All fees for services are currently suspended
by Louisville Seminary | Special to Presbyterian News Service
Beth Seeger Troy
LOUISVILLE — In an effort to provide access to marriage and family therapy resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Louisville Seminary Counseling Center (LSCC) will begin offering services free of charge to its clients via phone and the online Zoom meeting platform beginning June 29. The seminary’s counseling center has been closed since March 16 due to the need to implement coronavirus social distancing protocols.
According to LSCC Clinical Director Beth Seeger Troy, while the closure was necessary, disruption of services adversely impacts the therapeutic progress of the center’s more than 165 clients. Further, the students in the Louisville Seminary Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) Program who work in the LSCC experience disruption in their academic and professional training.
“While people often would rather meet with their counselor in person, telehealth allows everyone to remain safe during the pandemic,” said Seeger Troy. “Telehealth counseling has also been shown to be effective for therapy outcomes. Further, LSCC believes it is important to offer services to people in the Louisville area who may be experiencing anxiety over the pandemic, and, in particular, to those who need to talk about racial injustice. LSCC recognizes the need for quality therapy at no charge in these times of high stress, so all fees for services are suspended during this time.”
Louisville Seminary’s MFT students and the LSCC’s clinical supervisors have been completing training via a telemental health class under the instruction of Dr. Ashley Hicks, Louisville Seminary’s Associate Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy. According to Hicks, students’ training has focused on telehealth theory, ethics in telehealth, online therapy practice, risk management, safety and emergency procedures, and clinical assessments.
To further ensure confidentiality of clients’ information, the LSCC is implementing the use of SharePoint, which allows for secure online transmittal of forms, documents, and other paperwork relevant to the clients’ needs.
Since 1997, the LSCC has provided family, couple, and children’s therapy to clients throughout the Louisville Metro area. Appointments are currently being accepted. To make an appointment, contact the Louisville Seminary Counseling Center at (502) 894-2293. Information is available online at www.lpts.edu/lscc.
Founded in 1853, Louisville Seminary offers an inclusive and diverse learning community, welcoming students from wide ecumenical backgrounds while maintaining its long, historic commitment to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). Louisville Seminary is committed to building bridges across the world’s religious, racial and cultural divides. It is distinguished by its nationally recognized marriage and family therapy and field education programs, the scholarship and church service among its faculty and a commitment to training women and men to participate in the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ. For more information, call (800) 264-1839 or log onto www.lpts.edu.
You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.