How Christian Counselors Can Change The Lives of Troubled Girls

With the unparalleled rise of Christian Counselors -- including those employed by Christian Boarding Schools for troubled girls from -- and Christian programs that are springing up throughout the US, we thought we'd provide a thorough examination of what Christian Counseling is and help you decide if it's suitable for your child.

The following is an examination of what Christian Counseling is and Isn't. Moreover, it applies to all Christian Counselors, not just those employed by a troubled teen program for troubled girls from.

What Is Christian Counseling?

As the title suggests, Christian counseling is a Jesus-centered psychological treatment that combines spiritual principles and traditional mental health treatment. A Christian therapist may bring up biblical matters and, with permission, may pray with patients. They may additionally talk about faith-based messages while addressing the mental health issues of their patients as well.

Accredited Christian therapists can diagnose and treat mental illnesses, such as stress and clinical depression, while also approaching their spiritual needs.

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Christian counseling is distinct from secular counseling. According to the International Association of Biblical Counselors, Biblical therapy "seeks to thoughtfully identify those areas in which a Christian may be defiant to the principles and commands of Scripture and to help him learn how to submit to Jesus' will. Therefore, Christian therapists approach psychology, albeit through a biblical lens. They see the Bible as the source of all truth.

The History of Christian Counseling

Christian counseling originated between the late 1960s and early 1970s with the Biblical Counseling Movement led by Jay E. Adams. Adams's 1970 book Competent to Counsel advocated a Christian-based approach that differed from the time's psychological and psychiatric solutions.

Principles of Christian Counseling

Christian counseling focuses on a few main principles:

It focuses on the care of the entire person, which includes: body, psyche, and spirit, as it is also sometimes named "soul-care," and supports the values taught in the Bible. Christian therapy strives to help those in need reacquire a sense of purpose for their lives in Jesus Christ.
Christian counseling maintains that the essence of what they do is to help others better understand themselves and God, which is rooted in the Holy Spirit's conviction.
Christian therapists and psychiatrists attempt to make people aware of the sin that has caused them suffering and come to know their immense value as a person to God.

Christian Counselors Incorporating Psychology

The effort to combine counseling, psychotherapy, or other systematic or academic endeavors with Christian or different religious perspectives or methods is sometimes called "integration." Integrating academic discussions with theology has a long history in academia and remains in many colleges and colleges that have continued instituting religious foundations. There are varied classifications of integration, as it has been translated differently over the years.

Christianity has been compounded with psychology thus far by reflecting how psychology and the Bible agree and not incorporating the teachings of psychology that don't agree with the Bible. While this tactic is still in development and remains to be looked at, there have been notable efforts to try and integrate the two.

Stanton Jones and Richard Buteman came up with a list of three different methods on how integrating psychology and the Christian religion. The methods are called practical eclecticism, metatheoretical eclecticism, and academic integration.

The first system, pragmatic eclecticism, looks at the best solutions for determining patients' problems based on a previous analysis comparing different methods that have been used. The second method is regarded with the counselor's effectiveness and looks at the tactics they use that are beneficial and those that are not.

The third method takes previously existing theories and makes that the baseline upon which further research can build upon. All Christianity and psychology integrators believe that the underlying truth is that all truth is God's truth.