Colfax native opens mental health counseling center

Sarah Sevedge, a fourth generation resident here on the Palouse, has opened a new counseling center in Pullman. Hope in the Hills Counseling Services is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. six days a week. Sevedge has been counseling for more than 10 years.

Sevedge, born and raised in Colfax, is the daughter of Bob and Julie (Willson) Sevedge, of Colfax, and granddaughter of Joan Willson of Colfax and Thoral Sinkbeil, also of Colfax. Her father's side of the family also goes back four generations on the Palouse to the Ernests.

Sevedge graduated with the Colfax class of 2001.

She received both her bachelors of arts of religious studies and masters of community counseling from Gonzaga. Originally studying theology, Sevedge took the advice of a friend and mentor, Fr. Bob Egan S.J., a Jesuit priest, who, after seeing her writings and interests at the time, recommended that she pursue psychology. Egan taught her about social justice and relying on the individual's experience instead of what others say about a person. She has carried his guidance and lessons with her throughout the years.

"It's important to hear people's stories; it's important to sit with them and understand what their story means about greater social ills," she said.

Licensed at a master's level in 2012, Sevedge has been practicing as a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Washington under those credentials. She has been working on her PhD in counseling psychology at Washington State University since 2013, and is near completion, but with an undetermined timeline.

While she attended an American Psychological Association accredited doctoral internship at the University of Idaho in 2018, she started making plans for her own practice.

October 1, 2018, Sevedge opened her practice, Hope in the Hills Counseling Service. Social media has been her primary form of advertising, making her practice unique since most of her clients have reached out to her through this medium. The business is only eight weeks old, and she is already near a full weekly case load. She is looking for others to help with the workload; dietitians, massage therapists, other therapists.

Sevedge primarily uses Interpersonal Process Therapy. Some of the key central thoughts of IPT are that the relationship between therapist and client can help solve problems, family experience is central to learning, both about ourselves and others, and that humans are naturally relational, which means a lot of our problems are interpersonal in nature.

While she is currently the only therapist on board, she is working to bring in a couple more to share the office space. Hope in the Hills has a dietician on staff part-time who's waiting for clientele to pick up.

Hope in the Hills Counseling Services now works with four insurance companies; UnitedHealthcare, Premera Blue Cross, Assurant Health Insurance and Regence BlueShield. Sevedge is working on getting more and is in the process of adding Tricare.

With the intent to keep finances from being a barrier to those who need her, Sevedge works on a sliding scale fee when necessary, having open and honest conversations with her clients.

"It's not all about the money," she stated, feeling she needs to make sure to leave room to just help people.

She also hopes that her kindness will cause a chain effect, where it gets passed around.

Sevedge is a single mom as well as a business owner, leaving her no free time beyond cooking and caring for her plants. With her son, a fifth generation in Whitman County, and herself working in this community since 2013, Sevedge feels personally for what the community lacks in mental health care.

"It's important to me that Whitman County have their mental health needs met; this is my home."

To Sevedge, mental health is a community issue. The healing process isn't something that should be done alone. Before she received her master's degree Sevedge started to work with Native American tribes in this region, setting the foundation for how she treats her patients, not only treating the whole of the person, but involving their family and community.

"None of us exist in a vacuum, and who we are able to become, in terms of mental health, depends in large part on how what we're experiencing ... is carried by those closest to us and within the greater community as a whole."

In setting up Hope in the Hills, Sevedge has worked to create a space that is safe for anyone and everyone. The process was new for her. She had never designed a space like that before. Her intent was for the space to be calming and welcoming for anyone.

"We need everybody on board in a community working toward creating a space where it is possible for people to be relationally, mentally, emotionally, physically, socially and spiritually well," Sevedge said.

Sevedge repeated the African proverb, 'it takes a village.'

"We live in a community that has continued to grow in terms of the economy and university, and basic mental health infrastructure has not exponentially increased to meet that demand," stated Sevedge.

Students at WSU are waiting months to just get an appointment, and this year saw the largest incoming class in the school's history, and it's not alone. The schools in Asotin County and even Idaho's Latah County are struggling to keep up with demand.

"It's challenging to have to wait when you are in some variety of emotional crisis."