Questions about Christian Counseling
You may have some questions about what Christian counseling is and how this is a specialization for me. Specializing in Christian counseling can be explained by knowing that I am a seminary trained counselor and a state licensed counselor. That means the education I have has all the same educational requirements as any other state licensed counselor and that I went for school longer to specialize in the integration of Christian theology and psychology. I am a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
I am committed to an approach that includes an integration of my Christian faith with compatible psychological perspectives. I am an evangelical Christian, and believe that we are whole persons, with physical, psychological, social and spiritual aspects. Whether we include discussion of the spiritual dimension of life in our time together will be up to you, but I want you to understand that this informs who I am and how I understand others and the nature of and solutions for problems in living. This spiritual perspective is integrated with the perspectives of narrative, psychodynamic, solution focused, cognitive-behavioral and family systems understandings of how people work. These are well-established and researched methods of therapy that are widely respected as being effective. I am also recognized as a Focus on the Family accredited counselor.
These are a few of the common topics I work with when an individual is open to exploring their Christian faith in counseling:
- Wanting to utilize their faith to help with coping and healing of emotional and relational issues
- Exploring anger toward God/ questioning God
- Struggling to have a secure attachment toward God and others and/or feeling close to God
- Integrating Christian principles in marriage
- Working with ministry leaders, church staff and missionaries about the common struggles that come with these types of positions
- OCD tendencies that have went into a spiritual dimension (i.e. obsessively praying, struggle to know if saved, etc.)
- Exploring trauma in life and seeing where God was/is
- Understanding “how can God allow suffering”
If you have any questions about me specializing in Christian counseling and how this process works in treatment please contact me today!