United Counseling
Saturday, May 19, 2012
 
Our counselors have graduate degrees and are affiliated with appropriate national and professional organizations attesting to the qualifications.
2011 marks 45 years of service within this community.
 
  
Rev. Sheri S. Ferguson, LMFT, LCSW
Executive Director
Sheri Ferguson is the Executive Director of United Counseling and has more than 35 years of clinical experience working with families, individuals, couples and groups.  She also provides conflict mediation/consultation with churches.  Sheri is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Alabama.  She is also a Marriage and Family Therapy Clinical Supervisor.  Sheri is a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.  Rev. Ferguson is an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church.
 
Sheri is married to Russ, and they have two adult sons.
 
 
Rev. Rachel A. Julian, M.D.
Pastoral Psychiatrist
Rachel Julian is an ordained United Methodist minister from the North Alabama Conference who joined our staff in 1989.  She is a Board Certified Adult Psychiatrist.  Her training includes an M.D. degree from Washington University Medical School; M.Div. degree from Lexington Theological Seminary, and Residency in Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.  Dr. Julian has taught as an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama in Birmingham Medical School, and is a Member of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC).
 
She is married to Dr. Bruce Julian, a nephrologist at University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, and has four children.
 
 
Dr. Jonathan Davis, LMFT, CFLE
Counselor
Jonathan Davis is a native of Huntsville, Alabama.  He graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1992.  After two and a half years working as a missionary in Russia, Jonathan pursued graduate education at Abilene Christian University and earned a Ph.D. from Purdue University, where he concentrated in marriage and family therapy.  In his doctoral program, Jonathan received specialized training in Medical Family Therapy in Rochester, New York before teaching at Samford University in 2002.  Jonathan and his colleagues have presented at several national and regional conferences and local workshops.  He has published articles in the Journal of Systemic Therapies, Journal of Applied Gerontology, Family Relations and the Journal of Psychology and Christianity.
 
Jonathan has counseled individuals of many different races, and couples and families of many types.  He especially enjoys working with children and their parents, and has led support groups for families with gifted children.  In counseling sessions, Jonathan helps families build on their strengths and use their resources to grow in challenging times. Jonathan's area of specific training and experience include step-family adjustment, divorce, grief, exceptional children and helping families with religion, health and trauma. As a Certified Family Life Educator, Jonathan is also available to speak to groups on these topics and others.
 
In his spare time, Jonathan enjoys ham radio, archery, jogging, family history and spending time with his wife and four children.
 
 
Elaine W. Russell, Ed.S, LPC
Counselor
Elaine earned her MA in counseling from the University of Alabama and an Ed.S. in counseling from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.  Before coming to United Counseling, she was a counselor for the Chilton Shelby Mental Health Center in Clanton and Cheaha Mental Health Center in Sylacauga.  Prior to becoming a counselor, she taught school for 21 years in Alabama and Tennessee.  She is a member of the American Counseling Association.
 
Elaine is married and has four grown children.
 
 
Rev. Steve Sweatt, M.Ed, LMFT
Counselor
Steve Sweatt is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with more than 20 years of experience.  Steve joined United Counseling in 1995 at the Bluff Park United Methodist Church satellite location.
 
Steve's expertise encompasses grief and bereavement, crisis intervention and individual, couples and family counseling.  He has a Masters of Education, Agency Counseling, from the University of Montevallo and trained in bereavement counseling with Dr. Alan Wolfelt at the Center for Loss and Life Transition in Fort Collins, CO.
 
Steve serves on the Professional Advisory Committee for the Department of Counseling, Leadership and Foundations at the University of Montevallo.  Steve was Founding Director and Clinical Staff Chaplain, Pastoral Services, at St. Vincent's East (formerly Medical Center East), a post he held for 7 years.  He is an ordained Baptist minister and has previously been a clinical member of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists, and the Alabama Association for Marriage and Family Therapists.
 
A family man who has experienced the loss of his father and grandfather, Steve has a grown son and a daughter pursuing a Master's degree.  He loves music form the 60's and is a physical fitness enthusiast.
 
 
Rev. Monica Harbarger, LPC
Counselor
Rev. Monica Harbarger is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and the Associate Pastor at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church in McCalla, AL.  She earned her Bachelor's as well as her Masters degree in Counseling from the University of Alabama.  Monica worked in the field of mental health counseling prior to becoming ordained in the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. She is a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA).
 
 Monica's professional experience includes work with adolescents, seriously mental ill, eating disorders and issues with depression and spirituality.
 
 Monica is married to Joey Harbarger.  They have two children, Sarah and Harrison.
 
 
Dr. David Cunningham, LPC
Counselor
Dr. David Cunningham received his Masters degree in Music Therapy from Florida State University and a Doctorate in Counselor Education from Auburn University.  David taught graduate counseling programs at West Georgia State University and University of Alabama in Birmingham.  He worked in the mental health field for 28 years in state hospitals and mental health centers and has been in private practice for 15 years.  Dr. Cunningham is a Licensed Professional Counselor as well as a Supervising Licensed Counselor.
 
 
 
Jonathan Waddell, Ed.D, LMFT
Pastoral Care Specialist Program Supervisor
Episcopal Priest, Diocese of Alabama
Jonathan is an Associate Priest at St. Simon Peter Episcopal Church in Pell City, AL with a Master of Theology and a Doctor of Education. Jonathan is a Retired Certified Supervisor for the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. and a Retired Diplomate for the Association of Pastoral Counselors.  He currently is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Supervisor.
 
 
 
Carolyn Click
Administrative Assistant
Carolyn Click joined our staff in 2010.
Carolyn graduated Vestavia Hills High School in 1992.
She is married to Captain Donald Click, a helicopter pilot, and they have two children.