Author: Celeste McLaughlin

Jolene Lantz, M.A., is a licensed mental health counselor who is passionate about providing excellent, professional therapeutic interventions. She also happens to be a Christian who is equally passionate about her faith. 

Before she founded Boundless Hope Christian Clinical Counseling, Jolene saw that many Christians who sought Biblical, pastoral counseling from their church didn’t have access to clinical interventions. She also saw that, sometimes, when some Christians went to a clinician, they felt that their faith was not welcomed in therapy, or that the counseling did not align with their own beliefs. 

“Why can’t we have both?,” Jolene says she asked herself. 

In 2019, Boundless Hope was just Jolene and a couple of part-time clinicians in the Summergate Professional Center in Seven Oaks. She and her team worked to provide a safe place where the latest research and best clinical practices are incorporated, but where faith is prioritized, too. 

“We focus on clinical intervention that works,” says Jolene, “and working with clinicians who know the Bible if the client wants to incorporate that (into their therapy).” 

But, she says, Boundless Hope also has many clinical relationships with people who do not identify as Christian. 

“We are so grateful for those who aren’t Christian who trust us,” Jolene says. “It’s so important for us to treat and love people well, which is in alignment with our theology that recognizes that people are created in the image of God and deserve respect. We want everyone to feel safe and respected in our office, and we don’t have to share the same faith to treat someone clinically — and treat them well.” 

Since the practice opened, Boundless Hope has expanded to a second location on N. Dale Mabry Hwy. in Lutz, and now has a total of 17 clinicians seeing patients. Nine of those are based in Wesley Chapel, but Jolene says that virtually all 17 are available to see clients at either location. 

“We’re pretty eclectic as far as our preferred places of worship,” says Jolene, “We’re a denominationally, ethnically and racially diverse group of clinicians of all different ages. We work hard, play hard, and have a great sense of community among our staff. It’s a really great place to work with pretty awesome people.” 

Jolene says she started out as a full-time homeschool mom doing some clinical work on the side. 

She and her husband Jim have three children. Maxwell, now 16, is the youngest. Samuel, 20, is studying sports management at Florida State University in Tallahassee, and Abigail, 23, is at the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa studying to be a physician. 

Jolene graduated from USF in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Psychology with minors in Chemistry and Sociology. She then earned her Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Counseling Psychology from Saint Xavier University in Chicago, IL. 

She says that, like her daughter, she also started out on a pre-med track, but got ill and had to withdraw from school. 

Dealing with that experience caused her to change her major to focus on helping others to heal and become emotionally healthier. 

She says the team at Boundless Hope focuses on training and collaboration, and that the training they all do far exceeds what’s required by the state. 

“We’re a learning bunch, an academic bunch,” she says. “We’re always reading, sharing, and training. When I’m interviewing clinicians, I look for people who enjoy that. If you don’t want to continue to learn and train, you’re not going to be happy here.” 

Jolene says that post-Covid, there’s more awareness and acknowledgement than ever that people need to pay more attention to their mental health. 

She says she sees evidence of this when people purchase counseling sessions for high school graduates or engaged couples. “Counseling is not just for ‘that’ person anymore,” she says. “(More) people now realize that it’s for all of us.” 

Boundless Hope provides therapy for many reasons, including children struggling with behavioral issues, impulse control, or hyperactivity. 

“We offer play therapy for children,” Jolene says. “We have a beautiful play therapy room in our Lutz office and also do play therapy in the Wesley Chapel office. Play is the language of children. They will play out emotions and memories held within them quite easily when traditional ‘talk’ therapy isn’t developmentally appropriate or effective.” 

Also available are therapy for individuals and couples, for those with relationship struggles, as well as divorce counseling and divorce recovery, including recovery for the children of parents who divorce. 

Boundless Hope clinicians also offer premarital counseling and treat people who are suffering from anxiety and depression, and help those who self-harm. 

Jolene says some people come in because they are wrestling with their faith and are trying to work out what they once believed and what they still believe. 

Some clinicians counsel elite athletes who work through “imposter syndrome,” stress management and perfectionism. 

Boundless Hope also receives referrals from law enforcement and the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) to help victims of sexual violence and abuse. Some of these people have been through heinous experiences, Jolene says, and there are several clinicians who specialize in complex trauma and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. 

Boundless Hope also offers intensive weekend therapy where an individual or couple can do four, six, or eight hours over a single weekend. This is for patients who are looking for immediate relief or want to gain momentum in their therapy, rather than waiting a week or two for their next single hour-long session. 

Unique Therapies 

In addition, Jolene says a couple of the counselors are very highly skilled in specific types of training that some people may be seeking. For example, Boundless Hope has counselors who are trained and certified in EMDR (eye movement desensitization & reprocessing), which she explains is a neurobiological modality of treatment that is federally recognized as effective for helping veterans heal from PTSD and relieve anxiety, depression and phobias. 

One counselor is a certified practitioner in “brainspotting,” which is a different neurobiological intervention, although Jolene says, “it shares similar roots in neuro science as EMDR. Brainspotting is a brain- and body-based modality of lasting healing.” 

“We certainly still do talk therapy,” says Jolene, “but we also offer brain-based treatments. Because old trauma is stored in the body, we’ve seen successes where some autoimmune disorders actually go into remission or migraines go away. It’s pretty phenomenal.” 

Jolene also notes that Boundless Hope is fully credentialed by Focus on the Family, which is a global Christian ministry dedicated to helping families thrive. 

“Focus on the Family has a series of doctrinal questions, as well as clinical vignettes, that a clinician must submit for review and acceptance,” she says. “There are not many credentialed in our area. There were fewer than ten within 25 miles of here the last time I looked.” 

Beyond the more trauma-heavy situations, Jolene says, “We also have beautiful grief counselors, and counselors serving the neurodivergent and those with chronic pain and end of life/terminal diagnoses. We also would love to normalize that life has day-to- day challenges and anyone and everyone can enjoy investing in themselves in a place to be disinhibited and talk through life with someone who is objective and not involved in your personal life.” 

While not all clinicians at Boundless Hope accept insurance, Jolene says 25-30% do accept it. The practice also has a graduate intern on staff. Interns are fully educated and have completed all of their coursework, but have to complete supervised clinical hours, so they can offer fees to patients on a sliding scale, based on what people can afford. 

Jolene also recently started a nonprofit called “One Another” that allows Boundless Hope to serve more people. She says it began because people were coming back after completing treatment to provide gifts so that other people could experience the healing they did through counseling at Boundless Hope. 

To start counseling with one of the Boundless Hope clinicians, call the office or visit BoundlessHope.net. On the website, there are boxes that say, “Start Here” or “Hopes Starts Here” that you can click to go to a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act)-compliant form that will allow you to send a secure message, and someone will get back with you. 

Jolene says she also is careful to have adequate administrative staff to respond to inquiries. “Unfortunately, our industry is known for horrible administrative care where no one answers the phone or gets a call back,” she says. “I believe that’s because very few clinicians have administrative staff.” 

She says it’s important to her personally that phones get answered and that people are heard. Emails are even answered over the weekend. 

“I recognize how long it can take for some people to make the decision to enter into counseling,” Jolene says. “There’s effort and work and sometimes a lot of emotional turmoil and pain to get to the point of making that call.” 

Boundless Hope’s Wesley Chapel office is located at 27551 Cashford Cir., Suite #102. To learn more about the Boundless Hope clinical team, including each clinician’s credentials, visit BoundlessHope.net or call (813) 219-8844.