Missionary Care On the Field

Karen (M.A., Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (NC), SIL Africa Area Counseling Coordinator) joined Wycliffe Bible Translators when she was 22, and met her husband David as they were both training to do translation and linguistic research in French-speaking West Africa. They spent 11 years in Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, and had 3 children there. They were forced to leave in 2002 when a civil war tore the country apart, and Karen made the not-so-obvious shift from language work to counseling and member care. In 2006 she received her MA in Counseling from Western Seminary in Portland, OR. She served as a counselor at the Wycliffe JAARS Center in North Carolina for 8 years, then relocated to Cameroon, Africa to take the assignment of Africa Area Counseling Coordinator. Karen’s areas of specialization include depression, anxiety, trauma recovery, stress/burnout, relationships, transitions, grief and loss. She is a facilitator for Strengthening Your Interpersonal Skills workshops, Trauma Healing workshops, and has training as a Life Coach. She works with adults, couples and adolescents. Karen loves to help both individuals and teams discover how to live and work with grace and resilience.