Our Story
The name of our clinic comes from the Biblical reference found in Haggai 2:9 which states, "The glory of the present house shall be greater in glory than the former house,... and in this place I will grant peace."
The scientific field of interpersonal neurobiology has redefined the theory of survival for our species from the survival of the fittest to the survival of the connected. On a neurobiological level, we can see that human connection and attachment is the number one predictor of mental and emotional health. Sadly, many of us live very isolated and disconnected lives.
At one time, even the orphaned and homeless among us came from somewhere. If only for a brief 9 months, even the most isolated person at one point belonged and had a place to call home. It is the story of belonging and rejection that landscapes the garden of our minds where our thoughts, emotions, actions, relationships, and decisions grow.
Zach and Haley, the founders of Greater House Counseling learned this lesson very personally when serving as live-in resident coordinators at a homeless shelter. It was during their time at the shelter that they learned the single leading cause of homelessness was the breakdown of the family unit. Before addiction, poverty, victimization, and trauma the family-system was torn apart. If home is where the heart is, it was the loss of close friends and families that left our displaced neighbors homeless.
During that time, Zach and Haley had the privilege of seeing lifetimes of trauma and mental illness begin to heal as the primary needs of food, shelter, and connection were provided for. There were countless stories of what some clinicians would consider medical miracles as individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis began forming coherent sentences playing with the little children in the shelter. The transformation from that first week in the shelter to their final day before moving into a home was incredible- we witnessed people trembling and howling in the corner on their first night, to cooking an entire Thanksgiving meal for 60 people weeks before their exit from the program. And the same story was told at every new neighbor welcome party- this shelter was home because the people in the shelter were now family.
At Greater House Counseling we cling to God's promise in Haggai 2:9 that "the present house shall be greater in glory than the former house..., and in this place [He] will grant peace." We believe that if we can help families heal, we can build an armor of security of attachment around the individual psyche. As we help our clients heal from their past trauma, we know that these resilient individuals will go on to form healthier families where patterns of love and connection will be fostered rather than the projection of past wounds and trauma. As we see it, healing the family is one of the key ingredients to seeing the Greater House of God's Kingdom on Earth.
