Lipscomb extends the transformative impact of play therapy to Ghana

The clinical mental health counseling program teamed with alumna Courtney Garland to establish a counseling center for young girls at The Pearl House in Ghana.

Keely Hagan | 615-966-6491 | 01/29/2024

Lipscomb alumni, faculty and students joined hands this summer to bring the comfort and loving care of Jesus to those hurting across the globe in Africa. There, the clinical mental health counseling program teamed with an alumna with a heart for youth ministry to establish a new counseling center for young girls at a nonprofit in Ghana. 

Lipscomb alumna Courtney Garland (BS ’00, MA ’18) turned to her alma mater when she needed assistance in developing counseling services for The Pearl House, a nonprofit in rural Ghana, West Africa. As co-founder, Garland helped open the organization and has led as its CEO since its inception in 2013.

Through Garland’s leadership, they have expanded to offer residential care, a vocational school, an academic Christian school and now The Haven, a counseling center that provides a safe place for vulnerable and abused 9- to 17-year-old girls to receive therapy and counseling. The Haven have served 13 youth since opening on May 15, 2023. Psychologists also equip students with social emotional learning at the school that serves 450 students in preschool through ninth grade.

“As a Lipscomb alumna, I find great joy in partnering with the school’s counseling department to further the work we are doing here in Ghana,” Garland says.

It can be challenging for children with limited vocabulary and emotional maturity to express complicated thoughts and feelings. With children coming to the center from all over Ghana, it is also possible that the psychologists might not understand the dialect from that area. Play and expressive arts therapy becomes the language through which the children convey and process emotions.

When Garland reached out to Jake Morris, professor of clinical mental health counseling at Lipscomb, in 2020 to explore Lipscomb’s possible involvement in establishing the counseling center, she gained an enthusiastic and effective resource. In addition to Lipscomb offering a specialization in play therapy in its master’s program, its community has a heart for supporting missions.  

“Dr. Morris and his partners brought us every tool and resource we needed to get started with practicing play therapy,” says Garland. “His encouragement and excitement came at the right time to set us off on a meaningful path.”

“Lipscomb, with its masters in counseling and specialization in play therapy and expressive arts, naturally became an effective resource for The Haven,” says Morris. “Our faculty gladly came together and had many conversations on the ways to best help Courtney fulfill the dream of creating a counseling center.” 

In addition to Lipscomb’s counseling experts, a number of community partners played a vital role in fulfilling this dream. Members of the Harpeth Hills Church of Christ and Lipscomb counseling students and alumni answered the call to provide toys and materials to supply the play therapy space. Dr. Morris was allowed to join a Harpeth Hills Youth Ministry visit to The Pearl House where students spent several days designing and painting the play and expressive arts therapy space.

After hearing about the work being done in Ghana, alumna of the counseling program Victoria McCann (MS ’23), was inspired to spend four weeks at The Haven, before moving to Houston, TX to begin her practice as a professional counselor. Through her work at The Haven, McCann provided hands-on training for local psychologists and counselors and set the stage for sustained mental health support at the new center.

“Working with Victoria was a gift,” says Garnet Linda Naa Adukwei Acquaye, a clinical psychologist and director of the counseling center at The Haven. “She equipped us to really use the play therapy space to its full potential.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome with the play therapy training and the mock sessions,” says McCann. “There was one moment when Garnet was explaining play therapy to [an intern] and I thought to myself, ‘Wow… I am actually doing something here,’ which was so fulfilling. 

“The people I worked with are such talented therapists, and the Pearl House is so lucky to have them,” says McCann. “The resounding message that I took away from working with them was that no matter where in the world we are trained or how different our environments may be, those of us called to work in the mental health field are called for a reason and are connected in a really beautiful way.” 

The goal of this new project is to develop a solid foundation for the therapeutic practices provided at The Pearl House, says Garland. “We hope to have a greater impact in Ghana and the international community in regards to the importance of providing mental health care resources in residential homes. We also hope that through our presence, the perceptions of mental health care will evolve and that the community will become more involved in the resources we have available.” 

“This project is a testament to how education and compassion can transcend borders and leave an indelible mark on the lives of those in need,” says Morris.