YMCA Focuses On Mind, Body, Spirit

By MEALAND RAGLAND-HUDGINS SMYRNA A.M.
The Daily News Journal Murfreesboro, TN

Mealand Ragland-Hudgins, (615) 459-3868, mragland@dnj.com

The North Rutherford YMCA is adding another program to help it live up to the organization's mission of bettering people's lives spirit, mind and body.

Next month the center will become a center for Restore Ministries, which offers group and individual counseling. The ministry was created in 2000 at the Green Hills YMCA by Scott Reall. He realized the need while working with a member who had gained more than 50 pounds.

"We were going though all these fitness tests and I asked her what had happened in her life over the last year. She explained that her husband had died and she turned to food for comfort," he said while meeting with several pastors Wednesday. "People need a spiritual component in addition to working out."

Journey to Freedom, an eight-week course to help people accept and deal with change, will be the first Restore program to launch. Courses are $50 and will begin meeting Jan. 29 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Y, 2001 Motlow College Boulevard. Classes are limited to 10 per group and men and women meet separately.

Local contractor Dow Smith took a pilot Journey to Freedom course and recommended it to anyone interested.

"I have some recovery issues I'm dealing with. I wish I'd taken this when I first started recovery. It would have saved a lot of time, effort and energy," he said.

Restore also offers pre-marital, marriage, family and career counseling. As it is a program of the YMCA, financial assistance is available.

For more information about groups, contact Lindsey Castleman at (615) 565-6278, and Rebecca Griffith at (615) 565-6281 for details about the counseling center. Information can also be found at www.restoreymca.org.

Originally Published December 14, 2007
Copyright ©2008 Daily News Journal. All rights reserved.