Therapy from a Christ-Centered Perspective
Ultimately, this is why I decided to do my master’s in counseling at Denver Seminary. I did not come to the counseling world with a psychology background, but I knew I wanted to not only equip myself to work with clients well, but I wanted to equip myself with a psychological lens that had Christ at the center.
My undergraduate degree was in Christian ministries, and before I started moving towards counseling, I believed church ministry was going to be the direction I went with my career.
I believe it’s important to mention that even though my faith is important to me, and faith-based counseling is the work I do with many of my clients, I do still love working with non-Christians. My perspective on faith and integration of faith in session is as much or as little as any given client wants. With some of my clients, faith is a huge part of our work together, and with other clients it is never brought up.
Combining counseling and faith is what many people look for
Faith that focuses on Jesus is one of the most intimate aspects of many individuals’ life. Therapy is work that has to do with the heart and some of peoples’ most deeply held believes. Therefore, for Christian clients the integration of faith and psychology can be a necessity. Many other medical professionals deal areas that are purely physical. The reality of therapy is that we are working with areas outside pure physical manifestations.
Denver Seminary, where I earned my master’s in counseling, was the first seminary in the US that gained CACREP accreditation. While I certainly do not work only with Christian clients, I wanted to make sure my lens of how I look at psychological issues was well informed by other followers of Christ.
Christian counseling does not mean I work only from a faith perspective with clients or just tell them to read their Bible more. I believe Jesus is both redeeming and working through many of the standard therapy treatments you would find at a non-Christian clinic. My perspective is more that the best psychological perspectives can be deeply enriched by looking at them through the lens of faith.
What if my mental health issues are just spiritual or faith issues?
The idea that people just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and keep on moving has been a persistent idea for a long time. The reality is that it’s just not true. While I am 100% in support of clients continuing to reach out to their church, pastors, fellow believers, and seeking the Lord in prayer, this does not change the fact that therapy can be deeply beneficial. Seeking therapy for mental health does not indicate a faith issue anymore than seeing a doctor for heart disease would indicate a lack of faith.
I just don’t know if faith and psychology can really mix well together.
Again, this is a common belief, but not necessarily an accurate one. I know for me, it was specifically my faith and understanding of who Jesus is that lead me to pursue a career as a therapist. God created our emotions, and sometimes, in order to understand our emotions more deeply, we need to dive into looking at them.
What if the issues I’m dealing with have to deal with spiritual abuse?
To me, this is the kind of issue that necessitates a therapist that is going to look at things from a Christian perspective. Not in order to excuse hurt and trauma that you have gone through, but in order to clearly point out how this abuse wasn’t in line with the character of Jesus. This is some of my favorite work to work through because I believe there is so much redemption possible in this kind of work.