Apostle Dr. Peggy Elliott

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INNER HEALING AND MENTAL HEALTH   BY DR. PEGGY ELLIOTT

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The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me

Because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…  Isaiah 61:1-3

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This scripture is the foundation for many ministries.  When broken down, it becomes evident that the three types of ministry included in Isaiah, ought to be a focal points of ministry offered to the body of Christ.

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1.      …the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  This is evangelism

2.      He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted… This is inner healing (emotional and mental health)

3.      …to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…This is deliverance ministry

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During the month of March, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate on a panel of professionals as we discussed mental health, including inner healing, and the African American community. The subject of mental health in some communities is still taboo, yet there is no doubt that it is time to not only begin the conversation, but to also, ensure that this community is served well by mental health and faith-based professionals.

One of the gentlemen on the panel, Marquis Armstrong, is the founder and president of Hope and Healing Counseling Services.  This faith based mental health facility is breaking ground within the Twin Cities, making it known to community residents that they do not need to be ashamed to ask for nor seek help with their emotions, with their need for mental health.

I interviewed Mr. Armstrong regarding his counseling services.

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Hope & Healing Counseling Services (HHCS), is a mental health practice that was created to assist individuals, families, and groups in understanding how life’s challenges have affected them emotionally and mentally by providing:

• Individual, Family, and Group Counseling;

• Supportive In-Home & Outpatient Services;

• Therapeutic Skills Training for Children & Adults and;

• Community & School-Based Programs.

 

To that end, HHCS partners with clients in developing a course of action in coping with and overcoming mental health challenges and the debilitating effects of trauma. I started HHCS, as a result of the overwhelming need for culturally-specific mental health services tailored with people of color in mind. For many years, I worked with a diverse population of individuals and their families as a mental health practitioner and mental health case manager. During that time, I realized that many of the agencies I referred my clients to for therapy services did not feel that they were being seen as individuals, that the providers were not culturally competent, and/or that their input was being seen as valuable. After hearing and witnessing this, I made several attempts to inform those agencies of what my clients’ experiences were as well as what I witnessed when I would accompany them to their appointments; only to find that our voices were falling on deaf ears. As a result, HHCS was born.  HHCS develops working professional relationships with both our clients as well as our community partners.

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Our team uses a combination of faith, love, and therapeutic models to provide services that cater to African Americans and other communities of color. We are aware that life's challenges cross cultural boundaries, therefore, so do our services. Our office is located on West Broadway Avenue in the heart of North Minneapolis, Minnesota, a community with a high population of African American residents. North Minneapolis, unfortunately, is also an area of the city which is disproportionately impacted by poverty, crime, and socio-economic challenges. The combination of these types of challenges have led to abnormal amounts of trauma, depression, and hopelessness within the community. Thus, it was important to me that our office be located in an area that is accessible to the clients we serve. In addition to being located in the community we serve, we also provide in-home services. HHCS therapists are able to have sessions outside of our office. This includes, but is not limited to the clients’ home, school, neighborhood library, and place of employment.

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For many clients and their families, in-home services help to remove the barriers of access to mental health services. Beyond that, in-home services afford HHCS therapists to get a more complete view of individuals and their families’ home environments which in many instances contribute to mental health issues, concerns, as well as their strengths. On the other hand, for some, having a welcoming, comfortable, and safe place to receive services is preferable and even ideal, because far too often, the trauma that individuals have experienced has happened in and/or around the home. Services that are provided in-office are called outpatient services.

We believe that approaching the clients the we serve from a holistic health approach is vital to one’s progress. Not only do we address what’s happening in the mind because of life’s challenges, we are intentional about doing our best to address individuals physical (body) health issues by referring to partnering medical clinics such as Health Empowerment Resource Center. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge individual’s spirituality because spirit is a huge part of and individual and their culture. Even the name of our agency is derived from 1 Corinthians 13:13. The logo is a heart which represents love… my faith in God and belief that he called me into this work are woven into everything I do. I believe that when faith, hope and love are in the atmosphere, healing has room to manifest. Our mission is to improve the community through the lives of the individuals and families we serve. We are working to build a solid foundation and healthy sense of purpose based on spiritual principles, which foster Hope & Healing that support the strengthening of individuals, families, and communities. Increasing the ability to serve more clients in our office would assist us in more effectively carrying out our mission.

 

In the next 12 months, HHCS will add Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS) and within the next 24-36 months we will add Children’s Therapeutic Support Services (CTSS). These two (2) sets of services will allow us to hire mental health practitioners who would support the cognitive talk therapy the therapists do. HHCS mental health practitioners are able to teach the skills the therapist introduces as a part of the treatment plan. In essence, HHCS would have a set of comprehensive services to wrap around the individual and their family. The combination of these services increases our ability to accomplish our mission and assisting in our clients becoming healthy, whole and living purpose driven lives. This will improve the communities in which they/we live. In the next 48-60 months, HHCS will open offices in South Minneapolis & East St. Paul, communities which suffer similar challenges as North Minneapolis faces. The renovations, combined with our five year plan, will not only increase our capacity in serving the community’s mental and emotional health needs, they will assist us in creating additional livable wage jobs within our community.