TAHS graduate opens practice in Marshall to help those struggling with mental health issues
If anyone in the local area understands the current mental health crisis in the United States, it’s Karen Dolan.
Dolan, who graduated from Tracy Area High School in 1998 and got her Master’s in 2010 from the University of St. Thomas after graduating from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, has opened a private practice called The Journey Center in downtown Marshall, offering both in-person services as well as video tele-health. She’s been practicing counseling and therapy for just about a decade with Greater Minnesota Family Services in school and family settings. She started The Journey Center in 2019, mostly online. She opened up her space in downtown Marshall last May.
“Everything was through tele-health because of COVID, and I have been slowly building the practice,” she said. “I’ve been here for a year, and it’s been nice to connect with people, mostly through tele-health. I’ve started with a very small number of people in-person — that’s based on health and what their needs are.”
Dolan said the pandemic has steered people to tele-health and has given them a new perspective when it comes to getting help. She said the pandemic limited people’s options to get help in that the one-on-one in-person contact was all but eliminated.
“It’s been really nice,” she said. “People don’t have to travel, some people meet with me from their work, or their car, wherever they’re parked. It allows for a lot of freedom and flexibility for me to meet with people, and for them to not have to take a whole day off of work or figure out child care.”
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