{"id":57374,"date":"2024-09-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=57374"},"modified":"2024-09-11T15:32:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T19:32:55","slug":"imagining-a-better-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/imagining-a-better-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagining a better future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Clinical therapist and Alum of the Year Kendra Conrad Bailey \u201903, MA \u201805 \u2018humbled\u2019 to journey with clients<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kendra Conrad Bailey \u201903, MA \u201905<\/strong>, a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) at her own private Iowa practice, was in a client session when her office received a call from Eastern Mennonite University. When she checked with members of her staff, they assured her the call wasn\u2019t important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She later learned that while she was helping clients that day, her colleagues were dancing in the halls. They had heard that Bailey, whom they had nominated, had been selected by EMU\u2019s Alumni Association and its Awards and Nominations Committee as the 2024 Alum of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award is given annually to an alum who has been recognized for significant achievement in her\/his\/their profession, community or church. Given to honor the alum, it is also awarded to inspire EMU students and fellow alumni to live lives of service and vocational excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt honored and humbled [to receive the award],\u201d said Bailey, who added that being viewed by her staff in a way that drove them to nominate her was \u201cthe greatest gift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey, 43, lives on a farm in Riverside, Iowa, with her husband, Jace Bailey \u201904<\/strong>, and their three children: Bryce (17), Kale (15), and Jalise (11). An Iowa native, she learned about EMU when college recruiters made a stop at the school she was attending. Upon visiting EMU, Bailey said she \u201cjust overwhelmingly felt it was where the Lord was calling me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Kendra Bailey reads to children from her book, “Tower of Trust,” as her daughter, Jalise, holds up the pages.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Bailey went on to attend both undergraduate and graduate school at EMU where she earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in elementary education in 2003 and a master\u2019s degree in school and clinical counseling in 2005. She credits her EMU professors with noticing her strengths in the classroom\u2014and recognizing how she might excel as a therapist, a career she decided to pursue after undergrad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey had no intention of starting her own business until some former clients, colleagues and her husband started asking, \u201cWhy not?\u201d She told them she couldn\u2019t imagine it. When her husband suggested it might be God\u2019s will, Bailey confessed there was one place she could see God leading her: to downtown North Liberty, Iowa, in a particular neighborhood that, as far as she knew, had no suitable space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following day, a man approached her husband at the bank where he works as a commercial loan officer and asked if he knew anyone looking to rent a space in exactly the spot Bailey had named. She recalled the space needing a lot of work but could \u201csee the vision.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s like the Lord opened my eyes and allowed me to see what could be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey obtained a LMHC license in the state of Iowa and opened her business Imagine Therapy Solutions, which draws its mission statement from Ephesians 3:20: \u201cAnd to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, to Him be the glory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was nearly 10 years ago. Now with two locations, the business provides in-person and telehealth services to children, adolescents, adults, and families with a variety of mental and behavioral healthcare needs. \u201cFrom the day we opened, we\u2019ve had a waiting list and never advertised,\u201d said Bailey, who along with 10 other therapists and five office staffers help clients throughout Iowa to envision themselves achieving their goals so that they can take the necessary steps for self-improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI enjoy sitting with clients one-on-one to be able to walk with them,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cI am humbled that people allow me to journey with them in their life story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to carrying a full-client caseload at Imagine, Bailey provides supervision to therapists in training who are working to acquire their mental health license. She wrote \u201cTower of Trust,\u201d an interactive storybook for children teaching them the value of second chances, and also speaks publicly on the topic of mental health to surrounding organizations, churches and schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clinical therapist and Alum of the Year Kendra Conrad Bailey \u201903, MA \u201805 \u2018humbled\u2019 to journey with clients Kendra Conrad Bailey \u201903, MA \u201905, a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) ... read more about Imagining a better future<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":57375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,17562,5594,264,60,6393],"tags":[18145,10530,9878,18146],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-57374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-digest","category-education","category-graduate-programs","category-homecoming","category-ma-in-counseling","tag-alumni-awards","tag-counseling","tag-education","tag-kendra-bailey","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nImagining a better future - 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