Contact: Dina Jones, American Association of Christian Counselors, 434-509-3923

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., May 18, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Beginning today, in beautiful Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, The Struggle is Real Summit is built around "Mental Health and the Mission of the Church."

Anchored and developed by the world's leading Christian counseling organization, the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), the Summit's mission is to ignite a movement within the Church to break the silence and stigma of mental illness and offer a gateway of grace, love, understanding, help, hope, and direction for those struggling with mental disorders, as well as their families and loved ones.

Visionaries, Dr. Tim Clinton (AACC President) and Seacoast founding pastor, Greg Surratt, are working with their teams to pioneer a new level of collaboration, understanding, and synergy between the Church, mental health and the Christian counseling movement… launched by this gathering of people-helpers at the Summit.

This groundbreaking event has attracted Christian counseling and ministry leaders from all over the east coast. Featured keynote speakers include seasoned clinicians, psychiatrists, educators, pastors, and ministry leaders such as Frank Page, Warren Kinghorn, Ed Stetzer, Michael Lyles, Tim Jennings, Diane Langberg, Ian Jones, Ron Hawkins, Siang-Yang Tan, Les Parrott, and more.

In addition to enjoying the dynamic keynote speakers, the Seacoast Church worship team will lead times of praise and worship. Attendees will be encouraged and equipped through 13 pre-conference workshops and 32 cutting-edge counseling workshops across eight counseling and ministry-related tracks. National and local sponsors and exhibitors are featuring innovative mental health related products and services.

Specialized training topics include grief and loss, codependency, addictions, pre-marital counseling, family health, establishing lay ministries, healthy sexuality, military and trauma, the role of medication and psychiatry, suicide, and more.

"We can't wait to see what God is going to do here," said Dr. Tim Clinton. "It has the energy and excitement of the events we did in the early days of the AACC." Additional Summits are already being planned for late 2016 and early 2017.