Gina Martin, LPC-S has been in private practice in Stephenville since 2010 and is the founder and owner of The Gathering Place. She has lived in Stephenville since 1985 and has a passion to provide Christ-centered counseling and support services to this community.

Gina works comfortably with individuals, couples, and families. She is a strong believer in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in treating depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders. She also regularly counsels people struggling with relationship issues, loss, self-esteem, perfectionism, anger and stress management. She helps people resolve issues by offering the integration of Christian principles, incorporating Biblical truths with sound clinical theory and techniques.

She is dedicated to caring for the whole person psychologically, relationally and spiritually through a therapeutic relationship. Gina loves working with married couples, teaching them how to communicate more effectively, resolve conflict and develop strong emotional connections.

In addition, Gina often counsels people in full-time ministry careers. This is an especially rewarding element of her work as a professional counselor, because those in leadership positions often feel they have no one with whom they can share their struggles. Having been raised in a ministry home has given her a clear understanding of the issues Christian leaders face. Gina has been married to her husband, Chet since 1985, and they have two adult sons.

After completing her undergraduate services at the University of North Texas, Melody earned an MABC in Biblical Counseling from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. In graduate school, she was trained in an integrative model of counseling that taught sound clinical psychology from a firm Biblical foundation. Her current approach to therapy follows this integrative model.

Melody strongly believes in providing a safe, non-judgmental therapeutic environment in which to spur change and healing. She utilizes cognitive-behavioral, attachment-focused and trauma-informed therapy techniques to help her clients walk a path toward healing and freedom. She works comfortably with children through adults with a variety of issues including anxiety, depression and trauma. She has experience in play therapy and working with children with anger issues, trauma and anxiety. She is also an EMDR Certified therapist, utilizing EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) to help clients heal from past trauma. EMDR is a form of therapy that helps to resolve past unprocessed traumatic memories, helping to relieve distress in current life situations. She is also a Certified Child and Adolescent Trauma Professional.

Melody has experience serving as a client advocate in several crisis pregnancy centers, mentoring young women and youth in church settings, and leading a ministry for teen moms through Young Life in the Dallas area. Also, she has been married for 13 years and has three children.

Stephanie Stevenson received a BA in Psychology from Dallas Baptist University in 2010 and an MS in Counseling from Mid-America Christian University in 2015. When considering what she wanted to major in as a freshman in college, she knew she wanted her life’s work to involve helping people and making a difference in others’ lives. As she explored her options, she sensed God stirring her toward counseling and began pursuing this early on in college. She loved learning about relationships and how individuals are shaped.

Shortly after beginning graduate school, Stephanie and her husband became house parents and spent almost 7 years in this position. They spent more than 4 years living in a group home setting with elementary and junior high aged boys at a children’s home in the Houston area. They later relocated to Granbury and spent 2.5 years as house parents of high school girls at a local boarding school. It was during this time that she began counseling.

Stephanie works well with adolescents and adults experiencing depression, anxiety, trauma, and difficult circumstances in life. She counsels from a Biblical framework and worldview using cognitive behavioral treatment modalities while drawing from other treatment methods as appropriate. She and her husband married in 2008 and have 4 precious children, 3 daughters and 1 son. They enjoy spending time together as a family and are very involved in their church.

Christi Barnes, MA, LPC is passionate about people and cares deeply about their hearts and lives. Though she is a Texan native and met her husband at Tarleton, she graduated with her Bachelors in Child, Adolescent & Family Studies from California State University and her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Palo Alto University. She has been married for 23 years and has parented over 20 children as a foster/adopt family. She enjoys the serenity of her farm homestead and animals. With over 20 years in direct ministry, Christi practices counseling from a Christian perspective, feeling very blessed that her profession is her calling. She strives to offer a safe, supportive space to be seen, heard, and to heal. Her counseling specialties are managing stress and anxiety, through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. Christi also holds a Superior Health CANS (Quality of Child & Adolescent Needs & Strengths Assessment) certification. She is comfortable working with individuals, marriages, adolescents and families. Christi desires her clients to pursue restoration with hope!

John Barnes holds a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry and Biblical Studies and has been in ministry for over 25 years. Serving in California, Colorado, Texas, and the Caribbean as a high school, college, and lead pastor has given him the opportunity to counsel souls from various backgrounds, nationalities, and ethnicities. Through these many hours of face-to-face counseling, John has seen his strengths grow in the areas of anxiety, addictions, and marriage struggles.

Whether it is walking beside others in their unique struggles or receiving help in his own journey with anxiety and panic attacks, John has seen the power of counseling from both sides of the table and knows the healing power counseling can bring to a person’s life. His approach is helping others walk through the healing process through a Christian perspective.

John has been married to his best friend, Christi, for 23 years, and they have parented over 20 children. They have walked beside them, each with unique struggles, on their distinct life journeys. These experiences have given John a deeper compassion and knowledge to aid children and parents when they face similar occurrences within their families. John is comfortable in working with men, couples, and teenagers.

Stacen B. Martinez obtained her Masters of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and graduated with honors at Tarleton State University under the department’s premier CACREP accreditation. With this degree she became a Licensed Professional Counselor – Associate (LPC-Associate) and Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor (LCDC). She utilizes Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT) and Emotional Transformation Therapy (ETT), with ETT being the primary modality she uses with her clients. She is Level III trained to utilize ETT for the following: acute stress, posttraumatic stress, complex trauma, chronic and acute anxiety states, panic states, anger, sadness, shame, and traumatic scenes, visuals, or images.

While pursuing her graduate degree, she worked as an Academic Success Coach at Tarleton State University to help students identify and implement goals for successful completion of their chosen major.

Post graduation, seeing the negative impact of substance use dependency within the community she sought to help those recovering from substance use by becoming a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. She worked in recovery for two years utilizing faith based 12-step recovery principles. Stacen also worked in private practice at Divine Counseling Services in Stephenville for an accumulative 3 years before changing locations and providing counseling services at The Gathering Place.

Overall, her passion for counseling stems from wanting to show and represent God’s love to others. She hopes to provide a new experience with counseling and therapy services that integrates the individual’s needs with desired therapeutic outcomes. She believes very strongly that present behavior is often indicative of past emotional experiences and worldviews in which different meaning is developed and integrated into responses to current states of being. Her therapeutic approach helps to identify and understand that meaning while reframing how it influences the present to create a more fulfilled life.

I didn’t start out in fitness nor did I think life would take me in this direction, but
after years of dealing with chronic pain, infertility and health issues I began
seeking a healthier way of living. However, exercising often left me feeling
overly sore and depleted. I had the opportunity to visit a Silver Sneakers class
with my mom and after that workout I was hooked. The class left me feeling
energized and motivated.

My certifications include Group Fitness Instructor with AFAA (Athletics and
Fitness Association of America), Silver Sneakers Classic and Circuit,
with CEC’s in areas of stress management, nutrition, hydration, and
mental fitness. My areas of interest are women’s health, Senior
fitness, stress management, and creating a healthy lifestyle for all
ages.

Gentle Fit
Daily movement and exercise is a key component to a healthy lifestyle.
However, for some who may live with chronic pain or depression or may be new or returning to exercise, high intensity workouts can leave the body feeling overly tired and sore. This makes it less likely the individual will continue. Gentle Fit takes a softer approach to exercise with the goal of leaving refreshed and motivated. It is a workout designed to build confidence, reduce stress, and improve strength and balance. It includes gentle aerobic movement, strength building, balance and relaxation.

Bonki Swearengin is a passionate Jesus follower, a wife, a homeschooling mom and a group fitness professional. She is certified in Revelation Wellness, AFAA, and Les Mills group fitness organizations.

Bonki enjoys facilitating the Wellness Revelation small group study and leading workouts in multiple modalities. One of her life purposes is to inspire others to commit to long-term health in mind, body, spirit, and overall wholeness in Christ. For more information about the ministry of Revelation Wellness look online at: revelationwellness.org