Getting to Know Cumberland Counseling

By Kristen Eleveld

It’s no secret that many communities are filled with people seeking help and advice to address mental health struggles in their lives. But finding affordable, accessible care can be a struggle of its own, and while many churches and other organizations stand ready and willing to help, it can still be difficult to find the specialized resources people so desperately need. Now, thanks to Cumberland Counseling Centers, many of those in Gwinnett and its surrounding cities are able to receive care from experts whose passion is to love the community around them.

Founded by Alexandra Thompson, LCSW, Cumberland Counseling Centers was created to fill a need that Alexandra saw in her church and in her community. She volunteered to counsel people seeking mental health services at her church. While the staff at Cumberland Community Church was working to provide as many people as possible with counseling, they were in need of some additional expertise to address specialized issues, which Alexandra was more than willing to provide. As Alexandra began counseling more and more people, she decided to make her services official and created Cumberland Counseling Centers.

“We feel that this is something every church should be doing!” said Alexandra, speaking about how so many people in the community already turn to houses of worship for help and advice. “We want to love our community and partner with faith-based organizations and churches to become a place where someone can go for therapy.”

Headquartered in Smyrna, Cumberland Counseling Centers has additional offices in Lawrenceville and Buckhead and partners with a church in Marietta to offer counseling services there. Alexandra and her team work hard to be intentional about creating an environment that allows their clients to feel safe and heard. The staff at Cumberland Counseling, which now has eight therapists plus an intake coordinator, recognizes the diversity of the people they counsel and have worked to reflect that diversity in their own staff.

“We want to provide intimate relationships and safety with each of our clients,” said Alexandra. “Many of our team members have experienced struggles unique to different situations and have a heart

Rainbow Village

Continued from page 21 talent by hosting on-campus events for Rainbow Village families, including Spring Break Bash, Back to School Events, sprucing up the campus with holiday decorations, providing the opportunity for resident kids to attend a ballet, and so much more. Rainbow Village is not the only beneficiary of Subaru of Gwinnett’s love and support to reach those groups who may not otherwise find the counseling they need.”

In addition to creating a safe space for anyone to receive mental health services, Alexandra and her team have also made it a priority to provide services at a cost that is truly affordable for a wide range of the surrounding community. They offer income-based scholarships on a sliding scale, allowing people from a wide range of financial backgrounds to get the care they need.

“We will financially support those in need whether they are with us in counseling for six months or two and a half years,” said Alexandra. “We don’t want finances to be the reason a person ends their therapy journey.”

Cumberland Counseling Centers is excited to be taking on new patients and offering as much help as they can to tackle financial obstacles. In 2022, the center gave away $45,000 in scholarships. Alexandra estimates that number will be doubled for 2023.

Partnership with churches and non-profit organizations within the community is not just limited to special events. Alexandra and her team are always open to creating new partnership with local churches or other faith-based organizations who are passionate about being a leader in community healthcare.

And for those churches or other organizations that are interested in having mental health services for their attendees, they only have to reach out and ask. Cumberland Counseling Centers has created a system that allows churches to use their existing model to build on what the church already has. Alexandra’s vision is to link arms with these churches and help them develop mental health service offerings that complement each individual church or organization.

“We want to supplement what churches are already doing—we don’t want to take over,” said Alexandra. “We just want to help them serve their community and handle the details so they can focus on loving those around them.”

If you need mental health services or want to find a way to bring those services to more people, Cumberland Counseling Centers is ready and waiting. Check out their website for more information on how you can get involved in helping Gwinnett become a leader in mental health resources.

More information at cumberlandcounselingcenters.org or (404) 884-8247 of the community. They also support Planned Pethood, The Elachee Nature Center, Hopkins Elementary School, and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Jennifer Kessler, General Manager, and Julie Adams, Warranty Admin and Love Promise Champion, accepted this award. While the event has come and gone for another year, opportunities to support Rainbow Village and the families it serves exist year-round.

More information at www.RainbowVillage.org.

Travel Tales: Polar Bears of Canada and More

By Pam Walker

I have always wanted to see polar bears before the ice fields are gone, and these beautiful and very large animals disappear from the earth.

I flew north to Churchill, Canada – The Polar Bear Capitol of the World – early in October to see these magnificent creatures. They live a very solitary life, spending time between sleeping and fishing for their food and seals. From the ice flows where they hunt to shore is about 50 miles, which they swim quickly.

Mating season is in early spring through summer, and females disappear into the tundra after mating until their cub is born. Yes, they only have one or two at most, thus the dwindling population. It is a beautiful site to see these bears in their natural habitat.

That said, there is a more interesting story to tell about Canada. For those of you who have seen the Yellowstone saga, in the prequel of 1923, you learn about the churches creating residential schools for indigenous children. In these schools, the children were severely mistreated. Not only the Catholic Church but the Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, and other religions created these institutions of pain and suffering. Not only did the Canadian government condone this, but they also aided in the practice by separating families by law until 1996.

Children from the Inuit region of Western Canada were sent all the way east to be interred in schools in Manitoba and vice versa. If these children escaped, there was no way they could return home to their families. The reason behind moving the children was to kill the indigenous history in them and convert them into literate Canadian citizens.

As late as the early 2000s children of indigenous families – now called the First Nations families – were separated, and children of large families were placed in foster homes as far away as Missouri and South Dakota.

Now, the Canadian government is making repartitions of $31 billion to Canadian Child Welfare organizations to make up for all the damage done. Over 150,000 children were separated from their families until recently.

Here in the USA, we did it too. In 1838 we moved the Cherokees to Oklahoma from North Georgia for similar reasons. This was the famous “Trail of Tears” for the largest population of indigenous peoples in our country.

Learn about polar bears…. I did! But I also learned about man’s injustice to their fellow men to assimilate all into one group. We should live like the polar bears: being ourselves and not trying to make others into something they are not!

Life lessons learned!

Pam Walker is a Virtuoso Travel Advisor. More information at pam@walkeradventures.com