Findings highlight long-term effectiveness of Mercy Ministries' Christian-based interventions - over 93 percent cite transformed lives, restored hope

Contact: Jonathan Burns, 615-522-7016, jaaronburns@gmail.com

NASHVILLE, Mar. 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Mercy Ministries of America today released expanded results of an independent survey conducted among former residents of its Christian-based counseling program that reveal sustained change among residents. The most impressive statistic, however, was that over 93 percent of respondents affirmed that Mercy Ministries helped them transform their life and restore their hope, which is Mercy Ministries' key objective.

Since 1983, Mercy Ministries' free-of-charge program has served a diverse population of young women from various socio-economic backgrounds, ages 13-28, who face a combination of life-controlling issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, addictions, depression, eating disorders and unplanned pregnancies.

Mercy Ministries of America has homes in Monroe, La.; Nashville, Tenn.; and St. Louis, Mo., with a future home set to open in Lincoln, Calif., in 2009. Mercy has global affiliates in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Peru.

Of the 382 former Mercy Ministries residents who responded to the survey:

-80 percent would recommend Mercy Ministries without any reservation to girls struggling with similar issues

-74 percent at least six months out of the program describe themselves as well adjusted to life

-85 percent share their experience at Mercy Ministries in order to positively impact the lives of others

"I worked for five years in a juvenile correctional facility for girls ages 14-18 before spending another three years investigating child abuse cases for the state of Tennessee, yet I always felt something was missing - both in our approach and in the results we saw in the lives of the women we served," says president and founder of Mercy Ministries, Nancy Alcorn. "I became convinced that a faith-based approach that utilized professionally trained staff in every area was the ideal way to rehabilitate young women who had been through traumatic situations or had made bad choices."

As a testament to Mercy Ministries' standardized Christian-based residential counseling approach, the survey found no statistical difference among the 93 percent of women who believed Mercy Ministries had transformed their life and restored their hope relative to:

-Prior treatment at other residential counseling programs

-Age of entry at Mercy Ministries

-Current age of survey participant

-Year a participant completed Mercy Ministries' program

Mercy Ministries' six-month residential counseling program for young women has always been free-of-charge and incorporates Christian principles with best-practice clinical interventions like individual and group counseling and on-site nutritionists.

The data gleaned from the independent online survey of former residents was analyzed, interpreted and reported by Case Research of Minneapolis, Minn. For more information on Mercy Ministries, please visit Mercy Ministries of America. To learn more about Nancy Alcorn, please visit her personal website. To schedule an interview with a Mercy Ministries' representative, contact Jonathan Burns at (615) 522-7016, or via email at jaaronburns@gmail.com.