The Center is an ecumenical force for hope, dedicated to alleviating suffering and facilitating spiritual, ethical, physical, emotional and intellectual healing and growth for our community and God’s world.
The Center is affiliated with and accredited by three prominent faith-based, standard-setting organizations: The Samaritan Institute, the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education.
At The Ecumenical Center, we serve as a catalyst to bring together community leaders in the research, education, medical and mental health professions. The purpose is to allow us to offer professional help and hope in a caring atmosphere. Our counselors and educators recognize that the body, mind and spirit are interrelated. They are people of personal faith with an openness and understanding of other faith expressions, trained to incorporate, when requested, the understandings and traditions of the client’s individual beliefs in the growing and healing process.
Fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding. Many of our educational programs, counseling training and consultation services are underwritten in whole or part by generous businesses, organizations and ministries.
Wellness Conversations:
Our Wellness Conversations create a safe place for dialogue that helps you achieve mental, spiritual, emotional and relational wellness through positive action.
- Telephone sessions are proven to be as effective as in-person counseling
- All you need is access to a phone
- Please be prepared to share your contact info
- No out-of-pocket costs at this time
Tele-Counseling:
The Center’s tele-counseling services are available to provide ongoing counseling services to people in need during this pandemic. Our professional counselors are ready to share their expertise in every type of counseling, including:
- Child and Adolescent Counseling
- Individual Counseling
- Couple Counseling
- Family Counseling
- Grief and Trauma Counseling
Please call to schedule a Tele-Counseling Session or Wellness Conversation today.
Click here for more program information.
At The Center, we’ve long recognized that creative arts can help people cope with mental, physical, emotional and spiritual issues.
Join us at The Center for a no-cost monthly Poetry Writing Circle.
Bring your notebook or journal.
Virtual Poetry Writing is open to anyone 18 years of age and older. No experience with writing poetry is necessary!
Click here for more program information.
Please call or email to reserve a seat!
Free.
Includes play therapy which allows children to communicate their needs, express feelings and wishes, and to facilitate healing through age-appropriate activities designed specifically to help deal with emotional distress. We also offer testing services for children through our Mindwise Now program.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
The Ecumenical Center collaborates with many organizations to provide quality, educational workshops designed to strengthen the community’s care providers.
Please call or click here to find out more about our events.
At The Center, we’ve long recognized that creative arts can help people cope with mental, physical, emotional and spiritual issues.
Join us at The Center for a no-cost, monthly therapeutic rhythm making the session led by Jorge Ochoa, Occupational Therapist.
Expressive Therapeutic rhythm making can have many benefits, including:
- Accelerating physical healing and boosting your immune system
- Feeling more connection with others
- Feeling of well-being
- Relieving emotional trauma
- Reducing stress.
Expressive therapeutic rhythm making sessions are open to anyone, so bring along the whole family. No experience is necessary!
To reserve a seat, please email Leila Cenanovice or call The Center at (210) 616-0885.
Free.
Usually involves several family members and helps with communication, problem-solving, conflict management, losses such as death and divorce, changes, and understanding of family dynamics.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
Provided in the recognition that change and growth continue through the life cycle, and with the awareness that the older person may have particular needs. Counseling can be provided for the older person experiencing difficulty or for family members and caregivers concerned about the well being of an older person.
Includes play therapy which allows children to communicate their needs, express feelings and wishes, and to facilitate healing through age-appropriate activities designed specifically to help deal with emotional distress. We also offer testing services for children through our Mindwise Now program.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
The Get FIT (Families in Training) program is a preventive program aimed at averting Type II diabetes, obesity, and sedentary lifestyles for school-aged children and their families.
The program is offered throughout the academic year at various school districts, and in the summer as a one-month youth summer camp. Get FIT integrates nutrition, physical fitness, and character education to not only support the physical needs of students and their families but also facilitate the healing of the mind, body, and spirit.
Get FIT's goal is to transform the lives of people in medically underserved, rural communities. The program focuses on actively engaging community members and stakeholders in the planning, designing, and delivery of services and programs that meet the unmet needs of their community.
Get FIT is currently offered in Batesville, Cotulla, San Antonio, Santa Rosa, and Uvalde. Enrollment is free and open year-round on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are interested in bringing Get FIT to your school or finding a program near you, call the Get FIT manager at 1-800-959-6673.
Designed to meet the particular needs of people who share similar issues. Individual counseling is required prior to group counseling.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
One-on-one care for emotional, relational and vocational stress, which might include depression, anxiety, grief, faith concerns and more.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
Life After Loss is a program of The Ecumenical Center designed to help people better understand the process of grief and how to live through it in a way that is healing. It provides a place to share experiences and to support one other. Each six-week session is a combination of teaching, discussion, and learning activities. Led by trained facilitators with knowledge of bereavement and grief support.
Sessions cover the physical, emotional, spiritual and social implications of grief; the process of grief; memories and how to use them to heal; how to take care of yourself while you grieve; holidays and anniversary dates and planning for the future. Attending all six sessions is most beneficial, therefore no new participants are accepted after the second session.
The sessions are open to those who have experienced the loss of a loved one.
For a list of San Antonio area bereavement support groups, please click here.
Free.
At The Center, we’ve long recognized that creative arts can help people cope with mental, physical, emotional and spiritual issues.
These activities can:
- Relieve stress
- Encourage creative thinking and problem solving
- Increase brain connectivity and plasticity
- Boost self-esteem
- Improve quality of life
Open Art Studio is a wonderful opportunity for people of ALL AGES (6 to 106 years) to use art materials in a playful manner in a relaxed setting.
Click here for more program information.
To reserve a seat, please email Deb Murphy or call The Center.
This creative experience is FREE! All materials are provided.
Provides an opportunity for couples contemplating or committed to marriage to strengthen and enrich their relationship by building upon their particular strengths, exploring concerns and clarifying expectations while gaining a deeper understanding of themselves and each other. Counseling is provided for individual couples and in larger group workshop formats.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
Counseling is available in person or virtually.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
We support parents. You have one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs on earth. Find help through our varied programs, including Child Parent Relationship Training and our online Parenting Tips resource.
We are delighted to offer a series of short parenting videos as part of our education program, generously underwritten by Methodist Healthcare Ministries. The entire free series is housed on our YouTube Channel.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment for our Child-Parent Relationship training.
Offering a wide range of testing administered by certified, highly-trained psychologists and counselors to help assess gifted and talented, learning disabilities, ADD and ADHD, depression, developmental delays, cognitive delays, career preferences, marital compatibility, clinical behaviors, substance abuse, IQ, personality traits and emotional/behavioral problems, among other things.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
Helps individuals deal with the often-complex concerns and problems faced by teenagers in today’s world.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
An appropriate fee would be established through conversation with your counselor during your initial session taking into account such factors as gross family income and resources, number of dependents, and extenuating circumstances.
Helps individuals come to a deeper self-understanding and self-appreciation through exploration of a variety of mental health, professional, and life-style concerns. Individual counseling is one-on-one care for emotional, relational, and vocational stress, which might include depression, anxiety, grief, faith concerns and more.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
Community Counselors help people who are uninsured, whose existing coverage does not provide mental health services benefits, are low-income and lack the money to pay for counseling services, or who would not receive treatment any other way. Counseling services are provided by trained, licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical social workers, and licensed marriage and family counselors. Sessions are private and conducted in a safe and familiar environment such as churches and community centers.
The first meeting with a counselor is free. A modest fee based on a sliding fee scale is collected for each follow-up session; however, no one is denied service because they cannot pay.
Assists with communication, conflict management, marital expectations, parenting, and other relationship issues.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
Helps people in a variety of personal and professional relationships to understand relationship expectations, improve communication, problem-solving and decision-making, and to develop appreciation of differences.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
Available for individuals and couples who have questions or concerns related to the sexual aspects of their relationship and/or want to gain a deeper or more integrated understanding of sexuality and faith.
We use a team approach, drawing upon the unique talents of professionals from the counseling, theological and medical disciplines. Our collaborations allow us to renew a person’s mind, body and spirit.
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are certified or licensed as professional therapists by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors or a state licensing board.
Please call or click here to schedule an appointment.
We are committed to providing the best service possible for as many people as possible. In keeping with our mission, fee adjustments are available based on personal financial need and available funding.
Volunteers:
We are grateful for those who support The Center through their time.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact The Center at 210.616.0885 for more information.
Donations:
The work of The Center would not be possible without the generous donations from individuals, religious congregations, foundations, and businesses and from the income generated from The Center's services and programs.
Click here to make a donation online.
Mail your donation to The Center at:
The Ecumenical Center, 8310 Ewing Halsell, San Antonio, TX 78229.
You can also participate by donating through:
- Vehicle Donations
- Planned giving
- Funding our endowment
- Attending or sponsoring our events
- Joining Legacy of Life
- Providing congregational support