Christian Integrative Therapy
Have You Tried Therapy Before But It Failed to Include Your Faith?
Do you feel let down by therapists who ignored the role religion has in your life? Does it seem as if the biggest piece of who you are is not being acknowledged in therapy? Have previous therapists disregarded how your spirituality influences your mental health issues?
Perhaps you’re experiencing issues with depression, anxiety, or grief. It’s possible that you try to keep it together for some time, but your ongoing struggle with anger or trauma is holding you back. The strains this caused on your relationships may leave you feeling hopeless and unsure of where to go.
Frustrating experiences with therapy in the past may have caused you to fear seeking another try. You may be worried that seeking therapy implies that you are abandoning or wavering in your faith.
Perhaps you’re afraid that you would be placing more emphasis on therapy than on your faith. Not having your faith integrated in past therapy sessions has probably caused you to feel unsupported and misunderstood. The thought of therapy sessions that leave you feeling frustrated has likely caused you to shy away from trying therapy again.
If you are experiencing issues with anxiety or depression, it can have a ripple effect on the connection you feel with God.
Finding a therapist who understands what it means to be a Christian can be a difficult journey. You want to experience peace instead of turmoil. You would like to grow and be an example of how God can use you. Yet, you’re feeling stuck by not achieving either of these things.
With Christian Integrative Therapy, you can be assured that you are receiving therapy that will embrace your faith and lead you to personal growth.
Spiritual Needs Often Get Ignored In Therapy
Many therapists practice from a secular view and do not focus on the impact that faith and religion have on their clients. Often, this leaves a Christian feeling discouraged and unheard when seeking to improve their mental health.
It is normal to feel misunderstood when a therapist does not acknowledge the role faith has in our lives. Religion, faith, and spirituality are usually not discussed during therapy. When our faith is not incorporated in therapy, it can feel incomplete.
When you participate in therapy, it is important to feel understood and guided by your therapist. If this does not occur, it is understandable that you would experience hesitancy towards future therapy sessions. You want to leave our counseling sessions with better clarity, not more distress.
However, by working with a Christian therapist, you can be assured that your faith is being incorporated with your mental health needs.
Christian Integrative Therapy Can Help You Lead A More Meaningful Spiritual Life
As a Christian psychologist, I understand how difficult it is to balance your mental health with your faith. I want to give you a safe space to express your emotions and concerns about your problems. My goal is to give you the opportunity to see how faith plays a role in the coping methods for your mental health.
Our first session together will be the intake session. During this time, I will assess the degree to which religion, faith, or spiritual influences have in your life. Working together, we will identify what areas in your life are supportive and secure versus those that are maladaptive. This is your chance to ask questions regarding how your faith will be integrated into sessions and if this is a good fit for why you are seeking Christian therapy.
Many of my clients come with specific issues in which they are seeking help. My focus is to unfold how emotions, mental health, and past experiences influence your experience of your faith and attachment to God. Ultimately, my goal is to help clients identify the emotions that are influencing their distress. By doing this, it aids in identifying the connection to their faith as either a supportive experience or a contributor to past or current negative experiences.
In the services I provide, you can expect to learn how faith, spirituality, or organized religion can impact your attachment history, emotional well-being, and distress. The resolution I can help you achieve will help you to not only know yourself better but to strengthen the connection and attachment you feel to God.
As a Christian therapist, my approach to therapy is based on attachment and emotional processing. Working together, we will discover how your past experiences from infancy to adolescence shaped the way you interact with others. Recognizing your attachment needs in relation to others can be the beginning of developing healthier interactions.
These attachment issues shape the way you view and experience God’s love and attachment. After all, the ultimate attachment we experience is our connection with God.
My work experience includes incorporating faith into individual psychotherapy as well as Christian marriage counseling. Not only have I worked with individuals and couples, but I have specifically worked with church members and missionaries, as well as pastors and their families.
I completed a year-long internship at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, which states their mission is, “to continue the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ.” With a focus on the motto of “To Make Man Whole,” I received weekly training and provided interventions to help patients work through the challenges and struggles of life that may have impacted their faith.
Reaching out for therapy can feel overwhelming and you may feel as if you will never find peace. Therapy can help you better understand how individual issues in your life may be affecting your current level of connection to your faith, church, or God.
You May Still Have Questions About Christian Integrative Therapy…
I am worried that my faith will not be discussed or honored during therapy.
I understand your concerns. As a trained Christian therapist, I will integrate your spirituality into sessions, interventions, and treatment plans. I want to help you find peace and understanding of how pain from past experiences can influence your current experience of God, others, and yourself.
I do consider myself a Christian, but I am worried that I am not as devoted to faith as most people are. Is this an issue?
Definitely not. Regardless of where your faith falls, I tailor the treatment plan to the individual. In our intake session, I determine the importance that faith has in your life. I will never try to influence your faith in our therapy sessions. You are the driver, and I will help guide you toward your goals.
I have negative experiences related to religion. I believe a lot of my distress comes from these experiences. Will therapy help with this?
Absolutely. My goal is to help my clients recover and process difficult events. Healing past wounds rooted in negative experiences with religion can provide you with a closer attachment to God and strengthen your spiritual journey.
You Can Feel Fully Present with Your Faith Being Seen
I can help you through this process with Christian Integrative Therapy. If you have any more hesitations, please feel free to reach out and schedule a free, 15-minute consultation. You can reach me through my contact form or call my office.