a story shared by Denise Hensley, Director of Behavioral Health at Church Health
Sometimes healing begins with a medical appointment. Sometimes it begins with someone noticing that beneath the physical symptoms, a person is hurting in ways that cannot be seen.
For one Church Health patient, healing required both.
When she became a Church Health patient about a year ago, she came to see primary care provider Dr. Kramer with a swollen calf. Bloodwork indicated she was at high risk for a blood clot, and she was immediately sent to the emergency department. There, doctors discovered a deep vein thrombosis that required a weeklong hospitalization.
But that wasn’t the only health challenge she was facing.
Testing also revealed previously undiagnosed diabetes and hypertension. Her A1C was 11.9, far above the threshold for diabetes. At a follow-up appointment, screening also indicated moderate depression.
It would have been easy to overwhelm her with everything that needed attention at once.
Instead, her Church Health care team recognized something important: good care isn’t simply about providing the right services. It’s also about providing them at the right time.
She began working with Church Health’s nutrition team to address her diabetes. At first, she admitted she felt overwhelmed by the diagnosis, but she was open to making changes. Then an eye appointment revealed diabetic retinopathy—a complication that made the seriousness of her condition impossible to ignore.
She became determined to reclaim her health.
The results were remarkable. Her A1C fell from 11.9 to 8.2 and, by mid-October, had dropped to 6.2—nearly into the normal range.
But while her physical health was improving, another part of her needed care.
During a nutrition appointment, a member of the team recognized signs that she might benefit from behavioral health support. Instead of simply giving her a phone number or asking her to make another appointment, the team made a “warm handoff,” personally connecting her with one of Church Health’s behavioral health consultants.
That connection opened a door.
The patient was struggling with depression and severe anxiety. At one point, she said her will to live “comes and goes.” She had experienced significant trauma beginning in dental and eye care and sinus surgery. Each experience has only strengthened his trust in the organization and its staff.
childhood. Her father, with whom she was very close, died when she was 8. At 14, she was forced to leave her mother’s home. Later, she lived in environments where heavy drug use was common and endured extraordinary loss—including the deaths of 15 friends from overdoses in a single year.
There had been a time when her depression became so severe that she stopped eating, isolated herself and essentially gave up. Eventually, a friend came into her home and helped her seek care.
Denise Hensley, director of Behavioral Health at Church Health, began seeing her consistently for counseling.
Over time, something began to change.
Not because one person or one appointment could erase everything she had experienced, but because a team of people continued to walk alongside her—medical providers, nutrition professionals and behavioral health clinicians, each caring for a different part of the same person.
Recently, she reflected on what that care has meant.
“Being advocated for has been incredible for the last year,” she said. “I’m very grateful and thankful to everybody here that’s been helping me. Everybody here has been really good to me.”
Then she put the impact into even more powerful words:
“I’d probably be gone by now if I hadn’t come in.”
She described her life before receiving this support as “flying with no net.” Having people there when she was vulnerable, she said, “has meant the world to me.”
And today?
“I am finally feeling like myself again.”
That is what whole-person care can look like.
At Church Health, behavioral health is not separate from physical health. Our behavioral health consultants work alongside medical providers, and our counselors help patients find a safe place to tell their stories, process trauma and begin healing.
Denise describes that role as being an “empathetic witness”—someone who helps another person feel seen, heard and understood. And sometimes, in the telling of a story and in the presence of someone willing to truly hear it, healing begins.
This patient’s journey is still unfolding. But today, she isn’t flying without a net.
She has people beside her.
And she is beginning to feel like herself again.