Christian Counseling Center

History

Overview of the Christian Counseling Center's Twenty-seven Years

The Christian Counseling Center was established by the late Rev. Henry
K. Yordon, then Senior Pastor of the First Congregational Church on the
Green in Norwalk, Conn., and myself in October of 1980. We believed
there was a need for affordable Christ-centered counseling for everyone
God would send to us without reference to their ethnicity, church
affiliation or ability to pay. The counseling would be provided by
credentialed therapists who, in addition to their professional
qualifications, would also be committed Christians. To make it
affordable, we established a sliding-fee scale.

In 1982 Connecticut began licensing Marriage and Family Therapists and
we were thus able to accept insurance reimbursement for our services.
The insurance payments meant that the top of the scale better balanced
the low end of the scale (clients who did not have insurance and/or
could afford only part of the counseling fee).

In the late '90s the nation's economy began a downturn. Many people
lost their jobs and along with them, their insurance. Many others were
forced into working part-time and did not receive insurance benefits.
The economic turndown created stress for many individuals which in turn
affected their marriages and families. At a crisis time in their lives,
these people needed counseling more than ever, but without insurance and
often without jobs, were unable to afford it. We maintained our policy of providing services to everyone requesting them regardless of ability to pay, but it put a great strain on our budget.

In the same time period, "managed care" insurance plans appeared on the
scene. They required health care providers like us to accept reduced fees (often less than half of their usual fees). Also, their paperwork requirements resulted in a tremendous increase in clerical time which caused an additional
financial strain for us.

In order to balance our budget, we turned for help to area churches and
individuals who believed in the importance of Christ-centered
counseling.

In 2001 we established a Client Subsidy Fund to help us cover the cost
of providing services to people who could not afford the counseling they
so badly needed.

God has been faithful and we are still here, despite all of our growing
pains and financial problems. Through it all, the Lord has continued to
expand our ministry so that today we have six licensed therapists and two
interns. Clients have come from 32 different towns in Connecticut, in
addition to areas of New York State. Last year they represented
fifty-five different churches. Some clients did not disclose a religious affiliation.

On Sunday, October 16, 2006, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of our
founding with a glorious Gospel music festival at the First
Congregational Church in Norwalk, where our offices are located.

Thanks be to God! Dr. Constance Lawrence, Director