Hello Community!

First, if you are in WNC, we hope you are safe and supported during this catastrophic event. It has been nothing short of inspiring to witness communities come together to recover, rebuild and support one another after Hurricane Helene. To quote our friend and fellow mental health provider, Amy Parrish, “We are all feeling a lot of collective pain and grief here, and we have all been through varying degrees of traumatic experiences. But we are all feeling support around us and pride in our community.”

As a mental health group, we know how important it is during times of crisis to have support and connection. Like many in WNC, we sustained damage to our buildings and property, which is impacting spaces we hold counseling sessions and groups in. We are working quickly with community partners and volunteers to get all spaces up and running so we can continue to serve our community during this time of crisis. We humbly ask for your help by donating. Not only will you help us recover currently unusable therapeutic spaces, but most importantly you will help us create a fund to support more free mental health services.

More than anything, we want to support our community in this time of great need. And we'd like to get ahead of the needs of our community. We are planning to focus as much time and energy as possible to provide more free, high quality mental health services. We hope to raise $10,000 toward providing free in-person and/or virtual sessions and support groups for all ages to our community in the coming weeks and months. Anything over $10,000 will to go toward the cleanup and rebuilding of our damaged buildings and two flooded therapy spaces as soon as possible, thus increasing access to our community.

Please continue reading to learn some ways we help provide services to those that would otherwise be unable to afford counseling. Also, thank you for stopping by and thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for donating to a cause we believe in with our whole hearts and souls. We would also appreciate it if you shared this link with others.

When we began Full Circle nearly a decade ago we prioritized making mental health care as accessible as possible to our whole community regardless of ability to pay. Each practitioner that joins Full Circle agrees to see a minimum of 10% of their clients pro bono or at a sliding scale rate (many do more). We also launched our low-cost counseling program. The cost for low-cost counseling works with what the client can afford (average cost is around $15 per session, but can be as low as $0). That program alone has provided over 8000 hours of free or greatly reduced rate therapy and allowed over 30 clinical interns to gain needed hours toward licensure. We’ve also offered countless hours of free non-clinical peer support type groups and classes. And we’ve done this all without grants, donors, or any additional outside support.

During this catastrophic event, the true generosity of our Full Circle Community has been astounding. Our therapists and community members were at the houses three days post storm, helping us remove fallen trees, ripping out wet drywall, seeing clients outside, and organizing free “listening sessions” to anyone in need. We also opened our doors to our community as soon as power was restored to our Full Circle houses and continue to offer food, water, phone charging, hot showers and respite to many. We have been listening closely to what our community needs, pivoting as needed and trying our best to offer support the best way we know how; through listening and holding space as we collectively grieve the unfolding of this unprecedented disaster.

We anticipate that the need for emotional support is going to increase in the weeks and months to come. As our community transitions from rescue and recovery work into a new phase of rebuilding, the underlying emotions we’ve all been too busy to attend to will begin to surface. We have spoken with first responders and community members all over WNC. They have expressed that they know they’ll need support when the dust begins to settle, but that they are currently too busy helping others to focus on themselves. We’ve also spoken to many who were fortunate to survive the disaster mostly unscathed but are still deeply shaken. Some of them feel that surely there must be others who deserve help more than they do. This collective trauma will have a lasting impact on our community for some time. "If [mental health] recovery efforts are visible, the community — and through that the individuals in it — achieve a sense of being empowered that fuels further recovery. If community efforts toward recovery are not visible, individuals are more at risk for succumbing to PTSD and other serious mental and physical un-wellness." (The Emotional Life Cycle of a Disaster )

We are SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL & HUMBLE to be a part of such an amazing community! We love you Henderson County and WNC!

With love & gratitude, Full Circle Community Wellness

One of two flooded therapy spaces.

The huge evergreen that fell on our Jack St house, which primarily houses our kids and family therapists.

A clearer view of the damage to Jack St after the bulk of the tree was removed from the roof.

Some very positive feedback from a community member. We strive to create comfy, safe spaces for healing and community. ❤️