by Katie Patrick
Let’s consider for a moment the different aspects of our daily life where our Catholic faith can play an active role, or where the faith at least informs it.
All throughout our diocese, there are organizations, institutions and businesses where either the mission and/or the person are formed and inspired by the Catholic faith.
There is Catholic education available for our children. Study groups and small groups organized through our parishes. Educational lectures offered by the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture and various other organizations run by the lay faithful. There are local volunteer opportunities led by St. Vincent de Paul conferences. Retreats preparing us for marriage, parenthood, holiness, and much more are offered at Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat Center. And we can frequent Catholic-run businesses in many of our towns for everything from electrical work and healthcare to snow removal and coffee. So why then, if needed, should we not also seek mental health therapy that integrates our Catholic faith?
We are truly blessed in this diocese to have the Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center (IHMCC) whose primary objective is to provide the highest standard of psychological services in an environment that respects the psychological and spiritual needs of its clientele. While remaining grounded in an evidence-based approach to mental health care, the IHMCC seeks to integrate into its services a philosophy and language that provides for effective working relationships with people of the Christian faith (www.immaculateheartcounseling.org).
Additionally, one of the unique elements of IHMCC is that we serve as an internship site within the APA-accredited, doctoral-level Nebraska Internship Consortium of Professional Psychology (NICPP). We have two interns serving with us this year. Please meet Omar Bravo and Father Conor Sullivan.
Omar is currently pursuing a doctorate at the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium in Palo Alto, Calif. He worked as a practicum student from 2020-2021 at LifeMoves, where he provided bilingual psychotherapy services to homeless children, families, and adults who were in the process of finding stable housing. He also provided psychotherapy services for students at Crittenden Middle School from 2019-2020.
During the 2018-2019 practicum year, Omar provided psychotherapy services to monolingual and bilingual Spanish-speaking adolescents and adults at La Clínica Latina within the Gronowski Center, a department clinic run by Palo Alto University. From 2018-2020, Omar provided Family Focused Therapy (FFT) to families, in the Arousal Induced by Medication Study (AIMS) at Stanford University, who had an adolescent at high risk for Bipolar I Disorder.
Father Conor received his master of psychology degree from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences in 2019. He is a provisionally licensed mental health practitioner in the State of Nebraska and is one of the pre-doctoral interns at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center (IHMCC).
Father Conor is currently pursuing his doctorate in psychology (PsyD) at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University. Most recently, he worked as practicum student at St. Luke’s Consultation Center in St. Louis. There he worked mainly with priests and religious in an individual and group therapy setting. He also provided psychological assessment services for applicants to seminary and religious formation and provided consultation services to the local Metropolitan Tribunal for assessing marriage cases where declarations of nullity were sought.
In addition to his work at St. Luke’s, Father Conor also worked at Phoenix House Mid-Atlantic, Men’s Residential Center, providing mental health and assessment service for a population that experiences extreme substance use disorders along with many other comorbid diagnoses.
Finally, Father Conor also worked as a practicum student in a community mental health setting at Arlington Catholic Charities Counseling Services, where he worked with a variety of clients: adults, adolescents, children, groups, married couples, priests, and seminarians.
As you can see, IHMCC is not your average counseling center. If we utilize our local Catholic plumbers, Catholic lawyers, and Catholic doctors when we need physical help, why would we not utilize Catholic therapists when we need assistance? Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center is here to help.
If you feel you would benefit from counseling from IHMCC, please call (402) 489-1834 and set up an appointment.
