Counseling Center celebrates 30 years
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Counseling Center in the Berkshires — an organization launched by two pastoral counselors in a cold, wet church basement with barred windows in Pittsfield — will celebrate its 30th anniversary next week.
The center now has three offices — in Williamstown, Pittsfield and Great Barrington — and a staff of nine, who log 3,000 to 4,000 clinical hours a year.
Center Director Craig Clemow spoke last week about the nonprofit organization, which aims to blend psychology and spirituality in the process of psychotherapy.
"We aim to blend body, mind and spirit," Clemow said, noting that the pastoral counseling center is rooted in the tradition of "caring for souls." But, he stressed that the organization is interfaith, neither promulgating nor requiring specific religious affiliations. "You don't have to have a religious upbringing or belief to be here," he said.
John F. Messerschmitt, an ordained Presbyterian minister who founded the organization with Bill Hydon, also a clergyman, wrote of the organization's beginnings in its most recent newsletter. He wrote that early clients would occasionally "find their pastoral counselor wearing his overcoat as the thermostat had failed to bring the heat up above 54 degrees, or mopping up the residue of the flood from the evening before. But still they came to 27 East St. [in Pittsfield]."
Part of the center's early support came when it was chosen as one of a dozen recipients of research grants from The National Institutes of Mental Health. The institutes wanted to find out if well-trained clergy could do an effective job helping people, given that many people with emotional and mental issues first turned to them for help.
The organization's aim included education, prevention and training, as well as psychotherapy — an aim it pursued by establishing both a clergy support group (groups in Pittsfield and Williamstown are still functioning) and an Associates in Pastoral Counseling program, founded for clergy but broadened to include non-ordained candidates. That program enrolled some 100 trainees over 12 years, until insurance and liability issues caused its demise.
Clemow, an ordained Methodist minister, has been with the center 23 years. He had led churches in Florida and New York State for nearly 10 years before going back to earn his doctorate in psychology. The nine staff members represent the disciplines of pastoral counseling, psychology and clinical social work. According to the organization's mission statement, its premise is that the spiritual dimension aids in healing and creativity.
"We are a mixture of psychology and spirituality," Clemow said. "We're not here to proselytize. People come to us in pain." He added, "Psychology and spirituality both make meaning of ourselves and our lives. Both are about healing. So it didn't seem too big a leap."
When the organization began, out-of-pocket fees ranged from $15 to $35, and it accepted no insurance. Now, all insurances and HMO plans are accepted. The organization's community-based board of directors is headed by President William Ballen, superintendent of Lanesborough schools, and Vice President Ken Singer, executive director of the Berkshire Association for Retarded Citizens (BARC).
Looking back on the organization's 30 years, Clemow said, "People tell their worst fears and darkest secrets. The narrative unfolds, and we're invited guests on the journey. Our job is to meet them respectfully."
People have goals and reasons to enter therapy, he said. "We work toward that focus or goal. We stay on track until they feel better or their relationship is better or they decide not to be in a relationship. None of us is a finished product. We need to keep the things that work for us and get rid of those that work against us. I am always struck by human resilience."
The center offers individual, marriage and family therapy, group therapy, professional support groups for dealing with divorce, creative marriage, parenting, clergy, and physicians, plus workshops and seminars on listening skills, stress reduction and workplace, as well as consultation for helping professionals. Therapists at the center do not prescribe medications but refer to licensed clinicians, such as nurse specialists or psychiatrists or a patient's own doctor.
"Medication is not the first place we turn, unless someone's functioning is so impaired they need it," Clemow said. "Medications alone often don't do the job, but the combination of medications with therapy can be effective."
The center's Pittsfield office is at 34 Depot St., Suite 201, telephone 413-499-4090. In Williamstown, center offices are on the second floor of the First Congregational Church parish hall, telephone 413-458-3279. Opened just last month, its Great Barrington offices are at St. James Episcopal Church, telephone 413-429-6612. Its Web site is www.arplais.com/ccb.
The center will celebrate its 30th anniversary on Thursday, Oct. 21, with dinner at the Crowne Plaza in Pittsfield with the Rev. Rick Spalding, Williams College chaplain, as keynote speaker. The reception will be at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30.
