Purpose
Finding a therapist can be quite an endeavor. There are often many questions that arise - those that are about the task itself and those that are about your own wants.
Elon Forum seeks to be a space to offer support to a plethora of questions, and suggestions for the journey.
There is a Christian element to this website. Some posts are specifically faith related, while others are not. The site is intended to be useful to both Christians and non-Christians.
The ideas presented here are suggestions, not medical advice or prescriptions.
Writer
The Elon Forum is written by Stacey (Schwenker) Mayo, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Washington, DC and co-founder of Garden City Center, LLC, a private psychotherapy practice that offers quality mental health care with a Christian perspective.
Stacey holds a Masters in Couple and Family Therapy from the University of Maryland, and a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. She has been practicing as a therapist since 2016.
She has professional expertise and experience working with a diverse range of clients. She takes this very seriously and works to honor, value, empower, and understand each client’s uniqueness. These areas include, but are not limited to, culture, race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, physical ability, faith or non-faith affiliation, class, and tea preferences (!).
Stacey’s clinical areas of expertise are faith/spirituality; anxiety (including the neuroscience of anxiety), depression; interpersonal relationships; marriage and premarital work; communication; sex and sexuality; race, ethnicity, and culture; and professional development and leadership.
Stacey is also a Counseling Consultant with Christ City Church in Washington, DC. In this role, she assesses mental health needs, makes recommendations for local therapists, talks through health insurance and payment options, and continues to work together with the person until they have either established a suitable and sustainable relationship with a therapist or otherwise gotten their mental health needs met.
Elon
Elon is Hebrew for mighty oak. It was inspired by the passage in Isaiah 61:3 where the prophet writes,
“You shall be called Oaks of Righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”
Also, an interesting little tid bit – the word therapy is from the Greek word therapeuo, meaning to heal.