BROOKHAVEN — A group of counselors have come together to open Brookhaven Counseling Group, located at 519 West Monticello Street by Friends Kitchen. The office celebrated a ribbon cutting Friday morning. Co-Owners and counselors Erin King, Bobbie Gordon and Brandie Kohn were able to see a vision come to reality. 

Gordon spent much of her career working in education. She was a teacher and principal at North Pike Elementary School. Her masters was in school counseling and psychometry and she eventually got a licensure for national counselor.  It took 3,500 hours of internship to get the national license as a Licensed Professional Counselor which she finally got in July 2021. 

During COVID-19, Gordon was an assistant superintendent over teaching and education for Holmes County. She said her experience was mostly working as a counselor unofficially for teachers and principals. 

“After that I felt I had given education all I could give. It opened up opportunities,” Gordon said. “As a Christian, you believe and Pray that God makes a way. He did.” 

Counseling offers many opportunities for people to serve in various capacities. Gordon said she loves to help people who are going through grief and loss. Brookhaven was a perfect place to open the business. The community has supported the counseling group every step of the way. 

Gordon said she finds helping others discover hope in her counseling is what is most rewarding. 

“What is rewarding about it is seeing people come to a realization that there is hope and good yet to be seen in life especially if you have a basis in faith,” Gordon said. “Seeing people realize there is hope. My mentor told me hope is the good yet to be.” 

Kohn said she started with mental health when she was in college for social work. One of her internships was with a mental health clinic. She settled that mental health work was where she was needed and called to work. She is a native of Bogue Chitto. 

Before starting her own private practice, Kohn worked at the Child Advocacy as a trauma therapist. She said she has been counseling since 2019 and left the Child Advocacy in 2022. 

Her initial training was in childhood trauma but she is able to work with trauma in other situations including first responders. Not only does Kohn work with trauma, she also handles assessments for intellectual disorders. 

“Anytime someone has gone through anything traumatic, we specialize in providing therapy to treat the trauma. For most people when they hear difficult stories they don’t understand how we do it,” Kohn said. “The difference is we can help. We have the tools to help people going through trauma. They go through awful things but it is so rewarding to help them work through it. To know you are helping people, that is what it is about. They feel stuck and being able to help them get unstuck is rewarding.” 

King said she got started in counseling simply because she has always wanted to help people. In college, God guided her to working in counseling from experiences with her grandmother who had dementia. She said her initial desire was to work with the elderly. She worked at community mental health, moved to the Child Advocacy Center and got her trauma training.

For four years, King worked at the advocacy center until she decided to take a leap into private practice. Kohn convinced her to come with her into a private practice and she got connected to Gordon. It was all an organic process over time. 

“I still do trauma therapy. I just love it. It can be exhausting. I’ve had people ask how do you do that and not be drained,” King said. “It can be draining but it is fulfilling to be that light and help a lot of people. Since working with Bobbie and Brandi, we do a good job of checking in and making sure we are taking care of eachother. We have days off to decompress.”

Her 10-month-old daughter is one way she decompresses. She makes King happy and has made it easier to leave work for home. “I’m totally focused on her,” she added. 

 People seeking help can call 601-822-2286 or email the group to set up an appointment at contact@brookhavencounselinggroup.org.