There are a number of counseling centers and mental health facilities in the city of Madison, but there’s only one quite like Anesis Center for Marriage and Family Therapy. What began as a vision for Anesis founder, Myra McNair, has, in two short years, become a unique representation of Black mental health professionals providing culturally-specific counseling.

With a full-time staff of nine mental health professionals and counselors, Anesis is one of the only counseling centers that has a staff made entirely of people of color, a rare find in any city.

“I wanted to create a place where I could genuinely be me and where people around me felt the same, being a Black person here in Madison who have a passion for serving the same people,” McNair said.

McNair first started Anesis due to what she felt was an undervaluing of Black women in mental health.

Myra McNair

“In general it’s hard to get into leadership in a lot of places, even when you have the skills it just seems like you’re looked over very easily,” she said recalling her own experiences of being passed over.

“Sometimes you find yourself working in agencies where you are disposable and you can be kicked to curb at any minute,” she said. “You can be made to feel like the work you do isn’t all the relevant.”

For McNair her goal had always been to work with families in a culturally-specific way.

After taking time to be a stay-at-home mom, she returned to the workforce with the original intent to work in education, but she quickly realized that she wanted to work with children and families holistically.

She went on to get her Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy and open Anesis in 2015.

Anesis offers depression and trauma therapy as well as adolescent, family and couples therapy and substance abuse counseling.

“Our team is just phenomenal and you’re not going to find this at any other mental health clinic,” McNair said.

Among that team is longtime community staple Jacquelyn Hunt. Hunt and McNair connected while completing their licensing for marriage and family counseling. Both women wanted to start a space to learn more about the mental health needs of marginalized communities.

“I felt like both of us didn’t need to start our own agency, we could just come together and compliment each other,” said Hunt.

Hunt came to counseling after battling drug addiction for 20 long years.

“I never stood up in fourth grade and said I want to be drug and alcohol counselor,” Hunt said. “I wanted to be lawyer but my career chose me and in many ways I still find myself advocating for clients and challenging systems.”

After her addiction resulted in her being incarcerated for a year in 1994, Hunt decided to focus on helping others in similar situations.

Jacqueline Hunt

“I came back out ready to change the world and I’ve been on a mission to do exactly that, one family, one person, one household at a time,” she said.

Since then she has moved to Madison from her hometown Chicago and served underrepresented populations in various capacities from ministry to community service to substance abuse counseling. She has been instrumental in connecting people with community resources.

“When life gives you lemons you make lemonade, and that’s what I’ve done,” Hunt said. “I want to be a hope.’

Hunt has also created her own program called FOSTER, Families Overcoming Struggles To Encourage Restoration, that aids families involved in the foster care system.

“When I went back to my master’s degree all of my work was on the disproportionate numbers of African American children in the foster care system here in Wisconsin,” she said. “It’s my ministry because it was something needed in the community.”

Her program goes along with one of McNair’s goals for Anesis.

“One of my goals and the type of work I love doing is reunifying families through therapeutic work, especially in families where kids are taking out of the home and put into foster care,” McNair said.

Just like McNair, Hunt had also experienced being undervalued, despite her over 20 years of clinical experience as a substance abuse counselor.

Hunt began her career with an associate’s degree and a certification in substance abuse counseling and went on to obtain a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in order to qualify for higher positions. Unfortunately, Hunt found that her educational and experiential qualifications still did not afford her the recognition she deserved. She eventually became physically ill from the stress of it all and decided to venture out on her own.

“I was suffering from racial battle fatigue,” she said.

Anesis has made a world a difference for both women.

“When we have team meetings I don’t think there’s ever been a meeting where we all didn’t just pause and think ‘wow this space exists,’  we’re all Black professionals in one room in leadership positions and it’s just a different thing,” said McNair.

Though majority Black, McNair says the team represents a range of cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds as well as expertise and experiences.

“The Black experience is so diverse and one Black person can’t fit in the box and get everything about everyone’s culture, so that’s one thing about our staff even though they’re Black they’re extremely diverse,” she said.

The diversity has impacted everyone joining the Anesis team, including interns.

“Interns hadn’t been successful in finding places to do their internships that was going to give them what they needed, the experience that they needed and actually allow them to be in an environment where they can be authentic and genuinely who they are,” said McNair.

The racial makeup of the team also greatly influences their services with most of their clientele being African American, multiracial/biracial, or bilingual.

Hunt recalls clients who battle with anxiety and depression caused by being new to the city and being the only person of color in many spaces they occupy, it’s a cause for depression she says is often looked over by mental health professionals who don’t take cultural experiences into account.

“That’s not something every case manager could identify, but we see those symptoms,” she said. “And every service facilitator may not know the community or where to send you in the community to connect with other people like you.”

Hunts connections to many community entities have provided a culturally specific safe spaces that many of her clients need.

The counseling center also services clients who come from surrounding cities looking for mental health providers that look like them.

“That shows you the need is there when you have people coming from out of town, ” McNair said. “Research shows that representation does matter, when people are shopping for doctors or therapist they are looking for people who look like them.”

Though the center is still fairly new, its staff and impact has grown exponentially and McNair believes it will more than double in the next five years.

She also intends to expand their services and establish satellite offices in local community centers and churches.

“We do a lot of community-based work,” she said. “We want to be able to reach everyone that needs help and support.”