Christian counseling

[theophilus]

If you have a problem and need a professional counselor you probably won’t have much trouble finding one unless you want a counselor who believes the Bible and uses that as the basis for his work. Most counselors base their work on secular beliefs. One organization that does offer Biblical counseling is Restoration Counseling Ministries. Here is their website:

https://restoration.care/

The Restoration Counseling center was founded in January 2016 by Dr. David Johnny Nixon and Joshua Agan. Both have served as church planting pastors and still serve actively in ministry today. The counseling center is designed to be a help to pastors by lightening their load and offering specialized help as they strive to shepherd the flock God gave them.

Based out of South Georgia, Restoration Counseling serves as the official counseling provider for multiple Georgia municipalities, several private organizations, and most importantly, we help pastors and churches across the country.

They offer both local and long distance counseling. Here are the services they offer:

https://restoration.care/start/

If you don’t need professional counseling you might be interested in their blog or their bookstore.

https://restoration.care/blog/

https://store.restoration.care/

[Nessa]

If you have a problem and need a professional counselor you probably won’t have much trouble finding one unless you want a counselor who believes the Bible and uses that as the basis for his work. Most counselors base their work on secular beliefs. One organization that does offer Biblical counseling is Restoration Counseling Ministries. Here is their website:

https://restoration.care/

The Restoration Counseling center was founded in January 2016 by Dr. David Johnny Nixon and Joshua Agan. Both have served as church planting pastors and still serve actively in ministry today. The counseling center is designed to be a help to pastors by lightening their load and offering specialized help as they strive to shepherd the flock God gave them.

Based out of South Georgia, Restoration Counseling serves as the official counseling provider for multiple Georgia municipalities, several private organizations, and most importantly, we help pastors and churches across the country.

They offer both local and long distance counseling. Here are the services they offer:

https://restoration.care/start/

If you don’t need professional counseling you might be interested in their blog or their bookstore.

https://restoration.care/blog/

https://store.restoration.care/

I am getting therapy through the public health system and my therapist believes in God. Though, while I'm not sure what his exact beliefs are, I know he believes in the atonement of Jesus for our sins.

God can provide whatever we need even when the options are limited or the odds are not in our favour. Even through a public health system in little NZ. And he offers a type of therapy that is getting to the core of my issues. Therapists who do his kind of work are rare here.

[theophilus]

A word of caution per what I've observed by people calling themselves "Christian counselors": Yes, you definitely want someone with correct theological/Biblical experience counseling you. But beware that there are a lot of pastors out there who have great Biblical and theological insights, but that are totally unqualified to be a counselor, as they are often untrained, particularly at knowing how to uncover the deeper issues, or how to most effectively interact with people - often ones with no Christian background or understandings, or between two warring spouses that one absolutely must, in certain ways, stay neutral. A good counselor can't merely just tell people what they should do and why. An unqualified pastor masquerading as a counselor can really mess things up worse. And for some couples or persons, you might get one whack at it - because they didn't want to come in to a counselor anyway. And so if their experience or impression is very negative, they might never go to another one. Ever.

The one time I ever went for counseling was 27 years ago, back when I was seriously ill and the Lyme disease bacteria had spread to my central nervous / brain system. I had horrible depression, my hormones were a mess, I hurt all over, had been sick for months without any answers, was getting much worse, and my thinking wasn't clear. I went to an associate pastor at the church I'd been attending, wanting to how to spiritually deal with it all - fear, sickness, worry, etc. But the guy was terrible, unqualified, and I was so sorry I'd gone to see him. He focused on all the wrong stuff, assumed the unknowable - I felt a lot worse after seeing him. I'm a person who doesn't spill my stuff to ANYONE I don't totally know and deeply trust. But I needed to talk to someone. So, I just had to wait the situation out, until I began to get well. Once my body healed, all that psychological stuff and depression slowly went away - I was prescribed anti-depressants, but was scared of dependency, so I never took any of them. So, terribly ill body - it's gonna impact your thinking and outlook.

(My SIL is a Christian family counselor. She often counsels people that are not Christians - which is even more challenging)