Are You Looking For A Christian Therapist Who Understands Your Faith?

Are you looking for someone who understands your struggles with a belief system that is highly personal and keeps up to its own unique pace? Are you worried that your actions may not be aligning with your religious values? Is God the foundation of everything you do?

Just like anyone, Christians experience life struggles. As a Christian, you may seek solutions and support that connect with your spiritual beliefs. However, you may worry that the help you find outside of the church will cross boundaries that contradict your faith. Or you may fear that a mental health professional will view you as “old-fashioned” for not wanting to compromise who you are. Perhaps it simply feels like you need someone who understands what it means to be a Christian and why God is central to solving your problems.

While you can find help from a secular counselor, you may be concerned that they don’t address issues from a faith-based perspective. You may wonder if a non-Christian counselor will understand the isolation felt by those who are excluded at work because of their religion. Or perhaps you feel that a secular counselor may not understand the guilt a Christian with mental health issues or addiction can

feel when scripture and prayer don’t help.

You should be empowered to seek help from someone who understands your need to grow in your walk with God. A Christian counselor can help you develop a sense of spiritual safety that allows you to work through your challenges and achieve the fulfilling, faith-based life you desire your faith.

All Christians Experience Difficult Seasons

We carry within us an innate desire to be our best selves. As Christians, we believe that we can do this by placing God at the forefront of our lives. From this perspective, we often feel that we can overcome any obstacle to achieve our goals. But when we don’t connect to our faith as we face obstacles, we’re left feeling alone, unfulfilled, and unsupported.

Obstacles are unique to every Christian and can include communication issues with our partners, dating or premarital challenges, living intentionally as a woman or man of God, among others.

These struggles are normal, especially when we live in a culture whose values sometimes run counter to our own. Such obstacles may be a drastic difference between how we as Christians live our lives and how the world thinks we should live our lives. Maintaining a solid spiritual foundation in this society can be a challenge, which is why many of us struggle to fully integrate our beliefs into our daily lives.

We don’t always know how to address this internal conflict in a way that honors our lived experience and aspirations as Christians. We are taught to turn to the Bible or prayer to solve our problems. Or we may also turn to pastoral counseling, but what happens when we experience the sting of disapproval or abuse from another Christian–someone we think should be a safeground? Conversely, we might instead seek help from a secular therapist–yet what happens if they don’t quite understand how being Christian impacts our lives and how we deal with issues?

A Christian counselor blends the best of both worlds, as they are trained in both human psychology and faith-based counseling. This blend of therapeutic approaches can help you address challenges in a way that allows you to honor your faith and participate in the world with a secure spiritual foundation.

Christian Counseling Can Help You Face Your Challenges While Staying True To Who You Are

The goal of Christian counseling is to help integrate your faith into the different aspects of your life so that you live each day rooted in who you are. This foundation can help you to overcome challenges without compromising your values.

To achieve this, we offer an empathetic, non-judgmental, and solution-oriented environment where you can face challenges head-on using a variety of faith-based tools. Our counseling approach has helped many Christian clients face their frustrations with relationships, family, anxiety, depression, abuse, grief, gender-specific issues, sex, sexuality, career, and more.

During the intake session, we will connect you to our client care coordinator to learn more about your needs. Then we’ll match you with a best-fitting Christian therapist. From there, we will ask you to fill out intake forms online.

After that process is complete, we will review any questions and establish goals during our first session. In addition, we will also discuss your right to privacy and ask you about past experiences with therapists, whether Christian or secular. Eventually, as we discuss your struggles as a Christian, your therapist will have a better sense of what role your faith plays in your life. This information will help us to determine which faith-based tools to use as we create an individualized plan of action based on your unique experiences, challenges, and religious perspective. Some of these tools are taken from the Christian faith like worship, devotions, and community, among others.

In ongoing sessions, we’ll assess the effectiveness of these tools and continue to identify the ones that work best for you. We’ll also look at your support base at home, church, in your community, and at work to strengthen these networks in difficult periods.

Our counselors are also well-versed in psychology to help clients understand their thought processes and actions. Therefore, our approach to Christian counseling uses evidence-based modalities such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), and mindfulness. Behavioral therapies like CBT and REBT help you replace negative thoughts and emotions with positive ones so you respond more constructively to challenges.

We find, too, that mindfulness can be a powerful tool to reduce stress. When you’re able to center yourself and focus on the present, you can make decisions from a more relaxed state. And your individualized treatment plan may also pull from expressive therapies such as journaling, art, dance, and music.

Our team at Elevate Counseling has more than 15 years of experience helping Christians maintain this spiritual center in the midst of life challenges. In seeking a Christian counselor, you’re sending the message that God is your center. And Christian counseling can help you cultivate this foundation so that it can be carried with you wherever you go–nevertheless honoring your faith in the process.

But you may still have questions about Christian counseling…

Doesn’t using science to inform treatment contradict Christianity?

Christianity can sometimes be at odds with science. Yet we are individuals with complex minds and patterns of thinking, and understanding who you are and how you process your emotions and experiences can help you better tap into the full spiritual, physical, and mental expression of who you are.

I don’t have the money for therapy.

For many, therapy is an investment that pays off over time. What do you gain from living a life that doesn’t reflect your values? Yet if you decide to make a short-term investment in therapy to put your life in alignment with your Christian values, your quality of life can improve. Like any investment, an investment in therapy can pay off in the end by allowing you to address your challenges with healing and/or positive change.

Something is wrong with me for needing counseling.

When we realize we may need professional help, we may hesitate due to cultural messages and stigmas toward mental health that negatively influence how we view ourselves. As a Christian, you might feel that the only “therapy” you need is prayer, Bible study, or church. So you feel guilty if these tools don’t work for you. We encourage you to consider how working with a Christian counselor can help you understand what you’re experiencing and how to overcome your troubles with tools that support your religious values.

Face Your Obstacles While Honoring The Child Of God That You Are

You deserve to live your life to the fullest without sacrificing who you are. If you’re ready to take the next step toward a life in alignment with your values, we invite you to contact us to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation.

NOTE: In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Elevate Counseling only offers teletherapy.

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