Southern Nebraska Register
Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center (IHMCC) will celebrate its launch as one of Nebraska’s newest non-profit organizations.
The public is invited to an open house Friday, Aug. 4, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the offices in the John XXIII Diocesan Center, 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite #1, in Lincoln. Refreshments will be provided. Guests can tour the facility, meet the counselors and staff, and learn how IHMCC serves the community.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center, which used to operate as part of Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska, is now an independent non-profit organization. As a non-profit, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center will continue to provide support services and counseling to the entire Diocese of Lincoln.
When IHMCC announced plans for the transition to becoming an independent organization, Katie Patrick, executive director of Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska, said the decision was made “after extensive prayer and consultation with Bishop James D. Conley, and with the full support of Dr. Courtney Miller and Dr. Peter Martin” of IHMCC.
For more than 25 years, Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center provided professional, faith-integrated counseling to priests, religious, school staff, and individuals within the community. More than 5,000 sessions were conducted in 2023, as the fiscal year ended in June.
The idea of providing Catholic faith-integrated mental healthcare in the Diocese of Lincoln began with Father Joseph Walsh, then the director of CSS. He involved Dr. Kathryn Benes, the only Catholic mental health professional he knew. Dr. Benes surrendered her private practice in July 1994 to oversee a diocesan-wide feasibility study and become the founding director of clinical services for what would become the Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center.
The internship program at Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center was formed to train new professionals in the developing concept of Catholic faith-integrated counseling . The new concept in counseling recognizes the individual person as both body and soul, and utilizes Catholic teaching and prayer where it is beneficial, to heal the whole person. The internship program, accredited in 2003 through a membership extended by the Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology, also helps provide additional professionals to cover the 24,000 square miles of the Diocese of Lincoln. It is the only Catholic internship program accredited by the American Psychology Association in the United States.
In the program’s 20 years of existence, 33 pre-doctoral interns have completed training through IHMCC.
The open house Aug. 4 will kick off a year of transition for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center, which includes a fresh new look and plans for increased community outreach. An updated logo and a refreshed website – still at www.immaculateheartcounseling.org – will invite people to learn more about the services available. IHMCC will also share information on Facebook and Instagram to increase community awareness of mental health topics and upcoming events.
The board of directors for the new non-profit held its inaugural meeting May 24, the feast of Mary Help of Christians. Members of the board include Fr. Joseph Walsh, treasurer; Jan Frayser, secretary; Dr. Arthur Grinstead, Dr. Peter Martin, and Dr. Courtney Miller, president.
