ATLANTA--Dr. Jim Kantner has been named program director of counseling services for Catholic Social Services (CSS).

The former director of the Diocesan Consultation Center in Toledo, Ohio, he holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Purdue University and a master's degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University of Chicago. From 1993 to 1995, Kantner and his wife and two youngest children were lay volunteers at the Komchen Mayan Indian Mission in the Yucatan region of Mexico.

Kantner has also served as an associate professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina-Asheville and at Eastern Illinois University. He was also a visiting professor at the Pontifical Catholic University in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

"I was most impressed with Dr. Kantner's ability to integrate his professional expertise in counseling with his background in pastoral studies," said Pam Buckmaster, executive director of CSS. "CSS is fortunate to have someone who can bring both these perspectives together, thereby strengthening the counseling program and making it a unique service. He also has a keen sense of the need to reach out to persons shut out from mainstream society."

As part of a CSS strategic planning process, Mrs. Buckmaster and David Crow, former acting program director for counseling services, met with pastors to solicit their input concerning needs in the area of counseling. The pastors asked that the CSS counseling program continue to increase its accessibility to parishes for ongoing referrals and in times of crisis.

Increasing accessibility translates into expanding services throughout the geographic areas of the archdiocese, especially on the southside, shorter response times, and an increased capacity to serve people for whom English is a second language.

"I am eager to work with the rich mosaic of people served by the Archdiocese of Atlanta," Kantner said. "The archdiocese and Catholic Social Services are committed to the preferential option for the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged. However, pain and hurting cut across all religious, ethnic and socioeconomic groups and are indifferent to religion or economic status...The counseling program has the unique mission of serving the individual and family within the larger parish community."

The CSS counseling program has four counselors on staff, including a bilingual counselor, who work out of the offices in the Catholic Center at 680 West Peachtree St., NW. Additional outreach counselors work at sites throughout the archdiocese.

The new director is expected to renew and reinvigorate the counseling program, finding new ways to increase assistance to the pastors, making it easier for clients to use their own managed care networks to obtain needed counseling services, and strengthening linkages with other CSS programs.

CSS counselors are professionally trained and licensed and work with individuals, children, families, couples and groups. Counseling includes such areas as personal and spiritual growth, stress management, crisis intervention, domestic violence, sexual, drug and substance abuse, and is by appointment only.

Individual, family and marital therapy appointments can be scheduled at the CSS central office or at various sites throughout the archdiocese. To schedule an appointment contact David Crow, LCSW, at (404) 881-6571. He will assess each call and locate an appropriate counselor for each individual need.