This journey began with Pastor Mike Adkins of Grace Church’s vision of opening a professional counseling center in Central Florida.
Prior to becoming a pastor, Mike was a counselor. He has always been passionate about mental health care.
About
The story of Grace Counseling is one of remarkable vision, growth and dedication
When we show up, God shows up.
And as I prayed about the future of the church in 2019, I sensed that God was urging us to show up quickly with something I’d only dreamed about for a very long time: a professional counseling center at Grace.
In 2020, I finally knew the reason He was asking me to hurry up.
COVID rapidly accelerated trends we’d seen coming for a long time in our ministry at the church — the breakdown of relationships, the growing problem of loneliness, the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and addiction. People craved help more than ever, but there were huge barriers to getting the kind of help they needed.
For starters, there were never enough counselors to meet the need, and waiting lists were often months long. If you did happen to find a therapist, the cost was often too great for the average person to bear.
The biggest problem to me, though, was a lack of counseling that was distinctly Christian. I believe in the tools of modern therapy — I have a master’s degree in counseling myself — but the tools can only take people so far without the ultimate healing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Grace Counseling is designed to break down all of these barriers.
And we’re growing fast. In just five short years, we’ve already added a second location, and we’ve grown from one therapist to 16, with plans to add even more. We offer sessions at a greatly reduced cost and provide counseling scholarships to people as needed. We meet clients both in person and online, and we have counselors that focus on the needs of individuals, couples, kids, teens, and families.
I love that we’re able to connect people who need help in the community to the counseling center, and also connect people who need community at the counseling center to the church. And something even bigger is coming: The Center for Teaching and Healing at Grace Church. We’re currently in the process of renovating this 20,000 square foot property, located next door to our Orlando Campus, and it will expand our space from seven counseling rooms to 24.
I invite you to be a part of the good happening at Grace Counseling Center through your giving.
You’ll never regret bringing healing to people in need.
Mike Adkins, Founding and Senior Pastor of Grace Church
2019
254
Appointments provided
Grace Church opens Grace Counseling with two licensed therapists & a student working in the Grace Church building.
2020
1357
Appointments provided
Mental health needs rise amidst the COVID pandemic and Grace Counseling hires more therapists to meet a growing need in the community.
Grace Church renovates a warehouse to create a standalone counseling center, the new home to Grace Counseling.
Grace Counseling space opens late in the year with five offices, including a play therapy room for kids. We’ve almost outgrown it at the start.
2020
4310
Appointments provided
Grace Counseling expands our counseling team to 7 people and continues to see an increase in request for services.
2022
4798
Appointments provided
In June, Circle Community Church donates their 6 acre land and 20,000 square foot building, free of charge, and God grows our space overnight.
Grace Church decided to make this new building The Center for Teaching & Healing, and 13,000 square feet of the building will be for the new home of Grace Counseling, allowing us to serve even more people.
By the end of 2022, the clinical team grows to 12 therapists on staff, just a few months into 2023, we’ll have 15 therapists.
Lauren Lashbrook joins our staff as the Director of Development.
2023
7632
Appointments provided
Architectural planning begins and is finalized for the buildout of the future home of Grace Counseling.
To continue to meet an increased demand for services while we are planning our new space, Grace Church allows Grace Counseling to use additional space within the church for counseling.
Grace Counseling opens a second location in
Winter Springs.
Grace Counseling projected 7500 appointments for 2023 and exceeded that with 7,623 appointments completed in 2023.
At the end of the year, we hired our 16th therapist to start in 2024 and have a growing list of therapists interested in joining our team when we are in our new space.
2024
9960
Appointments projected
Grace Counseling is projecting providing 9,960 appointments for 2024 based on current monthly averages.
