Veronica Jimenez, lay counselor, volunteer prison chaplain, and author of the Sound Mind Awareness curriculum, is known for the classes she teaches at churches and recovery houses and for her counseling ministry. Jimenez's journey to this place, however, has been hard-won and filled with twist and turns.

Originally from the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, Jimenez suffered abuse from an early age. "I learned shame and rage very early," Jimenez recalled, noting her situation created the "perfect storm for mental illness." "I wasn't a healthy kid," she said. "My heart, soul, mind, and spirit were all affected." When Jimenez was a teenager, her anger became such an issue, she was sent to live in a girls' home for a year. "That's where I developed a heart for the incarcerated," she said.

Around age 11, Jimenez remembers attending a Metro World Child Sunday school run by pastor Bill Wilson. "That's where I first heard that God has a son named Jesus who loves children," said Jimenez, who noted that at that time the grace of God first touched her life. "I still lived in a bad environment, but I learned to pray," she said.

When Jimenez met her husband, her life changed. She had been told she could not have children, but she prayed for a miracle because she saw how her husband loved children. "That was the first miracle I ever prayed for and received," said Jimenez, who eventually had five children.

In 2010, Jimenez and her family moved to Lancaster with the goal of making a fresh start, but Jimenez experienced flashbacks, nightmares, and migraines. Marital problems appeared. Jimenez prayed for God to bring her a friend she could confide in. "God sent Brenda Green of Freedom Prayer Ministries and In the Light Ministries of Lancaster," said Jimenez. Green worked in conjunction with a Christian doctor, and Jimenez responded positively to the treatment. "That combination ... was so effective, I was healed in 2012," Jimenez stated.

Green recognized Jimenez's gift for teaching. Jimenez began to teach classes, eventually developing Sound Mind Awareness - based on the principles of repentance, renewal, reconnection, and retraining. In 2017, she began volunteering as a prison chaplain and branching into offering counseling by donation. She now teaches classes at ACTS Covenant Fellowship, 1927 Wheatland Ave., Lancaster. Her first online class will begin Wednesday, March 1. For information about Jimenez's classes, readers may search for "Sound Mind Awareness" on Facebook or visit http://www.soundmindawareness.com.