Each day, people in our community face personal challenges such as divorce, family crisis, grief, addiction and depression. The economy, unemployment, war and global disasters only serve to compound those daily pressures. The result: an increasing need for community-based services that help people cope with these extraordinary burdens.

Unfortunately, as state budgets are strained and communities struggle to find ways to offer mental health services, locating help for those in need becomes harder and harder.

That’s why a group of church and community volunteers launched St. Paul’s Center for Hope and Healing (CHH) in September 2010. An extension of the outreach ministries of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Union Street in Cary, CHH is a place where licensed professionals provide counseling, group therapy and education at minimal cost to adults and children in the community.

“We want to transform lives by providing support, connection and treatment to those in need in our community,” says the Rev. Dr. Sally Harbold, the visionary founder of CHH who has been offering counseling services since about 2002 while on staff at St. Paul’s. “CHH will assist clients in overcoming life’s challenges. We will help them find increased life satisfaction by showing them new ways of viewing themselves and others and help them find new coping and stress management skills.”

According to Sara Concini, a full-time counselor and member of St. Paul's, people sometimes need a little guidance in how to care for themselves or which of life's paths they should follow.

“As its name implies, CHH will be a place where true healing can begin for those in crisis,” says Concini, a licensed professional counselor who will offer part-time therapy services under the CHH umbrella. “It’s where they can receive hope in moving their lives forward in a positive way.”

This vision of hope and healing came out St. Paul’s Care and Share Ministry, a team of individuals who provides assistance for parishioners in crisis. As the ministry experienced a growing need for assistance from parishioners, leaders recognized that the greater community is grappling with the same issues. That’s why all residents of Wake, Chatham and surrounding counties are welcome at CHH regardless of religious beliefs, sex, age, national origin or sexual orientation.

“We want to endow the community with a safe, open and nurturing place where those in need can find traditional counseling as well as unique programs that teach them how to cope with their challenges,” says Harbold, who holds a doctorate in pastoral counseling/psychoanalytic theory. “As a mission of the church, we feel we were called to fill this need in the community.”

Call the Rev. Dr. Sally Harbold at 919-800-8530 for more information.