Local Counseling Center offers “hope, help & healing” through community outreach

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) –  A local counseling center says they get out in the community to spread a message of hope in a time where a spotlight is being put on mental health.

The Sound Living Counseling Center says they hope to show people how to do that in a way that could save their life.

Suicide rates as well as drug overdoses continue to soar in many areas.

They believe that before it reaches that point, anyone who experiences any type of trauma should seek help.

April Lynn Taylor says that their goal is to reach those who are hurting before they get the call for their assistance.

Taylor says, “one of the reasons I’m so passionate about this is because I want to talk about suicide, I want to go in and talk about grief and loss, I want to talk about things were not talking about first of all. I want to do that on the front end because they do call us when the crisis happens. We are the first call. So I want to be that call before someone takes their life.”

The Sound Living Counseling Center is hoping to make it known that there is “hope, help and healing” available here in Chattanooga for those struggling with the difficult hand that you may have been dealt in life. Full story tonight @ 11. #MentalHealthAwareness #MentalHealth pic.twitter.com/xK9yUvH76F

— Amber Worthy (@AWorthyNews) March 9, 2019

April Taylor, LPC, MHSP says, “I believe that everybody needs someone who can listen and understand them and to hear their heart.”

The Sound Living Counseling Center says they aim to make hope, help and healing available for those in the Tennessee Valley. Mental Health is a topic that is generally taboo for both men and the African American community.

Jay Armstrong, a therapist at Sound Living, says “men commit about 90% of homicides. Men are also 3 1/2 more times more likely to die from suicide then women and that’s a lot of displaced anger and that’s a lot of misplaced emotion.”

April Taylor says she prides herself in making people aware of all the resources that are at their disposal.

Taylor says, “there’s a lot of great research out there saying that our brains can be restored and so a lot of people don’t know that so just like we take care of our heart, just like we take care of ourselves if we have cancer… We have to take care of our mental health and there is a lot of stuff that we can do. A lot of the stuff is really simple stuff and all of it does not include the medicine.”

They believe they first have to make anyone who walks through their doors know that this will only make them stronger

Armstrong believes, “when you are not able to express and identify and navigate your emotions in a lot of ways you’re hostage within yourself and then when you’re hostage within yourself you aren’t truly in capable of having fulfilling relationships with the people around you, the people that you love so it affects everybody.”

Armstrong says, “we get to a point where we want to get in better shape and we have no problem looking at ourselves, critiquing ourselves, saying I need to do some arm work or some leg work and going to the gym and doing those exercises. Well, your emotions and your psyche is no different. We can look at our bodies and build our bodies and invest time and effort into getting our bodies healthy… why shouldn’t we use that same approach with our mind and our emotions?”

This is an event that Sound Living is hosting tomorrow.