About
My hope is that through counseling, you will find healing and no longer feel overwhelmed by whatever initially brought you to therapy. This will often include learning how to incorporate skills of healthy self-talk and grounding techniques to integrate healthy emotional balance. As your counselor, I will seek to enter into your world with tenderness and compassion, seeking to see things from your perspective rather than pushing my own ideas onto you. Whether you’re dealing with depression, abandonment, bipolar disorder, abuse, relationship issues, or other concerns, I would be honored to work with you.
My Goal as a Christian Counselor
My goal as your counselor is to provide a safe space for you to share openly and honestly about your mental and spiritual health. From there, I seek to build a relationship of trust that will allow me to speak honestly into your life. I believe my role as a therapist is to help you identify and process through whatever is causing your pain. My hope is that through our sessions together, you will find freedom and hope.
What I Offer in Christian Counseling
If my client is comfortable, I like to begin sessions in prayer. I then ask my client to share about what has been on their mind over the last week, or if they have something specific they were hoping to discuss. I like to ask clarifying questions and engage in discussion, if this feels like what my client most needs. I usually take a more reflective approach and allow my client to lead the session. If, however, my client prefers more direction, I am happy to lead by asking questions and offering prompts. I will sometimes suggest therapy exercises (i.e. empty chair, lifespan integration exercise) if I feel they may be helpful, but I never ask a client to participate in an exercise they feel uncomfortable with. Toward the end of a session, I like to ask my client what they feel they can take from this session into the week. Overall, I seek to express empathy and help clients process through the emotions of whatever experiences they feel are impacting their well-being.
My Approach to Christian Counseling
While I feel there are benefits to secular counseling, I believe that true healing and lasting change can only occur when we look to Christ for our hope. Christian counseling allows us to form beliefs about ourselves and our experiences that are grounded in truth. The only way to find healing is to know how loved we are by God and who we are in Him. Understanding sin, forgiveness, and the fact that God has not left us alone in this broken world is at the root of counseling. I seek to incorporate faith into sessions as much as a client desires, including studying Bible passages, praying together, and processing any and all spiritual questions.
