Christian Counseling
Ethical guidelines of counseling clearly indicate it is inappropriate for a therapist to influence or impose his/her beliefs upon a client. There are a variety of factors that have led professional associations to create these boundaries, such as violating a client’s right to make autonomous choices and encouraging a client’s dependency upon a therapist. However, the result of this for many therapeutic relationships was the elimination of discussion and examination of anything related to spirituality. Ironically, the refusal to examine spiritual issues and matters of faith is an imposition of a worldview in an of itself.
Research over the last several decades clearly indicates 80-90% of clients desire to have their spiritual beliefs not only respected but incorporated into their treatment through Christian counseling. Due to this fact, many clinicians have become much more open to doing so by offering faith based counseling within their practices. However, I still encounter many clients who indicate they have chosen our services both because my father and I are individuals of faith and we are also willing and equipped to integrate their particular system of faith as a resource to assist in attaining their therapeutic goals, which their last therapist was opposed to.
We feel strongly that to either refuse to explore faith or impel one’s beliefs upon a client are both boundary violations of the therapeutic relationship. Contrastingly, we adhere to a value-informed counseling approach. We inform our clients we are Christians and this will influence how we interact with them, such as by viewing them as a person of intrinsic worth and value and believing their life has meaning and purpose.
Many of our clients seek us out because they have heard from former clients we are both faith-based and clinically professional. Furthermore, they desire to have Christian principles and interventions included in their treatment. Just as with any client, we employ an individualized approach when integrating faith into treatment. Within Christianity there is a considerable divergence of strong opinion regarding theological matters. It is not our role, and we will refuse to do so, to debate such issues. Our responsibility is to respect each person’s views and identify ways to utilize them for assistance with their current distress.
