In a non Christian setting, there are a lot of different challenges that a Christian counselor will face when confronted with behavioral issue
In a non Christian setting, there are a lot of different challenges that a Christian counselor will face when confronted with behavioral issues that a client might have. The first step is making sure that we are well versed and skilled in our counseling techniques. This helps us maintain the highest level of ethical standards possible. We cannot place judgement on our client. Its not our job to and we cannot help them if we do. So it is important that we put our own personal feeling aside if/when we face something we disagree with. If we don’t, not only will we not be able to help, but we could cause harm. A Christian counselor should be comfortable in their own spirituality and relationship with God in order to have the confidence to know if confronting “sin” with the client is appropriate, and when. We should never confront the client until we have a solid understanding of exactly what the client is dealing with and how they might react to certain methods that we might use in confronting their “sin”.
Being skilled in our technique will allow us to best determine when and if confronting sin is appropriate and also to identify if we have gained an acceptable trust relationship with the client. Working with the client and being able to guage when they might be ready for confrontaton, will allow the therapist to present solutions to the client, as we help to make them aware of and create a healthy interpretation of their sin. Brewer and Peters (n.d.a) suggest that a critical skill that counselor must possess is the ability to evaluate the level of trust in the counselor-client relationship, because when we build this trust we are in effect creating a scenario where the client will not be so offended when we do confront them on the issues of their sin. We must also be able to identify what is driving these behavioral abnormalities, in order to create an effective intervention startegy. Brewer and Peters (n.d.b) explained how the mainstream psychological model or “external attribution” generally looks a “sin as a sickness that is causing behaviors beyond the clients control, while the spiritual model or “internal attribution” views “sin” as the cause of our sickness through personal experiences and a relationship with God that has become broken. These concepts are important to understand, as we must be able to decipher what the client is dealing with to develop the correct blend of psychological and spiritual intervention techniques in constructing a treatment plan the best addresses the diagnosis. Second, assume that you counseled in a human services setting in which you could integrate spirituality and a Christian worldview.
Review the following brief “case” and answer the following questions:
Based on the lectures and McMinn, why can’t a sensitive Christian counselor just automatically and quickly confront obvious sin in the life of the counselee?
In the case of Jim, he has been through many counselors without any real success, so it would probably be wise that we apply a gentle empathetic approach and initially pray for him silently, as we work with himon building trust. By being patient with him and not judging him on previous failed interventions or his behaviors, we should be able to get him to further open up and become more trusting.
Of the cautions mentioned by the course materials, which ones do you think counselors most often overlook?
Counselors must be careful about confronting sin or clearly wrong behavior. Counselors should always be respectful towards clients who do not believe in the Christian faith. As a counselor, we also have to be careful not to push our views on clients. For clients like Jim that struggle with addiction, we have to be aware of our counseling techniques because condemning someone can push them into a further downward spiral for addiction. Counselors in a secular setting would have to utilize the right Christian counseling interventions in their sessions such as silent prayer in addition to clinical interventions. Counselors can always pray for clients outside of sessions when praying in sessions is not appropriate.
From what you learned from the lectures/McMinn, how would you best address the clearly sinful behavior of this client?
I think practicing empathy with Jim is essential for his success. Too often, counselors get “fed up” with difficult clients that it’s hard to remember they are also human beings that need empathy. Building empathy would increase engagement with the client and would most likely get Jim to open up more and participate more in interventions to help him. Jim has had several counselors and sexual partners so there is some underlying trigger for his behavior counselors have not gotten to yet.
Brewer, G., & Peters, C. (n.d.a). HSCO 506 Week 7, Presentation Two: Counseling methods related to confrontation and confession. [PowerPoint] Brewer, G., & Peters, C. (n.d.b). HSCO 506 Week 7, Presentation One: Sin, confession, and redemption in counseling.
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