On July 06, 2009 The Counseling Solutions Group, Inc. was granted a 501(c)(3) determination letter by the IRS, stating that we are a not for profit organization.
In South Carolina insurance companies do not recognize Christian counseling as a viable solution in the psychological counseling field. Therefore, individuals who are seeking help from counselors with a distinctive Christian worldview must pay-out-of-pocket for these Christian counseling services.
Because of the lack of “insurance support” Christian counselors cannot charge industry standard rates for counseling services. Industry standard rates can be $150 or more for a one hour counseling session. Because Christian counselors charge less than these standard rates, it is not possible for them to have a counseling business like their secular counselor counterparts since their client fees cannot sustain the business.
Additionally, at Counseling Solutions we rarely meet with a counselee for less than two hours per session. For us, it is a relational challenge to listen effectively, ask questions and offer hope with practical solutions in a 60-minute truncated counseling session.
People Matter!
The counseling session is not the time to process people through. We are a people-helping-business and to help people takes time.
It also seems incongruent to me to tell a friend that I can help them with their problems while charging them industry rates that they must pay out of pocket. In many cases the counseling fee compounds their other problems as finances are often a component to their other problems.
For us, it became a conscience issue not to charge high rates, but from a bottom line business perspective we cannot stay in business without finances. We are stuck between two priorities:
- Helping people in situational difficulties vs.
- Staying in business to help people
Fortunately, the IRS agreed and, therefore, they made it possible for us to help people, lower our rates and stay in business by giving donors, who believe in what we are doing, a tax benefit when they give to Counseling Solutions.
In addition to being able to lower our rates, in some special circumstances we can do limited pro bono work for those who cannot afford any kind of counseling and/or do not have insurance to help subsidize their counseling needs.
This is God’s faith-building kindness to us
If you have been encouraged by our work, benefited from our work and/or believe in what we are doing, would you be willing to help us by giving to this ministry? This is also an excellent opportunity for churches or businesses to partner with us financially.
If so, you can make checks payable to The Counseling Solutions Group, Inc. and mail to 120 Goodridge Court, Greer, SC 29651 or you can click on the PayPal Donate Button on our webpage and donate directly to our PayPal Account. (Please know that PayPal deducts 2.9% from monies that come through their service.)
Thank you for prayerfully considering partnering with us in the Gospel.
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