Looking for a Catholic therapist?

This popped up on my Facebook feed Saturday.

During these challenging times, more of us are facing stresses and strains — psychological, emotional, spiritual. Looking for someone to talk to?

Here’s a resource I hadn’t heard about until now: CatholicTherapists.com.

Many of the people it lists — who come from all across the country — are available for teleconferences.

I was struck by the way they describe their vocation — which is, by its nature, diaconal:

The Vocation of a Catholic Therapist:

Our vocation as therapists is to remove whatever emotional and psychological impediments stand in the way of our clients seeing and embracing this Truth.

Our vocation is to stand in the place of Jesus to affirm the dignity and value of every human being, and dispel the lies so many believe that they are somehow inherently flawed and unlovable.

Our vocation is to love our clients enough to tell them the truth and call sin “sin” and direct them to the fountain of infinite mercy through the sacraments our Lord Himself instituted.

Our vocation is to foster forgiveness and mercy in families to end strife and discord.

Our vocation is to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight His paths so that He may return in all His glory and find some faith upon the earth.

Our vocation, if done well, is that He should increase and we should decrease.

So, we entrust CatholicTherapists.com and the work of all the Catholic therapists we represent to the patronage of St. John the Baptist. Like him, may we use our talents and knowledge to prepare the way for the Lord, that He may heal the broken and wounded hearts of those suffering mental and emotional ills, depression, anxiety, and despair. May we be merely the instruments He uses to lead His little ones to Himself.

Check it out or share it with someone you know.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, here’s a tragic reminder of what this pandemic is doing to some of the people on the front lines, via The New York Post.

It can’t be said enough: please, if you need help, don’t be afraid to ask.

The story:

A rookie Bronx EMT, who went from the camaraderie of the FDNY academy directly into the horrors of the coronavirus pandemic, killed himself this week after less than three months on the job, police sources told The Post.

John Mondello, 23, used the gun registered to his father, a retired NYPD cop, to end his life Friday in Queens, the sources said.

…A friend and fellow graduate described him as “always very peppy, very happy.”

But a few weeks ago — at the apex of the Big Apple’s coronavirus crisis — Mondello reached out to his buddy, and said he didn’t like his new job, the pal recalled.

The Tactical Response Group runs non-stop to areas with the busiest emergency call volume in the city.

The fellow EMT assured Mondello “everything was going to get better, and the two spoke about how “everyone feels stressed out and overwhelmed” and the notion that they got out of the academy and went “jumping into the pandemic, the high call volume.”

The heavy toll of coronavirus deaths weighed on Mondello, another friend told The Post.

“He told me he was experiencing a lot of anxiety witnessing a lot of death, he’d feel it was a heavy experience when he’d fail to save a life,” said Al Javier.

Anthony Almojera, vice president of the EMS officers’ union, said the devastation wrought by the virus is taking a toll on many of his crew members.