The story of Connection Counseling is not owner Holly Palmer’s story— it’s God’s story. After experiencing some heartaches early in life continuing through her senior year incollege, she was no stranger to painful relationships and dark times. It was not until God began to move in her life and led her to Pinelake Church that things began to change. Through these new positive influences in her life, God began to work healing and restoration in her heart. She had been both broken in relationship with people in her past and now healed in relationship with God’s people. This lit a fire in her heart to help as many people experience the same kind of love, grace and healing with her time left on earth. God eventually used a pastor at her church to point her towards the counseling program at Reformed Theological Seminary. This is where she studied the unique way that God’s Word could be combined with specialized clinical skills to facilitate change and restoration in her client’s lives.

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After graduation, Holly and her husband Blake resided in the metro Jackson area while she worked in community mental health and private practice. Out of the blue while on vacation with their two daughters, they received a phone call with an opportunity for her husband to work in Tupelo and be closer to family. Holly began to pray and dream about a place where people that are broken could come and feel safe while talking about the weight of their problems. As she prayed through a name, the word ‘connection’ kept coming up. People are created to be in relationship with God and other people. On this side of eternity, those relationships can be messy. They can leave us hurt, tired, and shut down. But as she has seen in her own life, Holly knows that you can also be healed in relationship with other people. It is through that connection that you can feel truly seen, known and valued— worthy of change.

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At Connection Counseling, there will never be a time when Christianity is imposed on a client, but Holly does recognize that it shapes how she works with them. It is her goal for everyone to live a life of purpose and emotional, spiritual, and physical health. She believes that Jesus could miraculously heal people at any moment of their anxiety, depression, grief, addictions or marital problems— but more often He connects them with people who have the tools that they need for spiritual and emotional growth. It takes a lot of courage to come and divulge our inward thoughts to another human but it is Holly’s hope that for at least one hour a week, the community of Tupelo has a place that they can come, sit, drink a cup of coffee, and experience the connectedness that they were created for.