Fountain Gate CC Program Manager
On May 21, 2013
Fountain Gate launched the second year of its internship program with the
addition of two new interns to the family. Jessica Bello and Bruce Knight are
graduate level interns from Richmont Graduate University in the Master of Arts
in Marriage and Family Therapy (MAMFT) Program. As we welcome our counselors
into the fold we would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the
second of our interns in this newsletter.
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| Jessica Bello, Clinical Intern |
Please welcome our new intern…Jessica Bello.
Jessica Bello, was
born the normal Orange County California girl; she grew up loving the sunshine
and fast paced American lifestyle, quite the opposite of her traditional Colombian
parents.
Even as a child
Jessica had a desire for helping others and enjoyed observing how people
communicated with one another. It was this desire that eventually led to Jessica
become a school teacher working with elementary and middle-school children in
both Colombia and Georgia. Yet it was Jessica’s Christian faith that would lead
to her most important steps of becoming a pastor’s wife and seeking a career in
counseling.
In 2008, Jessica
thought her life was all planned out; she had just married her husband of two
weeks, David (Youth Pastor at Iglesia Nuevo Horizonte Church) and was looking
forward to settling into a bright future. However, Jessica’s life was turned
upside down upon hearing that her mother, Bertha, who now lived in Colombia, was
diagnosed with cancer.In weighing the options Jessica and David decided that their only choice was to move to Colombia and care for Bertha.
It was in Colombia that the couple soon found out that Jessica was pregnant. With the mounting pressures of coping with a terminally ill parent, a new husband, and a baby on the way, Jessica found the need to seek help through counseling.
“In the midst of this entire crisis, I began to see a counselor. I needed to grieve the loss of a mom, an unplanned pregnancy during such a time, and the loss of dreams I had for a life prior to children,” said Bello.
Yet it was through counseling that Jessica found her true call for helping others facing such overwhelming life changes.
“I honestly do not know where I would be today had I not had the support, tools, and permission to just be, through counseling. I now have a desire to walk alongside people through their lonely, hard, and dark moments in life.”
It was not an
easy task being a pastor’s wife with two small children (3-year-old Felipe and
1-year-old Rebeca) and attending graduate school. Yet with unending faith Jessica
took her first steps onto a new career path and entered into the MAMFT Program at Richmont Graduate
University.
“I think the
biggest challenge has been balancing my life. Between working and going to
school while having two children and a husband; let me just say I have been
busy.”
“What I have been
surprised by however is the support that my husband has given me. He is my
biggest cheerleader in completing my education. There are many times at the end
of my school semester I look at the past calendar and wonder, ‘how in the world
did I get through all that?’ I cannot help but know that God has given me and
my husband the strength to get through the semester.”
It is also through
the volunteer work at the Bellos’ local church, First Baptist Church of
Woodstock, that Jessica has found her passion in counseling.
“I love working
with women and families. In addition, I am fluent in Spanish and English and
have a longing for working in the Hispanic community.”
With such a
bright future ahead the Fountain Gate Counseling team is excited to have
Jessica with us for the coming year and cannot wait to see how the gifts she
brings will help us to reach a whole new community.
