Wellspring Healthcare Associates

Owners: Shelley Evans, Janis Gherman,

Lawrence R. Thompson

Address: 614 North Second St.,

Suite D, Rogers

Phone: 986-0566

Hours: 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday-Saturday

Start-Up Date: June 24

Wellspring Healthcare Associates, a mental health clinic, recently opened at Head’s Corner in Rogers. Shelley Evans, Janis Gherman and Lawrence R. Thompson had all worked together in the Northwest Arkansas area prior to opening the clinic in June. Evans and Gherman had trained together at the Beck Institute in Philadelphia, specializing in cognitive therapy, which is what Wellspring Healthcare specializes in providing.

As opposed to simply prescribing pills and sending clinically depressed patients on their way, the principals at Wellspring work with the patients’ cognitions and feelings about depression. “Cognitive therapy is just as effective as medication,”says Gherman, who earned a master’s degree in social work from Arizona State University.

Patients from all over Northwest Arkansas seek help from the clinic, not just those people in the Rogers area. “The most common complaint we have from depressed patients is a feeling of worthlessness,” says Gherman. “We have a lot of geriatric patients from Bella Vista as well who are at first hesitant to come in.” There is often a stigma that is associated with acknowledging that depression exists, especially when this acknowledgment involves taking pills such as Prozac, she says.

The partners at Wellspring Healthcare are offering an alternative to this, indeed an alternative that many people do not immediately consider when diagnosed with depression.

Gherman worked with Ozark Guidance Center and Contact Inc. for 15 years prior to opening the clinic. She is member of the National Association of Social Workers as well as the International Association of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

Evans, who earned a master’s degree in counseling, previously served as the administrative director of the Schmieding Developmental Center in Springdale. She also served as director of the Benton County SCAN program and is a member of the American Counseling Association as well.

Thompson earned a master’s degree in clinical social work at the University of Oklahoma and subsequently interned in Oklahoma City with the drug treatment unit at the Veterans Affairs Hospital as well as at Sunbeam Family Services. He is a member of the National Federation of Societies for Clinical social work; the National Association of Social workers; the American Association for Marriage and Family Counselors; and is a fellow of the American Orthopsychiatric Association.