Five tips for Christian counselors from a Counselee.
I sat on the counselor's couch and listened with eyes tightly shut to them, ask questions
about my childhood.
We had three sessions that consisted of this exercise until he announced at the end of
this one, your fixed.
We don't need to schedule any more sessions.
That was one of several very secular counseling sessions.
I attended some like this one, traumatized me.
Thankfully my Christian counseling sessions have been mostly positive.
As someone who was sat across from many counselors, both Christian and secular.
I want to share a glimpse into what those in my seat or searching for.
One, don't quick fix.
It is easy to fall into the trap of wanting to see progress and declare a person fixed.
You became a Christian counselor because you had a passion to see people become healthy
and whole through Jesus Christ.
So this is a natural desire.
However, just our process of sanctification is along with his fair share of winding roads.
So it was the process of a person becoming healthy mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
The baggage all of us carry as broken people is heavy.
Whenever you are attempted to diagnose someone fixed, you have to set your mind on this.
The work, John, in a person's life does not depend on you.
It depends on God's power.
There are no overnight fixes, but his strength makes slow and steady progress possible to
being different from the world applies in this context.
Oftentimes the people walking through your doors are those who are not only broken down
by their life circumstances, but previous counseling they received also breaks them.
I have tried many different methods, counselors and therapists before I stumbled into a Christian
counseling session.
The difference I saw was the hope sitting across from a Christian counselor brought
me.
The message was unlike any I'd heard before.
It was about Jesus.
Healing may not mean healing myself.
It was about sin and how it destroys instead of the w only being dependent on my lousy
life decisions.
If you're ever tempted to give the fixes, the world offers, remember that your Gospel
rooted message takes the pressure off of your client and shows them how to put their hope
in Jesus.
Instead, they can't get this anywhere else.
Number three, work on their self.
Talk with them to love others.
We must first love ourselves, but for Christians, this looks much different.
Many people who walk through your doors will struggle to love themselves for many reasons.
The best thing you can do is assure them that because God loves them, they can love themselves
and time.
Don't label people apart from the label, child of God.
The world wants to tell us who we are and what we need to be self sufficient, successful,
put together, happy by chasing meaningless things.
The list goes on.
Your job is to walk your client into a world where they, that they are valuable because
they are created in God's image that they cannot become who they were made to be, apart
from him and that they have all that they need in him.
Number four, be wary of turning the conversation onto yourself.
Many times relating a situation or struggle is very helpful, but when it comes to counseling,
it needs to be done tastefully.
Sitting down with a friend is where the opinion and relating experience comes in.
However, a lot of the time the people seeking professional help desire something more profound.
They'll reassuring your client that what they're dealing with is normal and felt by many, even
yourself.
Oversharing and storytelling can sometimes take away from this session on the under other
end of the spectrum.
Being too guarded hinders the creation of trust between you and your client.
Professionalism and sharing can compliment each other if you find a healthy balance between
the two.
Number five, always bring it back to the word.
All scripture is profitable for the good work you're doing in a session with the client.
Most Times they don't need your words, they need God's words, but do your best to stay
away from preaching at them.
Instead, walk with them.
Use the word is a light for their path and a guide for your session.
I have experienced this in a cliched way with scriptures thrown me out of context, but when
done right, I have found comfort in the foundation my counselor has in the world.
At the end of the day, remember that your work is not in vain.
So many times my life has been touched and even changed during a session with my Christian
counselor.
The message of Jesus is needed desperately in the field of mental health, and this work
makes a monumental difference.
It pushes back the darkness and it brings forward the kingdom.
You are immensely valuable.