Professional Counseling

Professional and financial counseling resources.

Whether you are seeking therapy or counseling for yourself or someone else, Cornerstone will help connect you with the right resources. We can help you navigate the therapy choices and the finances to find the right fit therapist so that counseling is never out of reach when you need it.

If you have questions, you can also check out the FAQ section below. If you are ready to contact a professional counseling group now, we recommend starting with one of three below, but there are many more choices. For more choices and help navigating the right fit, contact Rhoni Kaastra.

Counseling & therapy

West Michigan Wellness Group works with people in a wide range of areas with a focus on moving forward towards wellness.

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Alliance Logo
Counseling for kids, adults & families

The Alliance Counseling Group staff is trained and equipped in a variety of evidenced-based practices to address the needs of adults, adolescents, children, couples, and families. We actively pursue training and certifications as we continuously strive to maintain the highest standards of care for each of our clients.

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Pinerest Logo
Counseling & therapy

Pine Rest has highly trained psychiatrists and psychologists provide professional services with compassion and understanding. They have over 270 clinicians providing a broad spectrum of quality care including psychiatry, therapy, consultation, assessment, counseling and specialty treatments for all ages in convenient, welcoming environments.

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3rdchair Logo
Counseling for students & young adults

Based in Grand Rapids, 3rdchair is a collective bunch of counselors who specialize in counseling middle and high school students, college students and young adults. Whatever you’re struggling with, 3rdchair does their best to help you get through it and be a better and stronger person for it. They pride themselves on finding beautifully flawed people to help keep the dream going. 

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Resources for mental illness

NAMI of Kent County is a nonprofit organization that provides support, education, and advocacy throughout the Kent County area on behalf of individuals and families affected by mental illness.

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Counseling & therapy

The Retreat is a place that you can rest, grow, and change. Life is hectic, and we want therapy to be a sanctuary where you can get away to refresh, refocus, and recommit to moving forward. We try to help make change simple and practical.

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Personal Financial Counseling

Our financial counselor is a lay leader who provides free, confidential, Bible-based financial counseling to individuals and couples who desire guidance with their finances. A financial counselor helps to develop solutions for a budget or debt repayment plans. The counselor encourages spiritual maturity and discovering the joy of incorporating God-honoring financial management principles into their lives.

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Counseling FAQ

General Questions

  1. Call 911 or go to an emergency room.
  2. Call National Suicide Prevention Line at 800.273.8255.
  1. Go to the Psychiatric Urgent Care Center of Pine Rest, or call 616.455.9200.
  2. Call Rhoni Kaastra during the week to help connect you quickly with counseling and other resources.
  1. Call or email Rhoni Kaastra (see below) to help sort through options in a brief, confidential referral.
  2. Go to our Care Pros page to find what resources are available.
  1. Call the church office or email Mara Marsman to help match you with a Stephen Minister.
  2. Care Groups: Peer support communities are places where you find practical help and discover others share similar struggles.
  3. The Prayer Teams are ready to pray with you or for you.
  4. Care Teams offer practical assistance through a network of ministries.
  1. Call the church office or email Mara Marsman to help match you with a Stephen Minister
  2. Grace Alliance offers tools to cope with anxiety and depression through blogs or products like the Thrive Workbook.
  3. For help finding a counselor and/or navigating finances, call Rhoni Kaastra for a brief, confidential referral.
  4. We offer Living Grace: Anxiety and Depression, a Care Group offering practical information and peer support for those with symptoms.
  1. For help finding a good-fit counselor and/or navigating finances, call Rhoni Kaastra for a brief, confidential referral.
  2. Contact Alliance Counseling Group or Pine Rest.

Call Rhoni Kaastra to help sort through options in a brief, confidential referral.

Counselors have a wide range of relational and mental health issues that they work with. Often, though, they prefer or specialize around issues, like CBT therapy, family relationships, client age, addiction, sexual identity, emotional regulation, etc. Contact Rhoni Kaastra for help navigating the numerous choices.

  1. Define your counseling goals. Discuss these with your counselor at the first or next session.
  2. Before choosing a counselor, research a couple different options. Next, choose one and set up a free phone consultation with a prospective counselor, if they offer it. This helps you get a sense of whether the relationship will be a good fit or not.
  3. If after your first, second, or third session you realize the relationship is not working well for your goals, discuss this with your counselor! This gives the opportunity for both of you to reevaluate whether you want to continue with adjustments or find a different counselor. Your counselor should be understanding and helpful, sometimes even giving a recommendation of another counselor who would better fit your goals.

"Christian counseling" is a broad term. If you are looking to discuss faith issues with a counselor or you would like your counselor to work with a faith perspective, bring this goal to the initial interview with the counselor and ask: Are you comfortable discussing faith issues? The counselor is restricted to either leaving you completely to bring up faith in conversation or will simply ask you, "Is faith an important aspect of your therapy?" Ultimately, in the ethical and insurance-driven climate, you are responsible to initiate faith issues.

Below are two options (not intended to be a complete list):

  1. Pine Rest has a list of providers who are comfortable with faith conversations.
  2. Contact Rhoni Kaastra for a referral.

Cost Questions

  1. When you find a potential counselor, ask what the cost will be before you attend your first session.
  2. If you do not have insurance or choose not to bill your insurance, you will be paying out-of-pocket. Be sure that you can afford the cost over an extended amount of time, several weeks or months, depending on your circumstances.  Ask if your counselor offers financial assistance or offers lower rates when not billing insurance.
  3. If you bill insurance, your rates are often higher, but your out-of-pocket costs are significantly lower if you have a co-pay or have met your deductible.
  4. If you have a high-deductible insurance policy that covers counseling, you will pay the insurance rate and pay out-of-pocket until you meet your deductible. Some people choose not to bill their insurance because the non-insurance rate may be significantly lower; therefore, the out-of-pocket costs are also significantly lower.  If you have an HSA, check to see what licensure requirements your counselor must meet for you to pay through your HSA account.
  5. Call Rhoni Kaastra to help you navigate the options.

Check with your employer.

Never let finances prohibit you from getting needed help!

Contact Rhoni Kaastra who will help navigate options, including financial assistance. We can help find affordable counseling.

Call your insurance provider directly or look online at your what your policy covers. Look to see if you have a “high deductible” and if you have met your deductible, or if you have a co-pay and how much it is. This will determine how much out-of-pocket costs you will have when choosing a counselor.

Don’t let finances be a road block to getting the help you need. There are options! Contact Rhoni Kaastra (see bottom of page) for more help.

For Parents

  1. Call 911 if there is immediate danger.
  2. Go to Pine Rest Urgent Care for urgent mental health concerns.
  3. Call the suicide prevention hotline at 800.273.8255.
  4. For an urgent but not emergency need, contact Rhoni Kaastra to help connect you with resources within Cornerstone and within the community.
  1. Take a deep breath and don’t overreact. The primary importance is not to kill your relationship with them, and there are resources help you navigate this. [Jim Burns blog, Lead Them Home]
  2. Here’s how to walk as a parent with your kid. [Lead Them Home, LGBTQ+ for Families]
  3. We’d like counseling. [contact…]
  4. What is LGBTQ+? [fact]
  1. Contact 3rd Chair, Alliance Counseling Group or Pine Rest.
  2. Contact Rhoni Kaastra to help sort through options in a brief, confidential referral.

Contact 3rd Chair, Alliance Counseling Group or Pine Rest (see above)

  1. Integrative Health Consultants
  2. Call Rhoni Kaastra who will work with you to find a counselor who works with children.

For Married Couples

  1. See our Strong Marriages page for marriage resources, such as Marriage Mentoring.
  2. Contact Alliance Counseling Group for evidence-based therapy options.
  3. Contact Rhoni Kaastra for options, because finances should never prohibit you from seeking help.
  1. Contact Alliance Counseling Group for evidence-based therapy options.
  2. If you are 30 or under, contact The Third Chair for therapy that recognizes the particular stresses of this age group.
  3. Contact Rhoni Kaastra for options, because finances should never prohibit you from seeking help.

Questions?

Rhoni Kaastra

Support Groups Coordinator
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