sAmAritAN couNseLiNg growth ceNter

REGARDED BY COMMUNITY AS ‘A WONDERFUL ORGANIZATION’

by tamara browning

Samaritan Counseling & Growth Center, Inc. in Bartlesville has provided mental health services for over 40 years in a community that embraces them.

Social media posts from businesses familiar with the not-for-profit located at 245 SE Madison Boulevard show the regard Bartlesville has for the center.

Bartlesville Yard Greetings brought attention to the center on Facebook with a post thanking the center and letting the staff there know “We are so BLESSED to have you here in Bartlesville!” A Facebook post by Green Country Home Organizer expressed appreciation for a breakfast fundraiser -- “A beautiful event in support of a wonderful or-

Larry cowan

haMed Mehrnik/Pixabay

ganization. Samaritan Counseling & Growth Center, Inc.”

Larry Cowan, Samaritan’s executive director, is aware of the public’s respect for the center.

“That’s what I hear. We have a good reputation in the community as providing quality therapy,” Cowan said. “All of our therapists are master level and licensed therapists in the state of Oklahoma, so it means we have some quality clinicians that are able to provide services for quite a variety of individuals’ pathologies or problems.”

A United Way agency, the center offers faith-based, affordable counseling to individuals and families living in several Oklahoma counties and southern Kansas. The center is affiliated and accredited by the Solihten Institute, which promotes integration of mind, body, spirit and community into healing.

Samaritan sees 900 individuals and offers about 5,000 counseling sessions a year. Services include individual, couples and family counseling; Employee Assistance Program evaluations and referrals; tele-health (virtual therapy); tele-psychiatry; and group counseling. The center soon will start a group called “Parent Teach.”

“Which is teaching parents how to work with their children, especially those who have certain emotional disabilities,” Cowan said.

Faith-Based Availability

Several churches have been instrumental in supporting the center since it began operation in 1974 and continue to support the center today “in a variety of ways, from financial gifts to clients,” Cowan said.

Although Samaritan is faith-based, staff don’t try indoctrinating anyone into a faith.

“We’re just available and open to people who want to discuss spiritual issues, which might show up as a part of their therapy,” Cowan said. “We’re not afraid of that. We don’t necessarily make that a primary goal, but we will certainly address any spiritual issues, and we are probably maybe one of the few around that we will actually link that because we believe very much in the whole concept of a person being spiritual, physical, mental and emotional.”

Clients received continuity of care through video health care when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, even as Cowan noticed a higher anxiety among people since the outbreak.

“People got really anxious about lots of things. Of course, finances were a part of that as well as just basic health. So, obviously, the level of anxiety, even panic attacks is higher than it’s been through the years,” Cowan said. “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years now, and I’ve never seen the anxiety quite as high as I have now, and also, I think depression goes along with that. People have experienced more depression and stress. Stress is certainly high.”

Samaritan’s therapists set goals with clients, and surveys are conducted to measure the success of counseling.

“There’s a goal in front of them that says by the end of, say, a 5-week or 6-week period I want to note that my symptoms of depression like not eating, not sleeping, not being able to focus, those have dissipated or certainly have been reduced,” Cowan said. “When we see the symptoms have been reduced, say for depression or for anxiety, then we know we’ve achieved a certain amount of the goal that we set.”

A survey is conducted at the end of every few months asking people to identify from the time they came into the center until the time they left how their health improved and in what way.

As a faith-based, community-driven and subsidy provider, Samaritan has certain funds for people who have cancer and people with no ability to pay.

“We’re able to provide some subsidy for many of those people. It allows people who couldn’t get therapy in some other places to really get this from us,” Cowan said.