Guest Blog By: Frankie P.

The Samaritan Counseling and Education Centers in Houston , Texas were begun in 1986. Presently there are 21 centers in the Houston- Galveston area. The Krist family donated an old office building; thus it became known as the Carole and Ronald Krist Samaritan Education & Counseling Center. Their mission is to provide Christian counseling on a sliding scale basis to people with a variety of problems on the philosophy of treating the mind, body and spirit and making the person whole again. The centers are accredited by the American Association of Pastoral Counseling and the Samaritan Institute. Over the years they have treated more than a quarter of a million people.

The Houston Centers offer a MindWorks program which provides testing for children who might be eligible for a Gifted or Developmentally Delayed program instead of having to wait for the school system to do it.

While the philosophy of each center is basically the same, the programs may differ based on the needs of the area where it is located. For example, helping people recover from natural disasters, or service men and women who return from active duty with post traumatic stress syndrome are just two areas in addition to the usual child guidance, marriage counseling, vocational, aging, drug and mental health problems. In all areas, the body, mind, spirit and community are involved in the counseling.

In addition, the Samaritan Counseling and Education Centers provide classes open to the members of the community on subjects related to the areas listed above as well as training programs for clergy and mental health professionals.