By FORT BRAGG, N.C. - The work done by chaplains and students of the Watters Family Life Chaplain Training Center not only impacts the installation, but also extends beyond its physical parameters.
In recognition of that work, the center recently received an award for excellence in ministry from the North Carolina Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, which was presented April 4, during a noon, community luncheon at the center.
"The marriage and Family therapist community across North Carolina is recognizing the importance of the center in providing training for pastoral counseling," said Chaplain (Lt. Col.) David Mikkelson, WFLCTC director.
According to Mikkelson, 500 hours of free, pastoral counseling and training is conducted at the center each month.
Areas of counseling include Family issues such as building marriages, communications, recovery from infidelity, parenting and deployment concerns, said Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jerry C. Sieg, a clinical supervisor at the center.
"The thing that makes counseling here unique is that it is covered by the chief of chaplains policy of confidentiality," Sieg said.
Currently, Chaplain (Maj. Gen.) Donald L. Rutherford serves as the chief of chaplains of the United States Army. He is responsible for supervising the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps, a force of 2,700 spiritual leaders, according to Army statistics.
Established in May 2009, WFLCTC offers a 15-month program to train chaplains to provide pastoral counseling, Sieg said. Students are equipped with skills to go out into military communities and divisions to provide faith-based counseling to Soldiers and their Families.
It is that specialized skillset that will transform the lives of Soldiers worldwide. That impact is going to go beyond Fort Bragg -- from Stuttgart, Germany to Korea, Mikkelson said.
Graduates of the program earn a master's degree in counseling from Webster University and are assigned to an Army community to provide counseling and relationship education for Soldiers and their Families, as well as pastoral counseling training for Army chaplains, said Jerry Powell, the NCAMFT member who presented the NCAMFT award to Mikkelson.
Chaplain (Maj.) Jerry Hall, a student of the program, said its ministry is very rewarding because it offers spiritual, physical and mental care.
"You are able to help people who are hurting -- to heal them holistically," Hall said.
For more information about the training program or the Wednesday community luncheon, which is open to anyone who has access to Fort Bragg, stop by the Watters Family Life Center, Building 1-3358, located at the corner of Knox and Randolph streets, visit www.bragg.army.mil/Directorates/Chaplain/Watters-Center-Family-Life-Center.aspx or call 396-6564.
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