The Invitation

​When Spirit Shows up!

I was 21 years old and was pregnant with my first child when I first got to experience my grandmother in spirit form. She would visit me spiritually every time I was with child. I began to understand little signs of her being near, rather if it was humming when no one was humming or finding things that no one alive knew I had lost. Her humming was soothing to me and her spiritual connection with me was deeper than anything else I had known.  Coming from a Christian background I shied away from speaking about what I was experiencing. I wouldn't tell others of how I would encounter folks the week before they would transition. The look they would have in their eyes as if they were looking from their soul and through yours to something else.  Their urgency to tell you things and the way physical boundaries meant nothing because they would get right up in your face and tell you whatever they had to say.  I would go on about my day or week, then I would get the news that they had passed away.   

 

I didn't choose this path, the transcended souls chose me. Spirit chose me.  Helping people with messages from beyond the physical realm is some of the deepest spiritual work I have ever done. Watching people have moments of healing and transformation through releasing guilt, saying things to their departed that they didn't get to say while they were living, and helping those who have transitioned on speak the things they can no longer speak with words for the human ear to hear, is a gift that I now embrace. I say now, because I definitely didn't start there. Here is a little about how I got started.  I was licensed to preach the gospel in 2007 at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church of Conway, SC. I was then ordained to the Gospel ministry in November of 2011 at Palmetto Missionary Baptist Church of Conway, SC. I furthered my Spiritual Discernment by completing my first year of requirements of a two year Seminary Degree in Masters of Arts in Religion Program of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. It was at seminary that I came in physical contact with a chair that was over 100 years old. I touched it and had an encounter of being in a space that was outside of the current physical space. I experienced what that soul had experienced in a part of their life. Then, I began to understand the connection between physical things, archetypes, and symbols that can connect us spiritually to the departed.  After that I went to class and a professor began to write the title of a book on the board and said, "I am not sure who this is for, but here it is." He wrote, Darkness is My Only Companion." It was the answer for me. It gave me the ability to merge the language and experiences of my knowledge from the mental health profession and spirituality and how there is a need to be able to treat both the mental dimension of wellness as allowing for spiritual discernment and the difference between insanity, hallucinations, delusions, and spiritual experiences with ancestors or loved ones who had transcended.  I then made the decision to hold both worlds and to create space for people to bring their whole self to therapy and to bring all of their spirituality and religious beliefs with them and use them in therapy to help them cope, heal, and live.

 

Knowledgeable and Skilled Therapeutically 

With over 19 years of Professional Counseling and over 18 years of Spiritual Counseling experience Angel has a wealth of experience. Angel held her National Board Certification from the years of 2015-2024. She is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of South Carolina. Angel allows for mental wellness to meet the spiritual dimension of wellness in her therapeutic skills. Using skills from expressive art forms, talk therapy through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Transpersonal Psychology, Mindfulness Psychology, and Somatic Therapy skills. and spiritual practices, she treats the whole person. The niche she has found after 19 years in this field is in working with clients throughout the lifespan.

 

Angel previously practiced as a partner of Coastal Carolina OBGYN LLC as their National Board Certified Counselor, and ran her private practice Mind, Soul, Spirit, Professional Counseling Services, in their facility where she provided therapy for planning, expecting, and postnatal moms. Angel's education background is comprehensive with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education and Psychology from Coastal Carolina University. She has also completed a Masters in Professional Counseling with a minor in Mental Health from Webster University.

 

Angel was trained in Applied Behavioral Therapy through Horry County Schools where she served as a therapist and Lead Therapist during the implementation years of the Learning lab, which used a Cognitive Behavioral Approach to Behavioral Therapy, at Myrtle Beach Primary School and Carolina Forrest Middle School. Reverend Angel Onley-Livingston has received Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy training through an in-service training provided by MUSC at Waccamaw Mental Health. Angel provided mental health counseling services through the Child and Adolescents Department of Waccamaw Mental Health Center by providing services in Horry County Schools through the Safe Schools Healthy Students Grant.

Rev. Onley-Livingston has experience from her previous employment in alcohol and substance abuse counseling in clinical service settings where she received alcohol and substance abuse training and supervision. Angel provided individual and group services at Shoreline Behavioral Health Services through the Safe Schools Health Students Grant where she provided services for clients in all of the Middle and High School settings of Horry County Schools and in their homes and alternative residential placements. Rev. Onley-Livingston also has experience with the treatment of alcohol and drug patients in the process of assessment, treatment, and consultation of clients who were being treated with Methadone at The Center of Hope in Myrtle Beach, SC.

 

Angel completed the PEAT Program in July of 2015 where she obtained a Certificate in Play & Expressive Arts Therapies, A fertile ground for emerging growth. She obtained 30 hour Training Program- CE's. This program focuses on the integration of play & expressive arts practices in therapies for adolescents, adults, and couples. It is principally an experiential program, accompanied by some conversations about brain-wise practices in therapy. Trainings included learning The Body as a Source of Wisdom & Expressive Arts: Weaving a Home Grown Self, Journeying through Wounds, Personal Mythologies, Silenced Stories, Big Dreams, & Alchemical Transformations, Symbolic & Imaginable Worlds: Liberation Arts: Our Personal, Interpersonal, & Transpersonal Practices. In October 2015, she completed the Prepare & Enrich training to be a facilitator to help couples live a whole and healthy marriage. Angel's proposal to the South Carolina Counseling Association to present at the 2016 Conference was accepted and she present on 'Grieving in Many Forms."

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