Samaritan Counseling Center of West Texas, Inc.

In the early 1970’s faith groups began to discuss the need for a counseling resource connected the church or religious values that offered a combination of both psychological and theological tools for healing. Clergy expressed a need for a pastoral counseling referral resource for themselves and their congregations.Visionaries wanted to insure that the resource would be available to individuals of all faiths and spiritual identities and not be connected with any particular theology or denomination.

This dream began to germinate in the Permian Basin in January of 1973 under the leadership of Mr. Ron Schwisow, member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Midland, and Mr. John Ingram of St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church in Midland. These two individuals are credited with spearheading the effort beginning with discussion groups, then community forums, and finally a fact finding trip to visit the Abilene Pastoral Counseling Center. A steering committee was created and a volunteer board of directors of 15 members was appointed and led by President Ron Schwisow. In October of 1973, the Center was chartered through the Secretary of State. By January the Center’s doors were open full-time under the direction of Rev. Ray Bristol, former pastor of the First Christian Church of Midland, who served as director and counselor. The Center was initially housed in various donated office space locations in Midland and was named West Texas Pastoral Counseling Center, Inc.

In October of 1980 the Center was gifted a permanent building to house the central office at Midland Air Terminal by Midlander, Trina Conley. The facility had served as the Hertz Rental car management office and the Board of Directors raised the money to eliminate the mortgage.

In 1983, the Board of Directors determined that although the Center provided very good counseling services, our business operations were in need of some help. The Samaritan Institute was commissioned to conduct a thorough evaluation of the Center’s organizational structure, personnel and financial policies. In that same year, the Center became affiliated with the Samaritan Institute, and our name was changed to the Samaritan Counseling Center of West Texas, Inc. The Center is currently dually accredited by the Samaritan Institute and the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.

Rev. Norman Godfrey, Presbyterian clergy, became the second Executive Director in 1983. He expanded the staff with by hiring Rev. Ed Rowley, a Lutheran pastor, and Rev. Jerry Kelly. Dr. Kelly joined the staff at first part time while he was serving as a prison chaplain, then full time in 1986 and in 1991 as Executive Director for a total of 17 years of service until his resignation in December of 2000. Dr. Ron Meyer, served as Clinical Director beginning in 1991. Executive Director, Margaret Jones, has been “home grown” with the Samaritan system- first as a Board member in the 1980’s, then as Development Director in the 1990’s and as Executive Director beginning in 2000.

In 1995 the Board of Directors decided to expand the Center’s public relations, fund raising, and foundation grant opportunities. Bravely, the Board hired a development director, and the “Family of the Year” banquet fundraiser was initiated. A capital campaign was launched, and with the support of major donors and collaborative efforts of local foundations, the main office was renovated and expanded in 1996. The new building and meditation garden was dedicated in August of 1997.

In 1999 the Center was approached by the City of Odessa to serve as an EAP (Employee Assistance Provider) for all employees of the City. This referral was made possible as a result of the efforts of Odessa Board member and then Treasurer Penni Howell. Under this contract, the City of Odessa pays a monthly fee per employee to Samaritan in exchange for six clinical hours of counseling with assessment testing and psychiatric referrals when appropriate. During this period, managed care and mental insurance panels began to have a major impact on clinical fee revenues. Currently Center therapists are represented on 37 insurance panels with partial fees of approximately 66 % of our clients being paid by private and public insurance plans.

In February of 2002, Securing Samaritan’s Vision, Inc., the Center’s endowment entity, received its tax exempt and foundation status from the Internal Revenue Service. The seven member board meets biannually and includes representatives from Odessa, Midland and Big Spring.

In 2003 the Center opened a satellite office in Lamesa, Texas in conjunction with First Presbyterian Church. Another highlight of the year was the initiation of the collaborative project with the Junior League of Odessa and the Ector County Court System, “For Kids’ Sake.” This program is mandated for divorcing parents with minor children. It focuses on parent tools to help children through the trauma of divorce.

The Center took a big leap in technology in 2003 with the installation of a modern, networked computer system. Mandated by federal legislation through the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the new equipment and software was underwritten in part by grant requests. The Board held a “Technology Planning Retreat” to establish needs and a Board driven task force created the vision. The new systems were particularly helpful in Center management and clinical revenue collections as well as insuring our clients the privacy and confidentiality that has always been a standard of excellence at Samaritan.

Collaborative relationships were the watchword for 2004. A challenge grant enabled us to solicit a number of new sponsors for the “Family of the Year Banquet” event netting the highest proceeds for the Client Assistance Fund in our history. The Junior League of Odessa turned over the “For Kids’ Sake” project to the Center with confidence that we will carry it on into the future.

In 2005 the Center was able to expand services for low income clients through a “Special Mental Health Initiative” funded by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. As a result, the services for new clients, those who had never before contacted Samaritan before, increased by 23%.

In 2006 Board member Tatum Hubbard, CBS Channel 7 and Big Dog Productions collaborated with the Center to create a 10 minutes video highlighting the Center and the Samaritan Ministry. Board members took the video to their churches, places of worship and community organizations to help spread the word about the “help and hope” available at the Center. In additional, the Center opened another new satellite office at St. Ann’ Catholic Church in Midland, Texas.

In 2007 The Center was chosen to develop a program to assist Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and their families with the TRIAD fund of Permian Basin Area Foundation. In addition the Meadows Foundation of Dallas partnered with us with funds over $50,000 to provide clinical staff development to support returning troops and their families. The Center continued its rural service initiative by adding a fourth satellite in Andrews, Texas, in the Business and Technology Center.

In 2008, the Center had another big bump (32%) in service hours reaching a long standing goal of over 5,000 clinical hours in a single year. In honor of our 35th Anniversary the Center Board planned an extensive celebration using television PSAs, and two separate receptions honoring long standing supporters of the Samaritan ministry, Mr. and Mrs. Nance Creagar, Ms. Myra Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. Tim Culp and the Abell- Hanger Foundation.

In 2009, the Center said goodbye to long standing Executive Director, Margaret Jones and welcomed Susan Barron as our new Director to lead us into a new decade. We came within $2,000 of reaching our Endowment Goal of $350,000. Began a new endeavor into the Clergy and Congregational Care arena to help solidify our relationships with the local religious community. The Center continued its program to provide services to war veterans through the addition of grants from the San Antonio Area Foundation and Wal-Mart Foundation.