is Christian Counseling" Christian Counseling varies by the place that you decide to go unfortunately. However, we are dedicated to what we consider to be true Christian Counseling. All of our counselors are professionally trained with at least a Master's level of training and have all the skills that most other counselors have in the mental health profession from a therapeutic standpoint. The difference is that we integrate biblical principles with proven scientific methods that help people better their functionality. The bottom line is that our counselors must have the same state licensure other mental health professionals have so that we can properly diagnosis and treat mental illness. This allows us to accept third party payments and work beside psychiatrist in the treatment of significant concerns. Our counselors are also trained in biblical training that can assist our clients in their personal walk. Most of our counselors are members of the American Association of Christian Counselors, which is one of the fastest growing professional mental health organizations in the country. The members are made up of counselors, psychiatrist, pastors, and other therapist. Our office is the only office at this point in Gaston County that can be located from their web site.
Our specialties range from a variety of treatments as can be viewed throughout the web-site. We treat a high number of teens in their many issues from cutting, depression, and sexual abuse. We have a forensic interviewer on staff that is a former police officer that has a great deal of training in the area of sexual abuse and post traumatic stress disorder. Our counseling center also provides a great deal of family and marriage counseling. Our center treats much more though, even from an individual perspective. We strive to have a counselor on staff that can specialize in your need. Our center can do most psychological testing; including the new Conners ADHD test that the client takes rather than the teachers and parents. We have counseled people that don't go to church or even believe in God to pastors and missionaries and their families.
We look forward to serving you just how you are. Each session is approximately 50 minutes and we like our clients to be considerate of others as they make appointments. Please make every effort to keep those appointments or call to cancel at least 24 hours in advance. We strive hard to serve you and want to have your time special for you. Thanks for considering At the Heart of the Matter Christian Counseling Center.
Our focus is to provide a much-needed Christian based counseling center in our community that aides in the restoration of families. We are active in the church environment and strive to build stronger family units and individuals that can live a spiritually healthy, happy, and secure life in their daily walk. Our goal is not to pressure or push scripture on the individual, but to aid and assist in their daily walk by providing solutions to their many concerns. We are a non-denominational entity that seeks to glorify Christ in all that we do while helping clients seek complementary goals.
Our Mission At the Heart of the Matter, we Work with families and individuals toward effective solutions, utilizing both secular theories integrated with Christian Principles.