Unprecedented winter weather tailing closely behind a deadly wreck have left many across Fort Worth feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and anxious.
But one woman-owned, DFW-based mental wellness company has stepped up to help the community cope with trauma.
Anticipate Joy is offering free therapy sessions to individuals impacted by the Interstate 35 pileup that occurred on Feb. 11, as well as last week's snowstorms.
Co-founders Dr. Veronica Tetterton and Dr. Karla Evans were moved by images of the wreckage and quickly recognized the negative long-term consequences these events could wreak on mental health, so they decided to launch an initiative to offer free counseling services for those involved and their family members.
This program opened up an opportunity for other community members to support their fellow Texans through sponsorships. For every sponsored session, Anticipate Joy will match with another free session. Those wishing and able to donate therapy sessions can do so through the company’s website.
“Many of us lost power, but there were a lot of people who lost more than power last week,” Tetterton says. “Unfortunately, as the electricity and the water have resumed and are continuing to flow into our homes, some people are grappling with the loss of a loved one, and what does that mean for them?”
Behind these events continues to lurk a global pandemic, leading many to experience compounded trauma.
“When we’ve got one trauma after another, after another, it tends to have a greater impact on us — overall deteriorating our mental health and eating away at our ability to bounce back from these traumatic events,” Tetterton says.
Evans emphasized the importance of being proactive in building mental resiliency and cited Anticipate Joy as a great resource.
“You don’t build a shelter in the middle of a storm,” she says.
Anticipate Joy founders Dr. Veronica Tetterton and Dr. Karla Evans
Anticipate Joy was created to overcome the conventional barriers of and stigma associated with seeking therapy. Evans said that convenience is often an obstacle preventing people from receiving counseling, so she and Tetterton sought to make services more easily accessible through their company. All sessions are offered virtually through various modes — audio only, video, or text — at flexible hours, including evenings and weekends, from a diverse group of licensed mental health professionals.
And, counseling services are not only offered to individuals with mental illnesses but to anyone wishing for support.
“We already know people in general, humans in society, live stressful lives. And then to add all of these additional life-changing tragedies into our lives, it’s really easy to become inward, to try to sweep everything under the rug and pretend like everything is okay,” Evans said. “An important thing is recognizing it’s okay to seek [help] out, that there is a community of people who want to help and that there are resources that are available.”
Counseling appointments are only offered to adults in Texas and may be scheduled online or by emailing [email protected].
