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W3,4 slide notes
Integration of Spiritualty and Counseling (Liberty
University)
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W3, L1: Christian Spirituality and The Ministry of Christian Counseling
To think of Christian counseling as a spiritual enterprise would seem completely understandable to
many people. It is especially important to know what we mean when we talk about Christian spirituality.
The ways in which Counseling draws upon spiritual resources, and the ways in which spiritual life occurs
in the life of our councilees. How do we respond to a client who says, I think the answer to my problems
lie in a spiritual realm. I think what I need is becoming more spiritual person. How can we help a person
like this? Clearly there's some thirst that the person's experiencing. And it sounds like a good thing to be
a spiritual person, doesn't it? But the problem for us is that spirituality and the word spiritual, or you so
wildly in our culture, It's difficult to know exactly what someone means when they say they want to
become a more spiritual person. After all, haven't both Madonna and mother trees have been described
as very spiritual women. However, their lives and the fruit of their lives are quite different. As another
example, aren't Billy Graham and Bono both described as two very spiritual min or time. Both of them
have done good things, but they're worldviews and their sense of faith is quite different. In this case,
even given the facts that both men are Christian, the way they see spirituality is that polar opposites. So
let's take a few moments to look at what the word spirituality really means. The term spirituality was
first used in the Bible about Paul, to describe those who have the spirit of Christ. In First Corinthians
215, he writes, the spiritual man makes judgments about all things. He himself is not subject to any
man's judgment for who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him. We have the mind of
Christ. Paul's talking about those who have the spirit of Christ, making a clear distinction between life of
the Spirit and life in the flesh. When we speak of spirituality from a Christian tradition, we're talking
about life and the spirit of Christ. We're not limiting ourselves to those who are interested in spiritual
things or those who want to have an experience of transcendence. Or if climb the mountain to me a
guru. We're talking about Jesus Christ, the living Lord, and the Spirit who combs and dwells in the hearts
of his people. This is a distinct contrast than the way spirituality is used in psychological literature.
Interestingly enough, this has actually become a very hot topic in the last few years. As psychologists
seek to find some defining terms for transcendent experiences and for the yearning of those who won't
those experiences. Part of the reason that psychology has shown such a recent interest is that the word
spirituality has made its way into such common usage in our culture. Remember too, that in
postmodern language, spirituality is spoken of as a private alternative to religion. This means that when
post-modern people speak of religion, there, speaking of the community experience of seeking God or
gas spirituality, usually in a negative sense. But spirituality can be used to speak of the private
experience with God or the proud experience of one's own soul or spirit, and is a positive and private
alternative to organized religion. One of the important, an ancient traditions of the church has been the
study of spiritual formation. And it has been seen in theology in trying to understand how people are
formed in the image of Christ. In a careful consideration of how spiritual habits are formed and an
investigating how the Holy Spirit might move in the life of a person. Now guys spoken to us in the most
direct terms about the work we do as Christian counselor from he said, Greater love hath no one than
this. That he lay down his life for his friends. This is what we're called to do as believers who counsel
hurting people. To offer ourselves through our training, through listening to them, through prayers for
them, and through our compassion and hospitality to lay down our lives for them. And even then, our
goal is not bad. But to also do this has an offering to our Lord. Christian counseling is a spiritual
enterprise because of the sovereign who attitude that we bring. So in the sense, spirituality is never a
technique that we use in counseling, but is really our way of seeing ourselves and others. And our
relationship has got certain engaged in the ministry of healing. Christian counseling is also spiritual
enterprise because we're making ourselves
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available to others. When we open up ourselves to others through counseling, we are literally making
our spirit available to them. Pop it this way. And the ninth chapter of first Corinthians, though I am free
and belong to no man. I make myself a slave to everyone. To win as many as possible. To the Jews,
become lack a Jew to win the Jews. To those under the law. I became like one under the law, though I
myself am not under the law, so as to win those under the law. Those not having the law. I become like
one I hadn't the law though I am not free of God's law, but I'm under Christ law so as to win those not
having the law to the weak. I became weak. To win the week. I have become all things to all men. So
that by all possible means, I might save some. What a great description about making ourselves
available to people at their point of need. It also describes how does only about empowerment of the
Holy Spirit that we're able to show this kind of availability and vulnerability to our clients. Christian
counseling in some ways can be seen as one of the ultimate spiritual enterprises. Because it involves a
creative weakness, a reliance on the Holy Spirit, and a willingness to admit that healing does not come
from us. Even with all the skills you bring to the counseling enterprise and all the techniques that we,
my employee. They are useful only as God chooses to use them, and how the Holy Spirit chooses to
work through us. Our goal in Christian counseling as a spiritual enterprise is that a person might receive
a new life in Christ and become a new creation. Now our natural tendency as a fallen people is to be
selfish, to do everything we do with some sort of motive that promotes the self, that works for us and
that builds us up. But it is in Christ that we begin to develop an appropriate self-love and also an
appropriate way to deny ourselves. So the real challenge becomes too experienced the grace of God in
such a way that we will be refined to understand that it is a receiving end purging process all at the
same time to become more Christ-like. Is this healthy becoming this developing spiritual self that the
client experiences in the therapeutic relationship through what we call the personhood of the
counselor. If you'll notice on the slide, the first column names qualities of the self that are received from
God through grace. Healthy qualities of self-affirmation, of self-fulfillment, of self realization, of a
healthy self-love, of self-awareness, of knowing who you are, and ultimately of a healthy selfhood is
part of the great command. When Jesus said, you are to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
your soul, your mind and strain. And you are to love your neighbor as yourself. So we need a healthy
self to become an effective counsellor for others. But as the second column states, each of us also need
grace to be refining furnace in our labs. For every human being, there is much in our lives that is not as
it should be. It is by the grace of God that we're able to engage in self-denial, in self emptying, and self-
sacrifice, in a self forgetfulness, where it's not about us all the time. To engage in appropriate self-
disclosure, making ourselves known in a way that is helpful to others without making the counseling
session about our issues. And ultimately a selflessness in which we are able to go beyond our own
needs, to use our Ministry of counseling to help others and as an offering to God. Okay, let's finish up
with a review about the Christian traditions behind spirituality and spiritual formation from the very
beginning of the church in much of the writing of the New Testament, there's great attention paid to
the formation of people, to the image of Christ. Once we've come into the faith. On the slide, you'll see
on the left a series of items labeled faith, tradition and other right, the items are labeled formation
tradition. S Protestants, we are familiar with the faith tradition that we must know what we believe and
what our core values and beliefs are. But we also have to understand that it is a rationally driven way of
doing. Faith is focused almost exclusively on our thought life. Focused around doctrine and approach to
the faith in which we are to agree or disagree with propositions about God and about faith. In addition,
it is a vitally important part of our tradition that we aren't to be witnesses to world. Following Jesus's
last command, go and be witnesses. But we neglect our formation tradition at great peril. Here's where
the work that we do in Christian counseling is of a
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spiritual nature. It can be thought of as a systematic way of helping people discover how to live out
their beliefs and is devoted to encountering the Holy Spirit as a spiritual experience. But how do we
have such spiritual experiences? We do so by growing under the guidance and leadership of others, and
by developing a pattern of holy habits, the spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading and study, and
serving others, just to name a few. We must develop these habits as part of a regular pattern each day
to become formed into the image of Christ. But remember that these practices are only valuable in the
way that God works through them. Neither ONE, right? Lastly, In formation tradition. The focus is the
fruit of the Spirit in our lives. We must be known for and produce fruit that can be experienced by those
around us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. As you process
this lecture on spirituality and counseling, I would encourage you to think about your own life in ways in
which you are a spiritual person. Ways in which you would like to grow in the image of Christ. And any
wholly habits that you need to develop on a regular basis.
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W3, L2: Spiritual Formation Models for Counseling
In this presentation, we will focus upon spiritual formation models for counseling. As we've been talking
over the past several segments about general integration issues, we now need to spend some time
exploring concepts regarding personal integration. The desire to help people to have a unity of life,
really is the meaning of spiritual formation. Notes the statements slide. Integration or unity of life is the
key.
The more we understand that integration is really up halfway to unity, that easier get force. Even then,
as the following idea show us, we still have a ways to go and trying to get it right. For instance, if
transcendence is compartmentalize, We have a functional transcendence or using spirituality as a skill
set for our own selfish purposes. If transcendence is detached, we appear to have otherworldly quietism
or hypocrisy. We become so heavenly bound that we're no earthly good. Perhaps and spiritual life. The
term diagnosis, where dy o means through and through. And those this means knowledge is tricky is
force. This is because no one can accurately self-diagnose their spiritual state. So as we talk about
spiritual formation and counseling and asserting the spiritual state of our clients, we should not
conceive of this in terms of how a psychologist might eco diagnosing someone. What we are really
seeking defined in this segment is some useful maps. Maps for understanding how the spirit of the Lord
is working in our lives and in the lives of those we counsel, and how we can keep in step. Now this is
really an ancient way of thinking about spirituality. Going back to the first century thinkers, they spoke
of spiritual formation as a three-fold path to God. They spoke in terms of purgation, which is the purging
of sand at a fleshly attitudes and habits from a person. Illumination, which is coming to see and
understand how God is working in one's life. And then union, which is fulfilling the Great command to
love God, self, and neighbor. With all of your being. Writers over the centuries have focused upon the
ways in which one might map the spirit of God working in human life. To 20th century thinkers. Thomas
Kelsey and John Ward wrote about four patterns of movement in the spiritual life. They spoke of
receiving, releasing, relating, and reaching out. This is really a very helpful pattern to think about for a
moment.
Receiving is the idea that unless we receive God's grace. We are only spinning our wheels spiritually or
only staying busy. And what we do, then, there is the heating power of releasing, which is being
released from the power of sin. And a fleshly influences in our lives to self purging through releasing of
others, through forgiving. And our released by God through His forgiveness of us. And there's no such
thing as a lone ranger Christian, which is why we need relating. One Movement of the Holy Spirit is to
drive us into a community of believers, into fellowship and relate us to one another. Reaching out is that
impulse, that sphere to the lower creates and our hearts to lay down our lives for others, to take the
initiative to love God and to love others. In Henry Nouwen’s book, reaching out, he writes that the
spiritual life is a movement, not something that's static or your mobile. In addition, this really wonderful
insight towards our journey to God is not linear, but that we all vacillate between polar opposites
throughout our lives. He speaks of an intra personal life poll that pulls the moods of loneliness, the
solitude of an inter personal pole. Or we move from hostility to hospitality and a trans personal pole
where we go from illusion, prayer. One of the real frustrations in the Christian life is this sense of failure.
We so often feel when we succumb to temptation or when we find ourselves engaging in behaviors that
we thought we had grown beyond that. Now is a problem with us. You will also find out that is a
problem in the clients that you see. So the insight that now on is trying to remind us about is the
understanding that we are all on a journey toward God. But it is often a two steps forward, one step
back journey. I've also indicated on the slide some counseling issues in which understanding these life
poles might be helpful. For example, when thinking about the intra, personal life of a person. The
movement that people make from loneliness, the solitude. At least one counseling issue is the use of
***********. Sometimes at the level
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of addiction. This behavior and isolation is when people are desperately trying to meet their needs for
intimacy. But in a way that is very isolated, that actually enables loneliness and encourages secretive,
shameful behavior. In the area of the interpersonal, the poll was moving from hostility to hospitality.
One counseling issue that would involve these dynamics would be anger management. These are clients
in which anger is a consuming force in our lives. Those for whom hostility is a way of showing up in the
world and a great joy that they can find when they move from hostility to hospitality. With our help.
Later on, we'll talk more about hospitality and the absolute necessity in the counseling relationship.
Showing hospitality to people and the life-changing impact of a simple welcome. The creating of an open
space for change. And the life-changing impact that might have. In terms of the trans personal pole.
Consider for a moment those who are depressed, the condition of oppression, and how one can become
so trapped in hopelessness. These clients are also trapped in the illusion that they will always feel this
way. That no one really cares. That life really doesn't matter, that they can't do anything, right? And so
these feelings become their reality. But now and tries to point out to the fact that there's a way through
these canons of Aleutians. Counseling depression is a complex problem that may involve physiological
problems, behavioral problems, and always involves some type of cognitive distortions. But it is also a
spiritual problem in which God is working through you, the Christian counselor, to help people move
from illusion to prayer. Let's change our focus for a few moments and look at brewers relational model,
a spiritual formation. This is a model and it points to the fact that people never experience spiritual
formation in isolation as individuals, but that spiritual formation as a community phenomenon. Here,
the five P stand for the final relationships that every Christian needs. For instance, every Christian needs
and authentic and healthy self love and self awareness. This really is the core of personhood. Every
Christian also needs a pastor. Now this may be a minister, but more specifically, it is someone who will
be an elder to shepherd you into the image of Christ. Every person needs a partner, a spiritual friend,
and peer to encourage and hold them accountable. We also need to approach. This may seem a little
surprising, but it is important if we're going to grow in our faith. We also need to be sharing and
teaching someone else. We all need a prospect. In order to have a vital Christian faith, we must be
sharing our faith with the lost people and giving our faith away to others. I would encourage you to look
in your own life and ask yourself, do I have a healthy sense of personhood? Do I have a pastor on whom
I can rely? Do I have a partner in my life to share my faith and hold me accountable? Do I have a protege
that I'm entering? Do I have a prospect? Someone in my life who doesn't know Christ, but for whom I'm
praying for. Someone I can love an influence towards faith in Christ. Over time. As you engage in your
counseling ministry, you will be able to build these kinds of relational nets with some of your clients.
And you'll certainly be able to encourage them to build these kinds of relationships in their lives. Part of
their spiritual formation.
Adrien van com developed his formation field model, which is based on an ocean that are formation as a
person is always in process that we're always giving and receiving form. And that it comes in several
dimensions. He's specifically a spiritual formation in terms of the force fields around us. Will go over
these briefly as a way to acquaint you with these ideas so that you might begin to understand your own
spiritual formation and that of your clients in terms of the force fields around them. The first dimension
is intra formation. This refers to our inner life, the heart, the core self. This idea deals with those core
elements of a person, such as integrity and conscience and the human heart. Than calm has most
writers and spiritual formation believes that lasting change in a person is an inside out process. So he's
very interested in this intro, formation dimension. The immediate situation force field. What he calls in
formation, is the way in which we cope with the here and the now and the impact that our coping today
has on what sort of person we are becoming not only for today, but well into the future. So in this area
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formation, van com addresses behavior, may IBS, attitude. And those daily living challenges that all of us
have with our jobs are families, with time management, and the ways in which we deal with crisis. On
the spiritual side, the immediate situation force field has to do with those daily disciplines that we need
to develop, such as prayer, having a quiet time, and studying or bibles. The third dimension is inter
formation. This is the relational world in which we live. Think of it as being the horizontal dimensions in
our labs, our family and friendships, our inter-personal conflicts, our communication style, and the way
in which we are servants to others. This is also the area in which we might work with clients on morality
issues. This is where we helped them understand the right and wrong in their labs, especially when
morality issues are impacting relationships. For example, adultery in the marriage. The final dimension
that bed column refers to is transformation. The vertical dimension. This is the heart turn toward God.
This is the yearning that every person has for something more in life. The desire to worship, the desire
to believe in someone, in something bigger than ourselves, and the desire for personal relationship that
will NIH end. Van com believed that every person feels this desire towards a transcendent. So it
becomes a tremendous way to begin working on spiritual and faith issues with clients. This is especially
true of those who do not have a connection with the church or who were at a pre-Christian point of
development in their lives. So that we can not talk to them using traditional Christian language because
they don't know what we're really talking about. Well, we've covered a lot of information about spiritual
formation models. As always, I encourage you to go through this presentation again and to reflect on
how you might use the spiritual formations and models and your own life, as well as with your clients.
and human freedom that we
have
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W3, L3: Spirituality, Suffering, and Counseling Dynamics
Our focus this time is on spirituality, suffering, and counseling dynamics. We need to spend some time
on this topic because suffering is a universal descriptor of nearly everyone you will see in counseling. It is
very important to understand this spiritually has a way of helping us deal with the suffering of our
clients. And how our shared suffering stems from our role as wounded healers. And it becomes a source
of healing for them. Let's consider some dynamics behind these questions. Andre Nouwen has offered
us the term wounded healer. It is also a term that has been used by Carla Hume as well as a term related
to Greek mythology. Our greatest example of a wounded healer in all of history is our lower Jesus
himself. He was the one prophesied about in Isaiah 53 as the suffering servant. And through his wounds,
we have been healed as now and reflected on how healing had come into his own life through Jesus. He
lay out a way of understanding the counseling ministry in terms of being a wounded healer. For
counselors, entering into the suffering of others can be painful. There's a special connection with
wounded clients in the counseling room. That connection of empathy and compassion, which brings
tremendous healing to hurting people. But which also brings a cost to the counselor. Paul spoke of the
way in which we share and heating and suffering together. In Second Corinthians 17, when he said, And
our hope for you is firm because we know that just as you share in our sufferings. So also you share in
our comfort. Is in the Christian counseling dynamic that Christ make himself work through our wounds.
Using a theological term, we might speak of the incarnational presence of Jesus as we share and the
sufferings of others.
And there's a tremendous strength and the solidarity that we have with hurting people. As we make our
wounds available as a source of healing. We have been and will be talking throughout this course about
how we can make ourselves available to others. And is perhaps an area of counseling practice that
requires taking great care. But also learning how to disclose yourself. How to express empathy and
compassion without becoming overly disclose HIV and distracting to the client. A primary way we
express solidarity is through hospitality. This is the heartfelt welcome we give to those who have been
persona Non Grata, feeling unwelcome in many areas of their lives. Hospitality involves focusing on an
individual, concentrating on their needs and their personhood. And is trust is built. Confronting those
areas of sin and fall numbness in their lives, which may be a major source of suffering that worsens with
their enduring. There are several underlying questions about an individual's desire for healing and their
desire for counseling. One of these questions is about the nature of suffering. People need to talk about
their suffering and about the causes and meaning behind their suffering. The most ancient way that
people thought about suffering is in terms of punishment. It is one of the major questions we have
when reading the book of Job. Is Joe being punished for his sins? Many of the so-called friends thought
so. And they strongly encouraged him to confess his sin and perhaps be able to receive forgiveness from
God.
They saw Job's suffering, has punishment that he deserved. And you'll find that many people today are
wondering, what did I do to deserve this when they're suffering? Is this a punishment from God? Now it
is certainly true that sooner or later suffering comes from all people. Because suffering is the result of a
fallen creation. But sometimes we bring suffering upon ourselves. Sometimes suffering as a result of
. Sometimes suffering is our misuse of our gifts and the opportunities
. Sometimes suffering comes in the form of internal dissonance. This
psychological term points to the condition in which a person is behaving in a way that they know to be
wrong and destructive, but they keep doing it anyway. So perhaps a real source of suffering is that
sense of tension. That sense of being unsettled and fractured within that sense of dissonance. That
comes from the conscience and the heart. When living a life that we know is off track. Sometimes our
suffering comes from a loss of our roots are Foundation, which would certainly be true in cases where
we're
disobedience to God's commands
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counseling people for extreme grief. The suffering here is the sense that with the utmost counted on,
such as a person, a job or relationship is gone, leaving them hopeless. When counseling depress clients,
sometimes the nature of the suffering is that deep core of hopelessness that they feel. Now depression
is distinguished in many ways, but two key characteristics seen in nearly all depress clients is first a lack
of hope or hopelessness, which is a lack of belief that things will ever turn out for them, or that they will
ever be happy again. And second, helplessness. That they cannot get out of feeling depressed. If people
have nothing to look forward to. Goals, no vision than they have no reason to help themselves or try to
get better. And eventually they feel helpless about being able to do anything about it. And that is true.
Suffering, to have no hope and nothing to look forward to. Sometimes people suffer under the
condemnation of others. Often AND families. A person suffering from a mental illness feels condemned
by the other family members. They may also feel condemned by coworkers or their peers at school, or
maybe their friends. Or maybe they've engaged in public wrongdoing and feel ashamed of their
behavior along with the condemnation of others. Another example is when suffering comes in the form
of idolatry. When we make anything or anyone other than God a central figure in our lives, we suffer
from a form of idolatry. The most common way we see idolatry in the counseling room is in the form of
additions. Usually addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex, food. When a person is addicted to a substance, they
are committing a form of idolatry and it will always lead to tremendous suffering. Here's a list of several
responses we can have to suffering clients. We've spoken a little before about hospitality. But by simply
extending a warm, genuine, compassionate Welcome to suffering individuals. We open up a powerful
healing dynamic in their lives. Remember the portrait painted of Job's friends when they came to be
with him. It says in Job 213 that they sound the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No
one said to him because they saw how great his suffering was. What a picture of solidarity. To come and
share your heart and your life for seven days without speaking a word. So often that kind of solidarity of
presence when we're fails us is what someone needs the most. I would encourage you to really reflect
on that story as you ponder your counseling practice and how to deal with those times of silence in the
counseling room. Many students beginning their counseling ministry fear the very thought that they
won't know what to say or what to do when the client stops speaking. But to simply be there and
solidarity with a suffering person has great value. And we'll discuss in a later unit how you might use
prayer has a way of reaching out to an individual in those moments of silence. Now in responding to
suffering people is important that you clarify your role as you deal with that person suffering. Many
clients come to counseling because they're hurting so badly that they can avoid it any longer. And
they're, they're hoping for immediate relief and inspect you two really that suffering. We have to make
it known for them that we're not magicians and that we do not have answers or solutions to all their
problems. While what we can do is extending compassion and care to them, we don't have some sort of
magic wand to simply make that suffering go away. In explaining and clarify your role, you really are
providing healing to that individual. Another point is that for many people who are suffering, they
simply have no one to talk to. Now if we're really honest with ourselves, we have to admit that none of
us actually enjoys hearing about the problems in the lives of others. Since it can be very painful to hear
about broken relationships, failures, and other people's sins on regular basis. So not only do we learn to
listen with our ears, but we learn to listen with our eyes by studying the language of our clients.
Carefully, studying the way they look and they act as they describe their suffering. Don't
underestimate how important it is to be an astute observer of what is not being said, to be looking for
by language and non-verbals that may help point out faulty thinking that a client is having about
suffering. Then as we develop a trust relationship over the sessions, we can also begin to confront that
faulty thinking. Some
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suffering in our lives is unavoidable. Some of it is actually redemptive, but much of it is needless. Here's
where you can often provide immediate relief to a client by helping them to identify needless suffering
in their lives and to encourage them to make changes to alleviate that suffering. This begins to allow
them to move from feeling hopeless to being hopeful. Everyone wants to see progress in their life.
Everyone wants to feel like the efforts they are making to improve is showing results. So to help a
person get immediate results can be very powerful and helpful and is ethically required of us as helpers.
Lastly, it is also important for us to learn to be focused in prayer that is appropriate to the client's level
of faith development and appropriate to our level of relationship with the client. Now we're going to
take a moment to look at a number of insights into the power of hospitality and having a welcoming
response to people. Without using inappropriate self-disclosure. Hospitality can be very empowering
your appliance by helping them to see you as a real person. Someone who's not perfect, and who also
experiences suffering as a part of life. In counseling. Hospitality is that ability to pay attention to the
suffering of another, to not turn away, to not withdraw. Perhaps you've had the unhappy experience of
knowing someone who has passed away and going to the funeral home to visit with the family. It is
interesting to watch people's behaviors in situations like this. Sometimes you see people have so much
trouble being around the suffering of others. Or feel like they need to try and fix it. But just end up
feeling more inadequate and so hurry through the process of grieving. We provide a great healing
service to people by simply paying attention to their suffering and concentrating on your needs without
feeling a need to do something about it. Another point about hospitality is that it is balanced. It is grace,
but it has also truth, grace, and truth in dynamic balance. Remember the prologue to the Gospel of
John? Grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. We need both don't weigh. We cannot live without
the grace of God, but we don't know how to live without the truth of God. Sometimes you will find that
our clients come seeking grace. Even if they don't know how to use that word. They're looking for grace.
They're looking for unconditional positive regard from anyone. And we certainly can't offer that to
them. But they also need truth. They need to receive the truth from us in a way and at a pace that they
can hear and they can accept. Both are necessary for hospitality. And this whole process begins with
feeling at home yourself and learning to be non-defensive inner space as you receive person, a stranger
into your life. Now in most cases, those we counsel come to us as strangers. But that person is not only a
stranger to us, they have become strangers to themselves, to God, and even a stranger to their family
and friends. So an important part of hospitality is to help convert that stranger into a friend. Prayers and
important part of that conversion experience. And taking the risk to welcome a stranger, to allow them
to walk into your life. And for you to walk into their life by asking the tough questions and to care
enough sometimes to endure their anger and tears. That is a real hospitality of the Christian walk. We
cannot underestimate the power of welcoming centers in a way that shows true love, regard, and
respect for them because it is powerful and life-changing. Remember the story in Luke 19, where Jesus
calls a key, is down the tree and says, almost come to your house for dinner. That man's life was
transformed forever by that kind of hospitality. And they can be true for the people that we counsel as
well. Simple acts of hospitality are among the most powerful therapeutic dynamic there is. The subject
today has been dealing with interspace dynamics, which is creating a process of change from the inside
out. Outward as Christian counselors is to help people learn to create an interspace, an inner freedom
that they lack a free space of forgiveness, of reconciliation to God, in which he freely welcomes and
accepts them and full knowledge of their sin. It is often true that people become so enslaved and their
guilt and shame that they can see no way out and end up being in total bondage. So maybe just the
beginning inside that God knows their sin, but still welcomes and loves them, begins to create a
tremendous free space. And
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we model that in the way we accept them. To help people increase truthfulness and their life is a key
element in creating inner freedom and confronting illusions. Sometimes those illusions come in the
form of faulty thinking. Sometimes they come in the form of distorted emotions and long-held
prejudices, but they always have
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W4, L1: Multi-tasking in Christian Counseling
this first presentation on the subject of multitasking in Christian counseling. As you read through the
textbooks, one of the key issues you may have found is the challenge we face as Christian counselors to
integrate three important areas in our counseling work, psychology, theology, and spiritual formation.
So how do we do this? How can we hold all of these important roles together as we do our best to be
effective counselors with our clients. The key is to understand that our multiple roles and Christian
counseling, or all equally important. Here, you see five roles that every Christian counselor must
simultaneously engage in when they're doing the work of counseling. The first role is being a participant,
which has to do with the therapeutic relationship. Obviously, we want to carefully avoid over
involvement with our clients, but we cannot be so withdrawn so as to not be partners in the process of
change in their lives, we need an authentic presence. At the same time, the effect of Christian counselor
is an observer through listening, through watching for nonverbal signals. And three, maintaining
professional objectivity. And Christian counselors are also engineers. We are continually assessing and
adjusting our work to the client's needs. This is especially important for those who are brand new to
counseling. For instance, when you first meet a client, you do an initial assessment. You begin to get to
know them. But remember that the initial assessment is just that it's the beginning point. Throughout
your work with the client. You are assessing and adjusting to that person's progress and to new
understandings and revelations that you discover along the way. By the very fact that we call ourselves
Christian counselors, that every counselor is also a minister. Our work is an extension of the church, a
ministry or the body of Christ. And we are conduits of His grace. And then the last role is that all of us
are disciples. For each of us, our counseling work is an act of obedience and service to God. The level of
professionalism in Christian counseling is not less than a secular counselor, but really more. The
foundational motivation and method of our work is summed up by Paul in his writing to the church at
emphasis in effusions, six or seven, serve whole heartedly. Has if you were serving the Lord, not man.
That is our approach in Christian counseling. To keep in mind that we have to remember that our first
client is always god. And that it is in the name of the Lord. And for the sake of God's Kingdom. That we
engage in this ministry of Counseling at all. It is important for us to be pleasantly inflexible with clients.
This means we honor to be welcoming, to remain unflappable, but also to tenaciously clean to our core
values. To not feel like we have to set aside things that are really important to us in order to connect
with clients. It is important to be intentional to not simply go with the flow of whatever works at the
moment, but to have an intention or purpose, an intentional vision for your counseling work and for
that particular work you're doing with a particular client. We also need to be trustworthy to be humble
and to be personally integrated. These are character qualities that a professional Christian counselor
must consistently demonstrate. If you're not a person whom your clients will trust, they simply will not
disclose much of their personal lives to you. Also, if you are a person who struggles with arrogance, thin
clients will feel that they are not really welcomed, that they are not really appreciated, and they won't
be able to share from their hearts. On the right hand column are detailed some ways of relating to
people that are absolutely necessary. In spiritually sensitive counseling. We need to always be aware of
our motives to ask ourselves, what's driving this? Am I doing what I'm doing? And saying what I'm
saying? Because it is in the best interest of my client, were to be diligent and constantly refocusing
ourselves on what is best for the client. It is also important to be responsive, not reactive. Keep in mind
that every person you see in counseling is there because they feel they have no place else to go their
own way. Each one of your clients has tried to solve their problems themselves, and it has not worked
out. You will very often hear outrageous comments and you will see outrageous behavior. It is
important
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to not be reactive, but to be responsive. If anything. We want to be proactive in helping people in their
change process. It is impsoliortant to not rely strictly on techniques and professional counseling.
Techniques are important. But without some careful training and their use, it is hard to help people
with their change. Because if techniques alone are the foundation of what you're doing with the client,
we are lost. We need substance. Each one of us needs a personal faith and a personal theory of
counseling. And so this gives our counseling substance on which we can rely on. And trust are core
values in God.
Another area. Is our trustworthiness. One of the key ways that trust has demonstrated is when we
remain honest, under fire in the face of a client's anger in distress or when we're feeling challenged, we
remain honest with them. Finally, a key piece of honesty is self-awareness. To have a sense of our own
comfort level and our limits. Our ultimate goal in our professionalism is to demonstrate a Christ-like
character. Now that we've talked about some key points and professionalism in spiritually sensitive
counseling. Let's review a short assessment map to help us in our work with our client. Continually
assess and planets as we work with him, is part of our job. So each time we encounter a client, we
should be asking the following question to ourselves. First, does this client to have an accurate sense of
self-awareness? Do they seem to know where they are in their progress or where and why they're not
changing, and where there are points of resistance. Does this client understand their own involvement
in their behavior choices and their responsibility for the consequences they're experiencing. Secondly,
does this client to have an accurate awareness of need? Does this person seem to understand where
their needs might be? Or, or the grandiose? Do they seem to think they can completely take care of
themselves? Or are they completely hopeless and depressed? Do they think they're beyond need? And
finally, does this client have a healthy openness to healing relationships? Is this person willing to be
helped? Do they believe they can be help? Take just a few minutes to review these questions again.
They will appear again and again in this course because it is a key piece of your work and multitasking in
Christian counseling. Now we'll look at building your theoretical map in Christian Council. It is important
for the counselor to be quite self-aware of your beginning points, of your theoretical beliefs. And in the
way in which you approach clients. Listed here are seven questions that you're encouraged to
continually clarify in your own math as you approach the task of Council. The first is to understand your
personal worldview, how your practice. What do you believe? What do you not believe? Why do you do
counseling at all? The second is to understand your goals for counseling. Do you think of counseling
primarily in terms of dealing with clinical symptoms? Or do you think in more global terms of
transformational goals? Next, what is your theory of healing? How does healing of the whole person,
the mind, the spirit, the body, take place? Do you believe God is an active part of that? How does talk
therapy and medication play into your theory? What part does behavior change play? There's also the
question of what is your understanding of pain and brokenness? What is your role as a counselor in
alleviating suffering? And then this fifth question, how is counseling redemptive? Are you intentional
about seeking the Lord's word for your clients through your counseling? Do you seek to use prayer both
in and out of the counseling sessions? Does your theory include spiritual dialogue with your clients to
the extent that is appropriate and helping to develop them. Next, what is your theory of personhood
and personal responsibility? This subject comes up again and again in this course because it is so
important. What is your attribution theory? Do you think in terms of people being responsible for their
own behavior? That is considered an internal attribution? Or do you believe in people simply being
responsive to the systems and the relationships and the people around them. That is called an external
attribution. Or are you aware and open to both levels of responsibilities? Since in every case, both
internal and external responsibilities are always at work. What are your thoughts in theories related to
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that question? And what is your understanding of sin and fallenness, in this world? Now the way in
which we put together our personal theoretical math has much to do with our temperament, has
people. When we think of background elements, we think of training and experience. And how in many
ways, our training and experience dictate what we emphasize. For instance, if you've been trained in
clinical psychology, you are naturally going to use psychological theories and constructs and techniques
as you're beginning points. It does not mean that as a Christian, that you don't consider your theological
beliefs and spiritual formation principles, which are beginning point, will likely be where your greatest
training, yes. It is also true that your belief system underlies your choice of techniques and your view of
a client. So you must ask yourself, what is my belief system on? What is it based? Additionally, within
your belief system? How does your sense of right and wrong influence how you understand and set
boundaries? Understanding boundaries helps you distinguish them between you and your client, helps
you understand what healthy boundaries in an individual might look like. It also helps you got clients in
developing appropriate boundaries in their lives. There are several areas of counselor temperament
that affect multitasking. We're going to look at three of them has guiding examples, with the first being
your personal style. Everyone has a personal relational style. And it does affect how you go about
relating to your clients. Some people are naturally supportive, some are more naturally confrontive. This
doesn't mean if you were more supportive that you can't be confrontive when you need to or if your
mark in front of that, you can't be supportive when it's required. Are you more naturally and encourager
or a challenger? Are you a person that finds it very difficult to challenge others? Or do you find it difficult
to be empathetic? We typically lead in one direction or the other. So you do need to be aware of what is
more natural for you to do. Another important question in understanding your temperament is, do you
lean more towards being a tasker or a processor? That is, do you lean more toward tasks such as getting
the job done, completing goals, and seeing tangible results? Or are you more interested in the process
of building relationships, of connecting with individuals and allowing the goals to occur as they need to.
This important dimension will affect how you go about God and clients and saying their goals. But the
real key is to realize that your temperament is not the clients temperament. We must be able to discern
some of these elements of the temperament and our clients and then learn to balance them with our
own as we craft the therapeutic relationship. The third element has to do with your control needs. How
controlling are you as a person? For those who have quite low control needs, it may be perfectly normal
for you to allow a client to take more control in setting their own goals and in controlling the flow of the
therapeutic relationship. We usually see this in Carl Rogers person-centered counseling. For those who
feel more comfortable having more control. You're going to want to know where things are going. And
you're going to want to have some significant part of the direction the sessions are going. This is
typically what is done in behavioral types of counseling or in Albert Ellis's rational emotive behavior
therapy. We have another assessment process that we engage in when we counsel, which is called the
rate limiting factor. The idea of the rate-limiting factor is a term that McMann barred from the science
of chemistry. This is a very simple principle stemming from the idea that in any chemical reaction, what
limits the rate of change for the entire process is the slowest change within the process. This principle
can be true in the counseling process as well. To the degree that we are able to assess a client's needs
and remain aware of our own processes will limit the rate of change that the client has in counseling. So
these five levels of self-assessment can be vital. One, to know your client, to, to know your goals. Three,
to know your map. For know yourself. And to know that you don't know. We must be constantly
assessing where to go next to the counseling process in order to be the most effective with clients. And
it is very helpful to repeat these areas of assessment every time you meet with your client to make sure
you know where
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they are at when they come to see you. This helps us to ascertain the following. What sort of progress
are they making? Where are they running into obstacles to change? That seems to frustrate them.
Where's this client with the beginning goals they set? Are these goals in harmony with the goals that
you have for this client? Or do those need to be reassessed at this time? How is your theoretical map
applying to this client? How are you feeling about this client has a person when you meet with them. Do
you find yourself feeling tension or anchor or something else? What sort of internal signals are you
getting about your theoretical map as it applies to this counseling relationship? What are you
understanding about yourself? Has a counselor in this particular interaction with a client, are you
staying aware of your own limits, fatigue levels, and ability to remain present with the individual. Are
you aware of your limits and prejudices in this counseling situation? Are you asking the Holy Spirit to
guide you and to help you beyond where your abilities stop. Well, this concludes our presentation on
multitasking and multiple assessment. As always, I encourage you to take a few more minutes to review
it again, to familiarize yourself even more with these principles.
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W4, L2: METAMORPH Integrative Counseling Grid
In this presentation, will focus upon the meta morph integrative counseling grid, which is a tool that has
been developed to assist councillors in approaching counseling in a holistic manner and examines 9
domains of human functioning. As a way of introducing the grid. Minimum morph is a Greek word that
is translated as transformation. So already and this name we are pointing to the purpose of the
counseling grid. Certainly, we want to use this grid to help our clients with their suffering, the
immediate problems that they were having. You will find that many of the approaches that are outlined
in the grid will be very helpful to your clients in their immediate situation. But the real goal in this theory
of counseling is metamorphic or transformation, is that interior change that occurs through the Holy
Spirit and the power of Christ. And this points to the kind of meta theory and assumptions behind the
grid. And this points to the kind of meta theory and assumptions behind the grid. As we take apart the
details, it will be helpful to look at some of the fundamental assumptions behind it. But before we move
any further, make sure that you have downloaded and printed a copy of a metamorphic grid to have in
front of you as a reference during this lecture. One key keep in mind is that responsible counseling is
based upon an intentional meta theory. This means that counseling is not simply finding some tricks and
techniques to use with clients that helps them feel better. But rather that we counsel in a thoughtful
and intentional process while drawing upon our worldview. A meta theory helps us apply techniques in
a specific way to specific needs for specific people. So the meta theory for the metamorphic grid is
based upon a spiritual formation and so care, tradition. The great comes from the historic work of the
church. And in an integrative way, draws upon the resources of Psychology and Counseling theories, but
with its foundation in spiritual formation and so care tradition. This is a tradition precedes modern
psychology and counseling by many centuries. It is the kind of tradition that we see and Paul, when he
gives counsel to Timothy and when he encourages Titus, or in the way that jesus drew 12 people apart
and taught them very carefully how to become his disciples. As part of its meta theory, the
metamorphic creating engages in responsible eclecticism, meaning that it draws upon many theories
and techniques, but always in service of a Christian worldview. Are all psychological theories and
techniques and constructs created equally. Or all of them friendly or even open to a Christian
worldview? No. But many psychological theories and techniques are value-neutral. For instance, if we're
drawing from psychology and decided use the empty chair technique. This is value neutral process that
can be used by a Christian counselor to do great work in helping a client to unpack their emotions, to
deal with grief, or to deal with relational problems they are experiencing with other people. It is
important from the beginning to understand that the metamorphic grid is not meant to be a diagnostic
tool that divides people in nine ways. Rather, the purpose is for us to be able to look at clients through
these mini lenses. The lens of the mind, the emotions. They are transformational goals, their actions,
their motivations, thereby or organic life. They're relational life, their spiritual elements, and their
history. We are to look at client through each of these lenses, to see a whole person, to see how these
areas of human functioning interact in them. And to understand that no area of human functioning is
more important than the other, they are all part of a greater whole. You will also notice in the grid that a
variety of techniques are employed or suggested. Many of them are inside our techniques. This refers to
changes in the heart, changes and the conscience. Changes of attitude, changes in deep habits that drive
our lives. Changes in our thought patterns, and changes in our emotions that drive our lives. That is
inside our change. This kinda thinking goes back to spiritual formation and the soul care tradition based
on the assumption that real change and people comes from a core self change. But the metamorphic
RED also draws upon some very useful outside in techniques. Those techniques that provide influences
from outside of the person to create
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interchange. We've already mentioned the central place of redemption and transformation in Christian,
Christian counseling. So the metamorphic grid sees redemption and transformation as ultimate
outcomes. As you work with them with your clients encounter immediate relief or immediate changes
in many areas of their lives? Yes, they will. And we see that has evidence of an early fruit of greater
change going on in their labs. A change that comes from the redemption of Jesus Christ and the
transformation through grace. Sometimes this process takes many years, sometimes a lifetime, but it is
always the outcome that we are aiming for. And lastly, another key principle regarding metamorphic is
that it is a tool intended to assist you in learning how to multitask effectively. Don't be daunted by the
fact that it has a multi-page document. It is dealing with the complex issues of human functioning. But
then so are you as a Christian counselor, you are dealing with many complex issues at once. And the grid
is just one more tool to help you in that process. Now notice as you move into using the metamorphic
grid, that is an outline based on non domains of human functioning. Each letter stands for an area of
human functioning. This is really a system that is intended to help you to develop habits of thought
about the way that you see other individuals as clients. So that you begin to consider all of these areas
of their lives. Has you work with them? The first m and metamorphose stands for mad. The areas of
cognition and thinking and reasoning. The E represents emotions or the clients feelings, moods, and
perceptions. The T is for transformational goals and refers to the Core Self. Here, we want to be aware
of the ultimate outcomes we have in mind for our clients. A stands for actions, the behavior, the habits,
the lifestyle of the client. The second M stands for motivations. This is the volitional life or wheel or the
client. Their attitudes, their conscience, and their ability to discern right from wrong. The O stands for
organic factors, referring to their physical life, thereby live their overall health. Are is further relational
dynamics. This is their community systems, their family systems, their pattern of relationships, and their
relational style.
The P stands for pneumatic elements. This comes from the Greek word pneuma, or spirit. So we're
talking about the life of the Spirit, a person spiritual traditions and practices, their involvement in
church, if any. The way they describe themselves AS spiritual persons. Their involvement in spiritual
traditions other than Christianity. As the final element. The h stands for their history. Now there are six
elements of history undertaken in the grid, which includes a person's developmental history, behavioral
history, relational history, spiritual history, physical History, and very specifically, any trauma history
they may have experienced. As you're working with your clients. You want to examine all six of these
areas as completely as possible. So those are the domains. It is a large but detailed picture of a client
that you get by thinking of them in this way. On this last slide, we're going to take a look at the
descriptions of the columns that you find on the metamorphic grid. Let's take a moment to examine
what each of these include and what they indicate. The first column starting to the left is labeled key
domains and issues in integrative Christian counseling. This is the column under which we list the nine
domains of human functioning. The mind, emotions, transformational goals, actions, motivations,
organic factors, relational factors, pneumatic elements, and history that metamorphose stands for.
There's also some additional information in terms of functioning that fall under this column as well. For
instance, under the mind, we list related areas. Cognition, thinking, reasoning, and analytical skills.
Imagination, presuppositions, and their abilities toward discernment. Additionally, for each domain,
there's a key scripture included to help you reflect on the history of spiritual formation and so care
related to this area. And to have as a reference and using scripture when you're working with your
clients. Column two deals with psychological theories and elements. Using the mind again, has an
example. And moving across the grid, there is some background and spiritual formation provided. And
in this area of functioning, there are some references to theories such as cognitive behavioral therapy.
Cognitive behavioral therapy says, we
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ought to identify cognitive distortions, faulty assumptions, and automatic negative self talk. That's a
good beginning as you think about how to address thinking problems, cognition problems, or recent
problems that clients are having. Also, from a very different theoretical perspective, there is a reference
to the ad Loria on theories that to address these issues of the mind involves the re-education, a faulty
thinking, and gaining access to private logic. From object relations point of view. Addressing issues of
the mind involves identifying details of history and representations that feed clients perceptions,
attachments, and desires. So for every area of human functioning, there are five to six counseling
theory, framework and spiritual formation backgrounds included has a way of thinking about problems.
Column three include biblical references. This is intended to be a resource for you in the counseling
room. And in preparation for counseling with a client. By looking up specific Bible verses that speak to
that particular area of human functioning that you're trying to address. For example, if you're working
with a client who's having distorted thought problems and negative self talk, problems that fall into
areas of the mind. There are some Bible verses that you might refer to, Proverbs 1412, which speaks to
self- deception and faulty thinking. Isaiah 4013 to 14, where the mind of God as compared to human
reasoning. Or Romans 86 to eight, where Paul assures us that conversion produces different thinking
that is found in a spiritual mind. Column four is a brief synopsis of spiritual formation principles that you
might apply to your counseling work based upon the area functioning listed in column one. If we
continue with the example of working with clients and they're thinking problems under spiritual
formation principles. We would refer to Matthew twenty two, thirty seven, thirty eight. As a reminder
that loving God with our whole minds is the primary goal of cognitive activity. Or First Corinthians 211
through 16. The goal of cognitive therapy is to be an avenue for the working of the mind of Christ. Or
romans 122, human transformation follows a spiritual pattern that differs from patterns of the world.
Finally, for each of the nine areas of human functioning, there are specific techniques and strategies
that a Christian counselor might consider using. For instance, when considering the mind, you can try
the technique of exploring private thoughts and automatic self talk. In terms of habits of thought,
presuppositions, worldly values and attitudes. You could try having them memorize Scripture to help
teach Spiritual Foundations for godly thinking and replace faulty thoughts and perceptions. You could
have them use journaling to explore ruminations and reactive patterns of thought. There are also some
suggestions for using techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy, such as cognitive and covert
modeling, thought, stopping, reframing, and identifying cognitive distortions. Will I hope that by
reviewing the metamorphic grid, you've been provided with some good background on this tool to
begin using it in your counseling work.
