As a Board Certified Christian Counselor, in my practice of over 16 years I've discovered that individuals yearn to develop a deeper faith-based understanding of their role in this world (Proverbs 11:14). We live in a rich multicultural world within a diverse population filled with spiritually driven individuals whose values and inborn gifts are an essential part of their character. However, we often look through different lenses where our attention is less on embracing our uniqueness and nurturing respect for each other, and more about just surviving. As a spitiual counseling therapist, I believe this directly impacts the quality of our personal and professional relationships.
We are taught to manage ourselves, our problems, and to be in control of every aspect of life. Formatively, this attempts to place ourselves at the center of our universe and pushes others outside of our lives. We may inadvertently subjugate our connection with God and find ourselves praying only in a time of need and then take control once again as things improve. In response to this, our Hope-Focused counseling therapy is faith-based and focuses on guiding individuals through life stressors back to a life that holds meaning and reframes their worldview. Developmentally, when individuals focus on self-directed needs they may navigate pathways and lose their way. However, what they are truly looking for is a pathway of congruence or to restoration.
We believe that we were designed to connect with our loving God and develop an enduring spiritual relationship that has the power to help us stay the course, transfigure how we see ourselves and others through a new lens. Hope is found through living out life through a process of spiritual formation back to wholeness. This requires making a commitment to intentional change, tuning our hearts and minds through an implicit understanding that our role on this earth is to share our gifts with others. This new attitude offers newfound meaning and purpose to those we counsel.
We also believe that as a Christian therapist, every human is blessed with a talented mind, has been designed for a purpose and that we are there to guide them on their journey to actualize their calling (Jeremiah 29:11). We use methods to awaken and evidence "how" we are to live and manifest the hope that ensues. It is a process of self-reflection, leading to self-clarity and transformation, to becoming the person we were intended us to become, to reshape our distorted lens, and to witness how change emerges from the inside out.
Attitude → Emotions →Behavior
Secular counseling models argue developing your identity and working through your issues can be self-directed. Yet, this self-inquiry can lead to an existential vacuum. Secular counseling suggests you can fix yourself if you follow certain practices or if you read enough books. However, individuals often get caught in the vortex of a circular whirlpool they cannot break free from no matter how much they try. Deep within they know that they need another solution to what is troubling them in life.
Faith → Trust → Hope
Finding your "true self" requires realignment (Ephesians 4:22-24). If you truly want to know "who" you are you need to look to the One who created you whose hope is that you look to Him for an enduring relationship. In that pursuit, you discover you are loved and accepted beyond comprehension. You are invited to be a part of something greater than yourself in a process, which transfigures a new way of thinking and living. When you set aside your ambition and give of your “self,” then you begin to perceive how, “what” you do in life is driven by love. If you become faithful stewards of these gifts, then developing them so that they may be cultivated and shared with others, manifests a new attitude, is emotionally rewarded by self-less giving, and that behavior is repeated because it just feels right. Faith or belief in your inherent talent also requires trusting where it originates from in order to foster hope (Manning, 2000). This approach to living connects these two dynamics of faith to believe, which actualizes trusting in the purpose of our innate strengths. This newfound hope amplifies, empowers, and illuminates understanding that these are blessings from above, designed to be used, not just for yourself, but for others in this world (Isaiah 9:2-7).
In this way, you may leave our mark and impact others in "what" you do. There is a higher power that reveals that you are to be used as an instrument to pursue your calling and to fulfill greater things than you could ever imagine. This is what you are being called to do: to become vessels to do His work on earth (1 Peter 4:10-11). If you can "live into" this belief, then trust compels you to walk with this power as it is working within you from the inside out, transforming, and radiating its presence (Imago Dei) in all that you do. In this endeavor, you discover hope and authentic joy. Our Spiritual Counseling Process
We begin working with individuals in discerning “who” they are and exploring "what" is getting in the way of their finding happiness in life. We offer a safe space to discuss "what" is impacting their lives and "how" a spiritual counseling approach may offer a new lens to look through and discover "why" that offers them a newfound sense of hope. It is a process of repurposing their lives and living-out "what" they were designed to become. Formatively, their lives are attuned to embracing a greater understanding of themselves, their place in this world, the meaning of life and a pathway to peace and fulfillment.
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world” Lewis, C. S. (1969). Mere Christianity. Dolphin.
"No idea short of God's call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose and fulfillment." Guinness, O. (2003). The call: Finding and fulfilling the central purpose of your life. W Pub. Group.
"God cannot give us a happiness [or purpose] and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." Lewis, C. S. (1969). Mere Christianity. Dolphin.
