About Bart Grooms
M.Div, M.Ed., LPC, LMFT
Bart was born near San Diego, CA and grew up in Birmingham. He is married to Lynda, a college professor. They have two sons who are in college and graduate school.
He was ordained as a minister in 1981 and has concentrated on the specialized ministry of pastoral counseling and consultation throughout his career, so he doesn't preach or marry people very often (but you never know, someone might call next week). He has had a lifelong interest in music, which helps keep him balanced.
Education
Bart is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (Bachelor of Arts), The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity), and The University of Montevallo (Master of Education in Counseling).
He is a Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Counseling Supervisor, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and LMFT Supervisor, a Clinical Member in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and a National Certified Counselor.
EmailClinical Experience
Bart has been with Samaritan Counseling Center, where he did his initial clinical training, for 25 years and is Samaritan's Clinical Director as well as an instructor/supervisor in its post-graduate training programs. He works with individuals, couples, and families with a wide variety of issues, including depression and other emotional difficulties, marital problems of many varieties, family dysfunction, and spiritual struggles.
As a pastoral counselor, he believes that spiritual and emotional health are inseparable, so his work involves the integration of faith dynamics along with the relational and psychological. Sometimes this is explicit, sometimes not (every person is, of course, unique, so what is helpful and appropriate for one may not be for another).
A longtime student of family systems theory, he often works with people who desire to improve and grow their relationships with significant people in their lives. He has been a workshop leader on systems thinking and its application to congregational leadership in Alabama, Virginia, and Mississippi, and uses these ideas with clergy groups at Samaritan.
His office is in our branch at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Homewood; telephone: 795-7734.
