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E-Connect Newsletter / 11.15.17
Announcing our 2017 #GivingTuesday Community Ambassadors!

Thank you to Kathy and Ted Stuart for serving as the Center's 2017 #GivingTuesday Community Ambassadors, and providing a $2,000 match challenge for hope and healing. 

Kathy and Ted Stuart

"It feels good to give."
-- Kathy and Ted Stuart, long time supporters
of the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center

Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Watch for more details. Or give today!

DonateNow
Welcome to our newest counselor, Alicia Krpan, t.L.M.H.C.

Alicia Krpan
Alicia Krpan, t.L.M.H.C.
Alicia Krpan is a bilingual mental health counselor. She provides counseling to children ,  adolescents  and adults with diverse emotional concerns. Her areas of interest are centered toward multicultural barriers such as intergenerational conflict, acculturation, anxiety, depression, life transitions, social skills and other  key aspects that a client's culture, identity, ethnicity, race, gender brings to the counseling process.   Alicia (a LEE see a) received her B.S. in Psychology from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Colombia and her Masters in Counseling Psychology from the University of Calgary in Canada. 

She successfully completed her graduate practicum year at the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center. ( The Center's graduate student training program is made possible through generous community support.)

Alicia provides counseling at the Center's home facility and also at the Center's outreach center in the Drake neighborhood -- all possible through incredible donor support.   

Please watch for more of the Center's information to be translated to Spanish and posted to our website soon. 
Thank you Youth Leadership Initiative of Des Moines

Kelli HIll and youth
Dr. Kelli Hill engages with youth leaders about health and wellness

The Center's large conference room often functions as a classroom, helping us realize our mission of counseling and education. Recently, we were honored to host s tudents from the  Youth Leadership Initiative of Des Moines  who stopped by to learn about health and wellness. Dr. Kelli Hill (photo), the Center's clinical director and licensed child and adolescent psychologist led the group through ways they can bring back ideas for mental health back to their high schools. Dr. Jim Hayes, executive director, joined Kelli in leading the youth with activities to inspire greater leadership in their own settings.
Tips for getting through the holidays
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Billie Wade

special to the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center

by Billie Wade, writer

The holidays carry different meanings for all of us. Some enjoy the festivities and the hum of life as people become busy with shopping and planning and cooking and wrapping and decorating. For some, they're ordinary days on the calendar. Some face the days with dread and trepidation, preferring to go to bed November 1 and wake up January 1 just in time for the Tournament of Roses Parade. And, some have other wants and needs during the holiday season. Whatever this time means for you, honoring your feelings and life rhythms can ease the tension.

Getting through the holidays can be challenging, but these twenty-three strategies may help smooth the edges of stress:

The Center is hiring!
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New blog post: Men, boys and mental health
Provider Anxiety

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  Zeb Treloar, M.Div.
by Zeb Trealor, M.Div. support staff at Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center

Money is a big deal.  It seems like men especially are pushed in our culture to make the dollars flow. Through a variety of reasons, including such insidious reasons as pay inequality for women, men tend to feel they should be the top wage earners in their families. And that can put a lot of pressure on a man.

What if you just can't seem to provide enough?

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Support group for survivors of suicide loss
  • Monthly, third Tuesday
  • 7 - 8:30 p.m.
  • Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center, 8553 Urbandale Avenue, Urbandale, IA
  • It matters not how long ago your loss
  • More information here: www.dmpcc.org/survivor
The Center is grateful for compassionate community support that makes it possible to offer this service at no cost.
"It brings me great joy. . ." 

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Trauma Sensitive Yoga for Men - Drop In classes
Eric Daishin McCabe

Instructor: Eric Daishin McCabe, Soto Zen Buddhist priest
  • Dates: Every Monday beginning November 13th, 2017 (classes will not be held December 25, 2017 through January 22, 2018). Classes will begin again January 29, 2018 and end on March 26, 2018.
  • Time: 4:30 - 5:15 p.m. (Please come early to sign in and pay by cash, check or credit card.) 
  • Cost: The cost for this course is $15 per session. If you have special circumstances regarding finances, please talk with the Center's yoga coordinator, Kathe Irvine or your counselor at the Center.
  • Facilitator: Eric Daishin McCabe is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest, offers trainings in mindfulness meditation,and is an adjunct teacher of World Religions at DMACC. Read his full bio here. 
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PrairieFire, applications will be posted soon!

Applications for the 2018-2020 session will be accepted in January 2018.  Materials will be posted soon.

There will be Open Houses to visit with PrairieFire staff alongside current and past participants: 
  • Thursday, January 25, 2018 from 6 - 7:30 pm and 
  • Saturday, February 17 from 9:30 - 11 am. 
We encourage those who are interested in applying to attend one of these opportunities.

You may also contact Diane McClanahan, the Center's Director of Leadership and Spiritual Life and co-director of  PraireFire , to discuss your discernment process:  dmcclanahan@dmpcc.org , tel: 515-251-6667.

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spanishFree / low cost Counseling Services in English and Spanish

Thanks to tremendous donor support, the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center is accepting referrals for Wednesday appointments at our new urban outreach center for eligible children, adolescents, adults and families who need mental health counseling and do not have the resources to cover the costs. 

Counseling offered in English and Spanish.

For initial intake session, please contact Nathan DeLange, L.I.S.W., at 515-577-0190. Feel free to share this information. (To schedule an appointment at the Center's home location, please call 515-274-4006 or email info@dmpcc.org.)

For more information and a bilingual, printer-friendly flyer:  www.dmpcc.org/outreach

Please share!

MBSR™ Intensive Mindfulness Training

The Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center is pleased to offer MBSR™ Intensive Mindfulness Training, an 8-week course that is backed by 37 years of research, proven to reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety. Utilizing curriculum developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, the course is designed to teach mind-body awareness and work with the effects of toxic stress. Learn to tap into your inner resources and discover the healing power of mindfulness through MBSR™.
 
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We are here to help:
Expanded capacity to provide free or low cost counseling

The Center has expanded availability to serve clients who do not have insurance or who otherwise need to be seen on a sliding scale fee scale --  with thanks to our graduate student counselors, Melissa Reyerson-Slifer and Danielle Lloyd. We welcome referrals if you know individuals who might benefit from counseling but have limited financial means. 

To schedule an appointment, please call 515-274-4006 or email info@dmpcc.org.
Let's get social!

To receive updates on the Center's programs and services as they are announced, and to learn more about our mission, please follow us on social media. We appreciate your help in sharing news with your friends!

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Sign up for the Center's Leadership and Spiritual Life program newsletter


Did you know the Center has a second newsletter? 

In addition to this newsletter which focuses on clinical aspects of the Center's mission, we also issue monthly news on topics related to the Center's Leadership and Spiritual Life programs -- communicating additional opportunities for learning and growth including professional development choices for clergy and congregational leaders. 

 

Sign up to receive the Center's monthly Leadership and Spiritual Life newsletter:

 

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What is pastoral counseling? 

The Pastoral in our name is the traditional name for counseling that integrates therapy with a client's values and/or faith. It also refers to how Center counselors respectfully accompany their clients through the transitions and crises of life's journey. Center counselors seek to offer healing for the whole person and see each dimension - body, mind, and spirit - as worthy of care.

 

Our mission is to bring understanding, hope and healing to people of all ages through counseling and education.
Our key services:  

Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center is a nonprofit organization  serving more than 3,700 individuals in 2016 including children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. The Center is not aligned with a particular religious group and respects the values of all.  Although best known for its 45 years of quality, professional mental health therapy, the Center is a multi-faceted organization providing a range of services:
  • Counseling, including specialized services for children and adolescents
  • Psychiatry (medication management)
  • Psychological testing and assessment
  • Training for clinical professionals
  • Biofeedback therapy and other holistic approaches
  • Spiritual direction
  • Community education including suicide prevention training
  • Leadership and spiritual life programming 
  • Career coaching
  • Conflict transformation and strategic planning services for congregations, nonprofits and businesses
 www.dmpcc.org   / 515-274-4006
In gratitude,

Terri Mork Speirs
Director of Development and Marketing
Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center
515-251-6670