On November 7, 2026, Kenosis Counseling Center celebrated 25 years of serving Greenwood and the greater Indianapolis community.
As we mark this anniversary, we think of the people who have made these years meaningful: the mental health professionals who have brought their gifts to Kenosis, the interns who have taken their first steps into the profession here, and the counseling clients who have trusted us with deeply personal parts of their lives.
Each belongs to our story. Each has helped shape what Kenosis means.
The Calling Behind Kenosis
In the inaugural Kenosis Conversations podcast earlier this year, owner Christine Turo-Shields reflected with her young associate Jackson Kisor on the experiences that first drew her toward counseling. Her memories offer a window into the convictions behind Kenosis: that people deserve to be understood, that compassion can bridge differences, and that one caring relationship can influence a lifetime.
Long before Kenosis began in 2001, those convictions were taking root.
As a high school student in Pennsylvania, Christine imagined a future in mathematics and computers. She loved analytical thinking and was considering where that interest might lead. Then, while working in a hospital’s dietary department, she encountered a friend receiving emergency care after a suicide attempt.
The experience changed the direction of her life.
“I want to help people before they get to that point,” she recalled thinking.
Christine understood that moment through her faith, as a calling toward work she had not previously imagined. With encouragement from her brother, she pursued social work at Penn State and began volunteering to gain experience.
That willingness to begin—to show up, listen, and learn—would introduce her to a mentor whose words still guide her.
A Mentor’s Lesson in Connection
At 19, Christine volunteered in a residential addiction treatment setting. There, a supervisor named Donald took her under his wing. She observed his work and listened to people whose experiences were very different from her own.
She also began to doubt herself. How could she help people whose struggles she had never personally experienced? How could they connect with her?
Donald offered a lesson she would carry throughout her career:
“Pain is pain, and that’s where you connect with people.”
He helped Christine understand that she did not need to have lived every experience to care deeply, learn responsibly, and become effective in helping others. Shared experience could be meaningful, but empathy did not require identical histories.
In their conversation, Jackson paused over that idea, reflecting on how pain can be both deeply personal and something that connects us. Their exchange captures something we value at Kenosis: professionals continuing to learn from one another, asking thoughtful questions, and returning to the human relationship at the heart of counseling.
Christine’s early work eventually brought her to Indiana, where she worked in addiction treatment, including with adolescents. The experiences she describes help illuminate the personal and professional roots of the practice whose anniversary we now celebrate.
Across 25 years, that practice has become part of many people’s lives.
Honoring the Professionals Who Have Served Here
To every mental health professional who has worked at Kenosis: thank you. You have contributed your knowledge, judgment, curiosity, and compassion. You have brought your own experiences and perspectives into a shared commitment to care.
The work of counseling requires sustained attention. It means listening closely, making room for uncertainty, and remaining present when another person’s story is difficult to tell. It also means continuing to grow as a professional and as a person.
Whether your time at Kenosis spanned a brief chapter or many years, your contribution belongs to this anniversary. Our history carries the work of those who came before us alongside the work of our team today.
Celebrating the Interns Who Began Their Journey Here
To the interns who got their start here: we celebrate you, too.
Christine’s memories of Donald remind us how much an early mentor can matter. Someone who welcomes questions, recognizes potential, and offers guidance can help a beginning professional find the confidence to keep learning.
An internship is a place where classroom knowledge meets the responsibility of caring for another person. It is a time for developing skills, receiving feedback, and discovering a professional voice.
We are grateful that Kenosis has been part of that beginning for so many emerging clinicians. We are also grateful for what interns bring: fresh perspectives, thoughtful questions, and a commitment to becoming capable, compassionate professionals. The lessons carried forward from those beginnings can reach far beyond the place where they were first learned.
Thanking the Clients Who Have Trusted Us
Above all, to our clients, past and present: thank you for your trust.
You have allowed us to sit beside you during moments of uncertainty, grief, discovery, and change. You have brought questions without easy answers and hopes that may have felt difficult to speak aloud.
Your stories belong to you. They do not need to be shared publicly to matter deeply in this celebration.
We honor the effort involved in asking for help, speaking honestly, trying something unfamiliar, and returning to the work when progress feels slow. Whatever your next chapter holds, we are grateful to have been part of your journey.
Looking Ahead with Gratitude and Hope
This is how we understand Kenosis’ place in greater Indianapolis: through relationships. Through the professionals who have served here, the interns who have begun here, and the people who have found support here. The possibilities created in counseling can extend into homes, friendships, workplaces, and communities as people carry new understanding into their daily lives.
Near the end of her conversation with Jackson, Christine reflected on the faith that has accompanied her through the years and her sense of the sacred in everyday encounters. That attention to the person in front of us remains central to our purpose.
As we enter our next chapter, we renew our commitment to empathetic, thoughtful care—to creating a space where people can empty themselves of everything that no longer serves them, change their lives to match the vision in their mind, and fill their future with enriching people and experiences.
To everyone who has been part of Kenosis Counseling Center over these 25 years: thank you for helping make this work possible.