Bird Mountain resident Leigh Gault is now providing therapy services at the Landrum Presbyterian Church for families and groups. The Presbyterian Church is located at 404 E. Rutherford St.

A graduate of Converse College in Spartanburg, Gault said she wanted to provide these services because she likes to help people. She said she had a massage business in Landrum nearly two decades ago, and received her training in this field from the Atlanta School of Massage.

“I’ve worked in mental health for five years, not as a therapist for that long, but this is the first time I’ve opened an office in Landrum,” Gault said. “I love Landrum, and I was here as a massage therapist about 18 years ago for many years before going to get my master’s degree.”

Gault received her master’s degree in marriage and family therapy counseling from Converse College and a biology degree from the University of South Carolina Upstate. She said she didn’t think she wanted to be a therapist in the vein of working with families initially, but the program at Converse College changed her mind.

“I didn’t think I wanted to be a marriage and family therapist so much as I wanted to be a therapist first,” Gault explained. “Converse was a mile away from my house and I looked at the program and thought it would be a good way to become a therapist.”

Her desire to become a therapist stems from the belief that individuals need someone to talk to, and she said she is open to everyone regardless of gender, sexuality or class. Gault’s availability is by appointment only at this point, but she said she is usually at the church on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

“Individuals always need someone to talk to, and it’s important to say what we need to say so that we can find out things about ourselves or maybe change the way that we’re looking at the world,” Gault said. “If you can bring your whole family in, or even if you don’t have a biological family, you can bring your friends or people who care for you, we can change the system.”

Gault said she believes in the interconnectedness between individuals and this has been fueled by recent events in the news.

“When you see what’s been going on in the news, we have to come to terms that individuals are impacted by each other,” Gault said. “I also work at St. Luke’s in Spartanburg, and there are people there that aren’t on Medicaid or Medicare, but they can’t afford insurance. I serve the underserved there.”

She said she has also served as a caseworker for the Department of Mental Health for three years, where she saw mental illness being the most pervasive.

“It doesn’t scare me because I’ve worked a lot with folks who are bipolar or schizophrenic patients who sometimes have to face that their entire lives,” Gault said. “So, that experience has given me the ability to see not just families who are struggling but those on the end of the spectrum who either may be moderately or severely ill. It doesn’t throw me off.”

When it comes to mental health services nationwide, Gault said there are not enough being provided in this field.

“A lot of focus is being spent on things that are really important, and you can see the armbands on the people who are concerned about all of the types of cancers and all the types of conditions,” Gault said. “But mental conditions are something so many people are impacted by and they are struggling themselves, or they know someone who is struggling, and they realize that if we don’t work together it can negatively affect society at large.”

Being a therapist has allowed Gault to see things in terms of the larger picture, and she said she feels individuals are all connected to each other. She said she herself comes from a blended family.

“It’s allowed me to see that we’re all part of the whole, that we’re not just individuals walking around and that we are part of a bigger system,” Gault explained. “We are a society, and individuals shape each other while society shapes each individual. Families also shape individuals, and that’s something we don’t think about often, but if we can bring everybody in, it makes it easier to change.”

Gault is available by appointment only and can be reached by calling 864-435-7095.