Help for the Healthy... Hope for the Hurting
A Word from the President
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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
Just as growing children need bigger clothes and more food, a growing ministry needs more space to minister to ever-increasing numbers of God's people-some of whom cannot afford to pay for the help they need.
We now have a specially furnished play therapy area for work with very young children. Their unique problems can be "buried" or "surfaced" with sandbox toys ... or addressed through other structured play.
We have a child-friendly reception and waiting area with bright colors, big windows, books, games, and Christian videos for them while they are waiting for their appointment. We also have more office space for staff members who work with older children.
Because many people who turn to us for Christian mental health care are unable to fully pay for the ministry services they need, much of our work requires underwriting by believers who share our burden for Christian mental health care. One specific area needs help at this time. It is the Broken Heart Fund which helps EMERGE provide care for people of very limited means.
Please consider helping EMERGE help those in need.
Donate
Much of our work requres donations by believers who share our burden for Christian mental health care. Thank you for standing with us.
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The Education Department at Emerge Ministries oversees several programs of the organization including: The Center for Pastoral Counseling, Professional Seminars, Community Seminars, and our (the) doctors and masters level internship program.
A full-service Christ-centered mental health outpatient center
• Clinical team includes psychologists, psychology residents, counselors, and interns.
•Education opportunities include training for individuals desiring to strengthen their counseling skills (Center for Pastoral Counseling) and preventive mental health care through community and healthy minister seminars.
• Video, audio, and print ministry materials help churches provide both preventive and restorative mental health care to believers.
EMERGE is a growing Christ-centered mental health center, providing confidential, compassionate, biblically based, and Spirit-empowered outpatient mental health care for individual, marital, and family needs.
Our Mission:
As Christ-followers, we live "in" the world even though we are not “of" the world. So from time to time we need mental health care to help us through the unpredictable stresses of life and...
Because such care must be consistent with and workable within the framework of our Christian faith based on biblical truth, and...
Because the church often lacks the psychological insight necessary to integrate its primary message of salvation for the lost with proven mental health principles to bring emotional healing to the saved...
The mission of EMERGE is to...
- Provide to the church a supporting and complementary ministry of competent Christian mental health care by professionals who respect both the infallible truth of God's Word and the authentic nature of spiritual experiences as legitimate therapeutic resources or the mental health needs of believers;
- Integrate the resources of Scriptural truth and spiritual experience in a treatment modality of Christian psychology consistent with proven mental health principles;
- Develop and provide programs embodying this modality in areas of treatment, prevention, and training.
Given this clear mission EMERGE seeks to be redemptive... to be a well-equipped "ambulance at the bottom of the cliff," in providing healing and hope to bruised, broken, and burned out, stressed out, depressed, and guilt-ridden individuals.
EMERGE is equally committed to preventive ministry... helping spiritual, professional and business leaders build "stronger fences at the top of the cliff," so that they can stand strong while experiencing the frequent pressures and stresses that accompany leadership.
Clinicians
EMERGE Leadership Team
EMERGE Administrative Team
Without God's help and blessing, any "house" we determine to build will fail. We have His Word on that (Psalm 127:1). And that includes a mental health ministry like EMERGE. The success of this ministry, therefore, depends first of all on Christs leadership, strength, and wisdom.
Effective ministry also depends in large part on both the spiritual commitment and professional skill of its clinicians. The leadership of the ministry team that is fulfilling the God-given mission and vision for EMERGE rests with The EMERGE Leadership Team
John M. Palmer
President of EMERGE Ministries and Chairman of the Board
John and Debbie Palmer are so excited to be part of the EMERGE leadership team, as of November, 2010. John brings his spiritual passion, visionary spirit, pastors heart, and team building skills to this vital ministry. Debbie is very involved with EMERGE, too, utilizing her organizational skills as a nearly full-time volunteer. With her joyful attitude, encouraging heart, and servant spirit, Debbie is loved and appreciated by clinicians and support team alike.
Early in his leadership of EMERGE, John recognized that EMERGE has been a very effective ambulance at the bottom of the cliff for nearly forty years. Well over 200,000 individuals have received hope and healing through the counseling ministry of our founder, Dr. Richard Dobbins, and the many skilled clinicians who have served and continue to serve with excellence.
In addition to assuring that EMERGE remains strong and healthy in its redemptive ministry, John is launching a fresh preemptive ministry helping spiritual, professional, and business leaders build stronger fences at the top of the cliff, so they can be emotionally, mentally, and relationally healthy as they face the stresses and pressures of leadership.
Numerous fence building forums are being developed and will soon be released.
Johns professional and ministry experience is extensive.
•Certified with the International Coach Federation presently coaching young pastors and church planters
•General Secretary of the General Council of the Assemblies of God [2007 2009]
•Lead pastor of First Assembly, Des Moines, Iowa [1985 2006]
•President of Come Alongside Ministries [2006 present]
•Founding pastor of New Life Assembly, Athens, Ohio [1975 1985]
John and Debbie are blessed with three children.
•Amy and her husband, Jeremy, reside in Tennessee, where they are raising two children, Grant, and Addie. Active in their local church, Amy and Jeremy are ardent, Spirit-filled, Christ-followers.
•Jonathan and his wife, Heather, live in New Albany, Ohio. Their lives are full and exciting as they are part of a church planting team. One Church was launched in January, 2011, and is making a significant impact in their community. Heather enjoys her work as a fifth grade school teacher.
•Bethany is a sophomore at Southwestern Assemblies of God University [SAGU] in Waxahachie, Texas. She loves being an R.A., maintains a 4.0 grade average, and has tons of friends.
Administrative Team
Donald A. Lichi, Ph.D
Vice President
Dr. Donald A. Lichi is a licensed psychologist at EMERGE Ministries, serving as Vice President and as a member of the Leadership Team. He is an adjunct professor with Ashland Theological Seminary and Trinity International University (IL).
He has spoken at numerous conferences and workshops on Pastoral health, Christian education, parenting, marriage, and family issues and has published several articles on Christian mental health. Recent ministry has taken him to India, Brazil, Thailand, Ecuador, Germany, Switzerland, Guatemala, dominical Republic, Haiti, Romania, China, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and Nicaragua.
Dr. Lichi was in private practice for five and one-half years, taught school and directed a school-based counseling program for six years. He also taught for six years in the graduate school at the University of Akron. Earlier, while in the United States Air Force, Dr. Lichi served for three years in Italy and three years in Alaska.
Best of all, he is married to Marcie and they have three adult children and five grandchildren!
Wayne Taylor
Clinical Leadership Chairperson
Rev. Wayne Taylor is a licensed professional clinical counselor at EMERGE Ministries, Inc. where he provides marriage, family and individual counseling. He is also registered cognitive behavioral therapist. He has been at EMERGE for 20 yrs.
Rev. Taylor is the chair person of the Clinical Leadership Team and also serves as acting Director of Services to Clergy.
He spent 13 years as a pastor at three different Assemblies of God churches. He also spent five years on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona as resident director and house parent at the Laveen Indian Childrens Home.
He has spoken at numerous marriage seminars and has been a speaker at area Assemblies of God churches doing pulpit fill-in when they are between pastors.
He and his wife, Donna, have been married for 45 yrs. They have two adult sons and 6 grandchildren, who are the delight of their lives.
Robert Ebner
Chief Financial Officer
After graduating from Miami University of Ohio with a degree in accounting, Rob Ebner was hired by the State of Ohio Auditors office. During that time, he passed the CPA exam and worked with a joint task force of the Ohio Auditors office and the Ohio Department of Health (now ODJFS) in auditing skilled nursing facilities. He has worked with several notable premier healthcare facilities, including The Cleveland Clinic and Affinity Medical Center. Rob has been serving at EMERGE Ministries since 2007 as the Chief Financial Officer as well as the organizations Treasurer and Secretary.
Leatisher Jackson
Interm Education Director
Degree: M.A.
Professional license: Professional Counselor (P.C.)
Population served: Children, adolescents, couples/families
Clinical Interest/Training: Trauma, grief/loss, anxiety depression, childhood behavioral disorders, parenting, and emotion management
Years at EMERGE: 1
Professional Memberships/Certifications: American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), National Certified Counselor
900 Mull Ave Akron Ohio 44313
800.621.5207 330.867.5603
Name: Norma W. Bryant
Degree: M.A., Clinical Pastoral Counseling
Special Areas of Interest: Adult individuals, couples
Population served: Adults
Clinical Interest/Training: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotion Focused Therapy
Years at EMERGE: 2
Professional Memberships/Certifications: American Counseling Association (ACA)
Name: Leigh-Ann Brisbin
Professional License: Professional counselor
Population served: Children, adolescents, adults, couples
Clinical Interest/Training: Eating Disorders counseling, marriage and family therapy, child and adolescent adjustment and behavioral difficulties, anxiety and depression, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Group Therapy.
Special Areas of Interest: Author of My True Reflection; Freedom from Eating Disorders, Public Speaker on various spiritual issues for area churches and organizations, women and youth events.
Years at Emerge: 1
Special Involvement at Emerge: Groupwork Initiative Team
Professional Membership/Certifications: National Certified Counselor
Name: Todd Brisbin
Population Served: Married couples, children and adolescents, adults
Clinical Interest/Training: Drug and alcohol addiction counseling, marriage and family therapy, child and adolescent adjustment and behavioral difficulties, anxiety and depression, pastoral counseling.
Special Areas of Interest: Philosophical counseling
Professional Membership: National Certified Counselor
Name: Patricia Barrett
Degree: Ph.D., M.A. B.A. - Social Work
Special Areas of Interest: Trauma, crisis, mood disorders, anger, behavioral issues in adults and children, neurological and environmental issues regarding mental health
Professional license: Psychologist, Professional Clinical Counselor with Supervisory Status (P.C.C.-S.), Licensed Social Worker (L.S.W.)
Population served: Adults, adolescents, children 5 yrs-old and older
Years at EMERGE: 15
Special Involvement at EMERGE: Clinical Leadership Team
Professional Memberships/Certifications: Ohio Psychological Association, Christian Association for Psychological Studies, International Play Therapy Association, International Society for Mental Health Online
Name: Andrea Robin Brown
Degree: M.Ed.
Population served: Women, children (previous experience working with families in community mental health)
Years at EMERGE: 1 Special Involvement at EMERGE: Coordinator of EMERGE prayer support team
Name: Victoria Gutbrod
Special Areas of Interest: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, small(t) and Large (T) traumas, mood disorders, depression and anxiety disorders, eating disorder behaviors, and personality disorders
Professional license: Professional Clinical Counselor with Supervisory Status (P.C.C.S.)
Population served: Adults, marriage and family, young adults, teens, children
Clinical Interest/Training : Christian Counseling, Impact Therapy, Sensorimotor Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Transactional Analysis Therapy, Gestalt Approach, and Neuro-psychology
Years at EMERGE: 5
Professional Memberships/Certifications: Participated in over 50 hours of specialized trainings for Trauma, of which 22 hours were by trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk, MD
Name: Leatisher Jackson
Name: Steve Dunleavey
Special Areas of Interest: The integration of Biblical truth with proven counseling techniques
Professional license: Professional Clinical Counselor with Supervisory Status (P.C.C.-S.)
Population served: Adults and adolescents
Clinical Interest/Training: Marriage counseling, family counseling, healing emotional wounds from the past, anxiety disorders, depression, grieving and loss, life adjustment issues and trauma recovery
Special Involvement at EMERGE: Clinical Leadership Team, missionary evaluations, ministerial rehabilitation evaluations, counselor supervisor, chapel worship leader, has taught graduate level courses in counseling theories, differential diagnosis, marriage and family therapy, crisis counseling, group counseling, and practicum/internship
Professional Memberships/ Certifications: Certified Cognitive Therapist
Name: Don Hartwell
Special Areas of Interest: Counseling for Minister/Missionary individuals and couples, marital and family counseling, adolescent boys, sexual addictions, depression and anxiety
Clinical Interest/Training: Presenter for healthy ministers seminar and helpline counselor, ordained minister with the Assemblies of God
Years at EMERGE: 10
Name: Jessica Smith
Degree: Ma.Ed. Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Professional License: Professional Counselor-Clinical Resident (LPC-CR)
Population Served: Children, Adolescents, Adults, Couples, Families
Clinical Interest: Group work, Educational barriers, Couples, Female Empowerment, Grief/loss, Anxiety, Depression, Career, Life adjustment, Mindfulness/Emotional regulation.
Professional Membership: American Counseling Association (ACA), Ohio Counseling Association (OCA)
Name: Kim Sebestyen
Professional license: Professional Counselor (P.C.); Licensed Social Worker (L.S.W.)
Population served: Children, adolescents & adults
Clinical Interest/Training: Anxiety, depression, trauma, sexual abuse, mood disorders, behavioral & cognitive therapy
Name: J ane D. Richard
Special Areas of Interest: Working with survivors of sexual trauma and assault
Professional license: Professional Clinical Counselor (P.C.C.)
Population served: Individuals, couples, families
Name: Richard A. Serbin
Degree: Ph.D
Special Areas of Interest: Addictions, relationships, mood & anxiety disorders
Professional license: Psychologist
Clinical Interest/Training: Clinical Psychology
Years at EMERGE : 13
Professional
Memberships/
Certifications: Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS), American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), Society for Personality Assessment (SPA)
Name: Donald A. Lichi
Special Areas of Interest: Marriage and family, parenting, pre-re-marital counseling, training, teaching
Population served: Adolescents, adults
Clinical Interest/Training: Wounded Warrior (U.S. Military) for PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury
Years at EMERGE: 18
Special Involvement at EMERGE: Vice President; EMERGE Leadership Team; Supervisor; Ministerial/Missionary/Church Planter assessments; Author; Conference speaker
Professional Memberships/Certifications: American Psychological Association, Ohio Psychological Association, Association of Christian Schools International
Name: R. Wayne Taylor
Special Areas of Interest: Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Clinical Interest/Training: Marital, Individual, Grief Counseling, Extensive work with Ministers/Missionaries and their families, ordained Assemblies of God minister
Years at EMERGE: 20
Special Involvement at EMERGE: Clinical Leadership Team, EMERGE Leadership Team, Dir. Of Clinical Services to Ministers and Missionaries
Name: David Teare
Degree: M.Ed. in community counseling, school counseling and B.A. Psychology
Special Areas of Interest: Marital, addictions, depression and anxiety
Clinical Interest/Training: Emotion-focused therapy, addictions, cognitive-behavioral, solution-focused
Years at EMERGE: 8
Special Involvement at EMERGE: Adjunct professor, presenter of various seminars
Name: Kathryn Wurtz
Degree: Psy.D., Doctorate in Psychology
Special Areas of Interest: Play therapy, insight-oriented treatment
Professional Memberships/Certifications: American Psychological Association (APA) and Association for Play Therapy (APT)
EMERGE began as a result of a painful chapter of Dr. Richard D. Dobbins personal life. Due to a serious post-partum illness experienced by his first wife, Dolores, she experienced severe depression. In the late 1940s there existed an intense antipathy between psychiatry and religion. This left the Dobbins family without resources for her help.
Dr. Dobbins recalls that episode in their lives this way:
When we looked to the medical world for help, they blamed her problem on religion and urged us to get her out of crazy religion. On the other hand, when we looked to the church for help, her devotional life came under scrutiny. We were told that she needed to spend more time in prayer and reading Gods Word every day.
Dolores was a very devout person who typically spent 30-45 minutes a day reading her Bible and praying, even though she believed she was abandoned by God. Her symptoms were certainly not the result of neglecting this area of her life.
Many months into this experience, the Lord miraculously healed her. From that time, she and I carried a deep compassion for Christians with mental health problems.
(NOTE: Dolores developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1989 and went to be with the Lord in 1992. In 1994 Dr. Dobbins married the former Priscilla Adams of West Lafayette, Indiana. They currently reside in Florida.)
Dr. Dobbins was convinced that the Scriptures contain the wisdom for living and the basic principles for managing lifes problems. He also studied the behavioral sciences as an adjunct to help make practical the principles of Gods word for everyday life. The concept of EMERGE Ministries grew out of Dr. Dobbins pastoral counseling ministry. As word of this unique ministry spread, it became apparent to him that EMERGE needed a separate identity as a treatment and training center.
EMERGE was established as an evangelical Christian mental health center in 1973. From then until 1983, EMERGE was housed in the Bryden Buildings in Akron, Ohio. Dr. Dobbins also established an active speaking and training ministry at conventions and retreats.
In 1976, the first class in the EMERGE/Ashland Seminary masters program in clinical pastoral counseling began. EMERGE and Ashland Theological Seminary conducted a joint program in clinical training from 1976-2010.
The Institute of Pastoral Counseling began in 1984 for those who desired biblical training without the rigors of a full-fledged graduate program. This program concluded in 2009 and was replaced by an on-line training program, the Center for Pastoral Counseling (see CPC.org for further details).
EMERGE broke ground for a new facility in 1985, and that campus was greatly enlarged in 1995 to include a childrens center, an educational wing and additional counseling offices.
Additional services at EMERGE include an emergency Help Line for Assemblies of God pastors, missionaries and their families. These calls are directed to professional counselors at EMERGE who offer godly counsel and prayer along with professional guidance, with full anonymity.
Dr. Richard Dobbins resigned as President of EMERGE in 2001 and was followed by Clayton Glickert and M. Wayne Benson. John M. Palmer currently serves EMERGE as its President and CEO.
President Palmers heart and vision for EMERGE are compelling us to move forward with a number of new initiatives including: Preventative health programs for pastors and missionaries, coach training, professional continuing education seminars, community outreach seminars, marriage mentor training, etc.
If you would like to be seen at Emerge please click on one of the forms below to fill out and we will contact you about making an appointment with one of our many counselors.
