Prince of Peace gaining director of family life

In an effort to provide more services for its members, the Prince of Peace Catholic Church has introduced a new role to its system: the Director of Family Life. The goal is to offer additional adult education and family programs.

The church selected Dale Wisely for the position.

Wisely earned his master’s and doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Memphis and a master’s in theological studies from Spring Hill College. He spent time teaching as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Alabama and was the senior psychologist at Children’s of Alabama hospital’s Vaughan Clinic. 

For the past 12 years, Wisely has been the director of student services at Mountain Brook Schools. There, he focused on mental health services for both students and families, community education, professional development and All in Mountain Brook, a community nonprofit designed to “enhance and protect the lives of Mountain Brook youth.” He has also held numerous informational sessions and conducted presentations at many monthly Board of Education meetings. 

Mountain Brook Schools Superintendent Dicky Barlow said Wisely has been a leader in mental health and family issues during his time with the school system.

“In his 12 years in this position, Dr. Wisely served the community as a champion for the well-being of youth,” said Barlow. “His focus on mental health has helped countless students and parents. He has been a great friend, co-worker and leader to many in the Mountain Brook community.”

While Wisely will be continuing to work with MBS on a contract basis, Jill Spero, stewardship coordinator with Prince of Peace, said, “In the newly-created role of family life director, Dale will use his counseling skills to guide the parish and its school and offer expanded adult education and family programs on wellness and mental health.”

“I think it’s an unusual fit for me again, because I have the theology background, the mental health background and the school background,” Wisely said. “It’s going to be a challenging job because I think there’s a lot of things going on at a big church, and I look forward to working in a private school environment.”

He has helped facilitate programs at Prince of Peace in the past, Spero said, with which they have had great success. Wisely said he will continue to do many things at the church that he has done through MBS, including seeing people for short-term counseling and referring individuals to mental health resources.

He’s also going to promote student health and help families access helpful resources, and Spero said he will serve as a “professional resource to whom our pastors can refer parishioners when the need for individual or family counseling is discovered during spiritual counseling.”

With his unique blend of education and experience, Spero said he is qualified to “bridge the gap” between temporal and spiritual counseling. Wisely said his time at MBS will help him work with the Prince of Peace students, too.

“Because there’s … a large school there, I’ll be involved there and some things that are sort of consistent with the student services role I’ve had here,” Wisely said. “I’ve had this really peculiar skill set; I just think working in a large church environment is a good fit for me. I really look forward to kind of expanding some of what I do.”

Wisely is set to retire from MBS on July 1, after which he will begin his position at Prince of Peace.