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Blending his interest in psychology and social issues with an innate need to serve others led Veldon 'Doc' Reedy, Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), to become a counselor and start the Family Enrichment Center in Jackson, Tennessee.

Although he was born in Missouri, Reedy moved to Jackson when he was three. He graduated from Union University with bachelor's degrees in English and psychology. After graduation, he taught in the Jackson City School system for three years and also worked with the Upward Bound program at Lane College.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my involvement with the Upward Bound program at Lane," said Reedy. "Upward Bound is a pre-college program for students who have the ability to complete a program of post-secondary education, but who may not achieve that goal because of constraints imposed by family income levels and the lack of knowledge about the college admissions process. The program provides supplemental academic assistance, educational, and career guidance as well as cultural enrichment activities for local high school students. The goal of the program is to help students acquire the prerequisite skills, motivation and knowledge to enter and complete a college or university."

Reedy left Jackson for the Lone Star State to teach in public schools. While teaching, he began graduate studies in psychology at East Texas State University in Commerce. He later moved to Broken Bow, Oklahoma, where he was a Boy Scout Executive. After he left the Boy Scouts, he worked as a mental health social worker in an outpatient community mental health facility and resumed his work on his master's degree in social work at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He subsequently entered graduate school full time and graduated with his M.S.W. in 1980.

The need to care for ailing, aging parents caused Reedy to return to Jackson after graduate school, and he has stayed ever since. "My parents were sick and I needed to come home and help out," said Reedy. "We lost my dad about ten years ago, but my mom is still alive and doing very well."

Reedy took a job with the Tennessee State Department of Public Health evaluating Nursing Homes and Psychiatric hospitals for compliance with state guidelines. After a year in that position, he went to work in Trenton at Carey Counseling Center, an outpatient mental health facility where he remained for six years, serving as the director of the facility the last three.

In 1986, clinical social workers could become licensed to perform counseling services, and in 1988 Reedy went into private practice with the opening of the Family Enrichment Center in Jackson. "I started the center on my own. Over the course of the years, others have joined the Center, but we all work independently," said Reedy, who is a member of the National Association of Social Workers. "A great thing about private practice is that my patients choose to get help, are motivated to get help and want to get better. There are so many proven treatments and methods that work and provide people with the help they need to get better."

Reedy's practice centers on children and adolescents, but he also sees some adults. "Working with young people is both challenging and rewarding as it can take time to turn some of these kids around," said Reedy, who also works at least three days a week on a contract basis with four area school systems to perform assessments and provide treatments for their students. "I see a lot of the behavioral problems that are in the schools and in families. I work a great deal with children of divorce which ultimately means I end up working with parents and kids; sometimes I have had to testify in court in custody battles."

Besides private practice, Reedy also organizes workshops, teacher training sessions, as well as being a guest speaker for groups on topics ranging from psychiatric diagnoses and eating disorders to attention deficit hyperactive disorder and behavioral problems in schools and families. "I have worked for organizations such as St. Jude and LeBonheur," said Reedy.

For six years, he taught psychology at Jackson State Community College. "I really enjoyed that," said Reedy. "It was just too time consuming and took too much time from my private practice, so I had to give it up."

Reedy is married to Cindy, whom he met in Oklahoma, who is also a LCSW and currently works for Pathways of Tennessee. The couple has three grown daughters and a grandson. "One of our girls is in restaurant management in Arkansas," said Reedy. "The other two are here in Jackson. One works with a television station and the other will be enrolling at Lambuth University in the speech and hearing program."

Away from counseling, Reedy enjoys golf, although he admits he is not an addict and does enjoy just about any kind of sport from the sidelines or the stands. "I am a sport observer, be it football, basketball or baseball," said Reedy. "Cindy and I are real homebodies now and do not travel much except to see our kids. We took our share of family vacations when the girls were young."

"What I love the most is the role I have in being a tool to help children and families to bring about a change and see the success they can accomplish," said Reedy. "I was a product of the sixties and that had a definite impact on me. I have always loved working with people; it is one of the biggest reasons I love my job. Fortunately for me, that has not changed."

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Family Enrichment Center, Veldon 'Doc' Reedy

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