Five residents in CareNet’s Residency in Psychotherapy and Spirituality received certificates and commissioning in a graduation worship service on Thursday, June 20, 2013. Brooke Batts, Nick DeJesus, Carleton Irving, Jaime Reyes, and Robert Willis have completed the three-year training program and will transition to full-time clinical staff at CareNet centers across the state.

Center directors and staff, as well as family and friends of the residents, all gathered in Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Davis Chapel to worship and to celebrate the accomplishments of this special group of residents. During the past three years, these five residents have provided over 7,000 hours of counseling service in their communities and saved their centers nearly $400,000 in client aid funds. All five became licensed by the state of North Carolina, and all are equipped with skills to provide high quality faith-integrated counseling as members of the CareNet team of clinicians.

CareNet President Steve Scoggin said of this group, “This cohort of residents launched their ministries amidst radical changes in healthcare. Behavioral health is no longer on the sidelines of healthcare but is fully a player towards a solution to complex problems and chronic conditions. This group of residents exemplifies the creativity and compassion necessary to thrive in the new world emerging in healthcare. They truly are the best of the next generation of compassionate professionals who will care for our most vulnerable.”

In a sermon addressing the graduates, Residency Director Russell Jones said, “The most important thing you bring to your client is love. It’s not how much you know. It’s not how skillful you are. It’s not whether you’re using an evidence-based therapy intervention. All that is important, but it’s not most important. What’s most important is love. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that our various gifts, our knowledge, even our faith — they’re all powerless without love.  The Beatles said, ‘All you need is love.’ The great Sigmund Freud, not exactly the poster-boy of the warm fuzzy, said counseling is ‘a cure through love.’ In all things, even psychotherapy, it is love that matters.“

CareNet welcomes its next class of residents on July 8, 2013.