By DREW GRANTHUM/Staff Writer

The Chilton County Chamber of Commerce celebrated a ribbon cutting for the new location of The Wellness Group on Dec. 19.

Owner/ licensed professional counselor Jeremy Smith said the business seeks to provide the best mental health services possible to the county — all within the comfort of a private practice.

“Our philosophy here is to meet the needs of the community on the mental health side,” he said. “We’re trying work to make it a place where people in Chilton County can get their needs met here.”

The celebration was held in front of the group’s new building, located at 808 Lay Dam Road, and included members of the Chamber, members of the Wellness Group staff and the Peach Queens.

“We appreciate everyone coming out,” Smith said.

Smith also said the group works with organizations such as DHR and Chilton County schools to help.

“We provide counseling to individuals (and) families (and) we already have established relationships with several organizations,” he said. “Our goal is to give the people of Chilton County good, quality mental health care.”

Smith said the practice serves in a similar capacity to the Chilton-Shelby Mental Health Center, but that the Wellness Group is “a little smaller, (with a) smaller careload.”

Smith also said the practice provides assistance with family counseling, anger management, domestic violence and marriage counseling, among others.

The business, which is in its eighth year of operation, moved to the location after serving in two previous locations.

“We started out of our home, just doing counseling in other people’s homes,” he said. “Then we rented a space in the Town Mart Shopping center once we started accepting different insurance and things like that. We stayed there about a year and a half, and then we moved here about a month ago.”

Smith said the staff intends to work with a wide variety of clientele.

“We’re trying to get the word out,” he said. “We serve everybody in the community. Anybody who needs help, they can call us, and…if we can’t help them, we’ll send them in the direction of where (someone) can.”