As the new fiscal year started on July 1, HHCD has renewed and expanded its contracts to provide addiction recovery services, mental health counseling, and prevention programming throughout our community. We continue to work with the Access to Recovery Program with the Office of Addictive Disorders and will soon offer an array of recovery support services for our clients to include Family Involvement, Anger Management, Life Skills, and Spiritual Enrichment.  Transportation and childcare are also provided for our clients.  The Celebration Hope Center is also working to begin providing addiction treatment and recovery support services at the St. Bernard Campus of Celebration Church.

Plans are under way for our official Grand Opening scheduled for August 13, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. The following Sunday, August 16, will be an Open House for the congregation of Celebration Church.

As our services expand, the need to complete the remaining portions of the Celebration Hope Center has become critical. Please see our Partner With Us page for ways you can help with this endeavor.

After two (2) years of post-Katrina construction, the Celebration Hope Center has moved into its new facilities at 1901-B Airline Drive in Metairie. This is part of the site of the Celebration Church campus that was totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The new Center contains a child-friendly waiting room, two (2) large group rooms for our addictions treatment, a completely equipped play therapy room, and numerous counseling offices. Through the grace of God, a grant from the State of Louisiana, and the direction of our Project Coordinator, Jo Ann Schaefer, the new CHC will be a beacon of hope to the people of New Orleans where they can find help, hope, and healing from the hurts and issues in their lives.

We look forward to completing Phase II of the center which will house a computer lab to provide job and life skills to support the recovery of our clients and two classrooms to expand our adolescent counseling and substance abuse treatment programs. Already needed counseling offices will also be part of Phase II.

MICHELE DUGAS RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FROM NOBTS

Michele Dugas, who graduated from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in December 2008, has been awarded the first annual James A. Headrick Award for Excellence in Christian Counseling, an honor acknowledging her “diligence and commitment to excellence in academic endeavor and an adherence to Christ-like personal character.” The award was bestowed by the faculty of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Michele is now working as a part-time counselor with the Celebration Hope Center.

CADA Award Nomination

HHCD was nominated by the Governor’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities to receive the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (CADA) Annual Excellence in Prevention Award. HHCD was recognized for providing LifeSkills classes at Clark High School and Lafayette School in Orleans Parish, as well as at the Hume Development Center and Building Better Communities.  HHCD also provides Children of Addicted Parents Support Groups in conjunction with Celebrate Recovery on Friday nights. HHCD is also actively involved in the Prevention Systems Committee of the Louisiana Drug Policy Board and the New Orleans Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. 

CLINICAL DIRECTOR WRITES “COUNSELING CORNER”
Michele Louviere, LMFT, Clinical Director for the Celebration Hope Center has been engaged by The Baptist Message to write a bi-monthly article on Christian counseling principles. These articles will be posted on the HHCD  website as well as on the Baptist Message website. This month features Q & A with Guest Writer and Counselor, Megan Clunan. The information shared in this column will be beneficial to counselors and consumers alike. Read the April article.

THE BAPTIST MESSAGE HIGHLIGHTS CELEBRATION HOPE CENTER
The Baptist Message, a bi-monthly publication, recently highlighted the history and mission of the Celebration Hope Center.  Read the article to learn more about the journey that God has been paving for providing help, hope, and healing to the people in the New Orleans region in the areas of mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, and case management.

For text only readers: Paste this URL in your browser: http://www.baptistmessage.com/articledetail.php?articleID=cd1af0a8b0d23c3c923e6f89fb56cd8c

In the after-math of Hurricane Katrina, our children often seemed very resilient to what had happened in their lives. However, they continue to suffer in numerous ways and have had great difficulties in handling the many changes in their lives and the stress experienced by their parents and families as they try to rebuild their lives.

These new funds allow the Celebration Hope Center to bring help, hope and healing to these children who need counseling to overcome the results of Hurricane Katrina as well as other life issues.

We are extremely grateful for the generosity of the KCI Servant’s Heart Foundation.

On behalf of the entire staff of Healing Hearts for Community Development, we extend our best wishes and prayers for each of you to have a very happy and blessed Holiday Season. Through the Celebration Hope Center, our counselors, social workers, and care coordinator continue to bring help, hope, and healing to the hundreds of people seeking our services to recover from life’s struggles—childhood traumas, hurricane-related traumas, addictions, marriage and family problems, child and adolescent crises.

God has blessed us throughout 2008 with the financial support needed to provide the services which continue to be needed in a post-Katrina environment. However, with the new budget year of 2009 just around the corner, one of our significant funders has not renewed their contracts with us.  We acknowledge and accept that God is in control and will provide the resources that HHCD needs to reach out to the hurting people throughout the New Orleans region.

But YOU can help us to continue the work that God has asked us to do by:

Praying for our clients to be healed. Praying for our counselors as they work each day to help our clients recover. Praying for the buildout of the Celebration Hope and Counselor Training Center. Make a Donation  to continue the greatly needed counseling services. Each $50 you give will provide one (1) hour of counseling for an individual, couple, child or adolescent. Make a Donation  toward the Counseling Center Buildout. Make a Donation to Journey to Freedom to help an individual on the road to recovery from addictions. Volunteering to help with the buildout in the coming months.

Without your help, our services may have to be scaled back in 2009 resulting in hurting people not receiving the help, hope, and healing that God wants them to experience.

Thank you for partnering with us and may the Lord richly bless you and yours in 2009. 

My name is Freddie Landry, and I am the Executive Director of Healing Hearts for Community Development, the 501c3 non-profit established by Celebration Church to bring help, hope and healing to the people of New Orleans through mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, and case management services. We are very excited about what God has been doing through HHCD’s Celebration Hope Center.

In 2008, the Celebration Hope Center:

 served over 400 adults, children, adolescents, couples and families with an array of mental health needs bringing emotional healing and renewing many marriages and families;

 treated 100 individuals seeking to overcome the ravages of addictions in their lives giving them the support they need for long-term recovery;

 met the physical needs of numerous families in making their lives whole after the destruction brought by Hurricane Katrina.

We are also amazed at how God is working to complete the buildout of the Celebration Hope and Counselor Training Center at the Airline Drive Campus of Celebration Church. When we move into this renovated facility, we will be able to serve our clients in an environment that is conducive to meeting their various needs.

Your help in bringing help, hope, and healing to the people of New Orleans would be greatly appreciated. Here’s how you can help:

 Pray for our clients to be healed.
 Pray for our counselors as they work each day to help our clients recover.
 Pray for the buildout of the Celebration Hope and Counselor Training Center.
 Make a Donation to continue the greatly needed counseling services.
 Make a Donation toward the Counseling Center Buildout
 Volunteer to help with the buildout in the coming months.

Thank you for partnering with us to reach the hurting people of the New Orleans Area.

HHCD is happy to announce that we are now a United Way Partner. As such, anyone donating to the United Way across the United States can designate that their contributions go directly to HHCD by indicating this on the United Way Campaign Card at their place of employment. Our United Way number is 3756. If you are a federal employee, you may designate your United Way contribution to HHCD through the Combined Federal Campaign by using number 15648.