#3
Post
by Philip » Thu Oct 05, 2017 6:00 pm
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)