Rev. Juan M. Perez
I have counseled persons of the public for almost 28 years. In that time I have counseled hundreds of individuals for thousands of actual counseling session hours. I have counseled people in every area of life from suicide to marriage, from homosexuality to infidelity. I would place my success rate as %100, among those people who followed the process which I taught them. As for those who did not follow the process completely, my success rate among them was maybe %20.
Does this mean no one should trust Christian faith-based counselors?
Counseling is not for people who need it, counseling is for people who want it. If the person is coerced, pushed, threatened, or forced into seeking counseling, they will receive no valuable benefit from it. Those people who seek counseling come to the sessions with one or more ideas of what to expect. Some come believing they already have the right answer in mind, and they are just looking for someone to affirm their decision or choice. The will listen to the counselor, but will only hear when the counselor says anything that seems to agree with their already held conclusions.
Some people seek counseling for the purpose of using what they learn as a battering ram against some other person they may be having problems with; this is usually a married partner. They will grab onto anything the counselor says that the other person is doing wrong, and will hardly, if at all, listen to anything the counselor says they themselves are doing wrong. Other people come to counseling because people around them want them to get the help. Usually these people show up to the sessions, mostly out of feeling pressured into doing so. They usually anticipate that the counselor as well will tell them how wrong they are and how they should be doing what other people tell them is the right thing. And
finally, there are those people who seek a counselor because they need help making some decision or choice. These are the people who most benefit from counseling. They are looking for answers, and they don’t mind learning something new that may change their lives.
New counselors are usually only vaguely aware of the above. To many of them, all clients are alike. They all understand the same language, have the same understanding, know that same things, have the same common sense, agree with the same religious views, and so forth. New counselor have the tendency to counsel each person in exactly the same manner. They tend to think they must handle all cases in the same manner. Therefore, new counselors tend to have low success rates, and this in turn will affect them as to their own confidence in counseling people.
Christian counselors are different from licensed state counselors in several aspects. Notice this review from collegesanddegrees.com.
“If you receive your license from the state in which you reside, then you will be legally obliged to follow all state laws pertaining to the fields of psychology and counseling. While these rules vary from state to state, they all aim to protect the public and its interests. They also guarantee a certain level of professionalism from people working in these fields. The key point about receiving a license from the state, if you wish to be a Christian counselor, is that the state mandates that anyone who receives counsel should not encounter any religious influence from his/her counselor.”
“In most states in the U.S., counselors licensed by the state “must not promote their personal religious beliefs,” because it is considered unethical. It is therefore forbidden for a counselor to pray, read from or discuss the Bible, or counsel against particular acts or lifestyles on which the Church takes a moral stand. A state-licensed counselor may discuss religious viewpoints, activities, principles, lessons, etc. only if the individual receiving counsel specifically requests help in these areas.”
“In contrast to professional state-licensed counselors, those who earn their certification or licensing from a Christian entity are then accountable to that religious organization. These counselors are required to pray, provide guidance based in the Scriptures, and counsel the Word of God. They are also required to promote certain lifestyle practices upon which the Church has a declared stance. The most common of these issues that Christian counselors are likely to face are abortion, divorce, and homosexuality. Much like the states’ mandate, Christian licensing agencies have rules in place to protect people receiving counsel and to regulate the professionalism of the counselors who are certified or licensed.”
But, even with these “rules” which many Christian certifying agencies have in place, they have no real power or authority to force the counselors to legally comply with their “rules,” short of only invalidating their “certification or license” within the religious organization’s operations. The “counselor” can still continue to function as a counselor on his or her own, under no authority, and the clients will never know the difference.
Does this mean no one should trust Christian faith-based counselors?
No. It means that the client is responsible for checking out the credentials of a person certified or licensed by a religious organization, to see if they are still in good standing. This can be done by simply asking the counselor to either show a certification or licensing certificate, which they were physically given during the “graduation” ceremony, or the client may ask for the name and phone number of the certifying or licensing religious organization.
Again, no! Christian counselors can be trusted, but what will make the difference will be how they were trained, not that they got a certificate or license. The sad truth is that each religious organization which “trains” counselors uses their own brand of training. Some give one day training (which typically provides simple glances at the training material, so that they can claim the “student” covered those subjects) for those people on the “fast track” who want to get their “certificate” or “license” quickly, and are willing to pay the fees required. Others offer weekend deals with cursory to basic overview of counseling related subjects and materials so that they can claim to have covered these with the “student”.
Others, who in my own opinion as a counselor trainer with my own brand of training as well, do a better job. The new counselor is taken through a longer training class, usually between six months to one year of training before certifying or licensing the person. These classes are usually more involved as to the manner in which they cover subject areas. In the training I offer, not only do we cover the topic or subject (such as adultery, suicide, or others), but the students are required to participate in class discussions regarding the motivations of the person, the consequences of their actions and choices, and what treatment would be most effective. On top of that, the new counselors are required to do homework, without which they will be refused certification or licensing.
The homework is the most telling of the requirements, at least for my brand of training. The homework process helps me to identify several points of concern with each counselor:
1. Do they understand the subject area? For example, if they are single and counsel a married person, will they understand the intricacies of being married and dealing with a specific problem, or will they think that just because they have head knowledge that is enough to make them the right counselor for the job?
2. All counselors (faith-based and state licensed) must continually refresh their knowledge. This may require attending seminars, reading books, or taking training classes anew. How well the counselor does in his or her research for the homework will tell me how interested they are in learning more to become the best counselors possible for them.
3. How good is their ability to explain things to others? All counselors (faith-based and state licensed) use one tool in exactly the same manner, their mouths. Counseling is about listening to the client, and then teaching those same clients new ways, techniques, and so forth, which will produce new (and hopefully better and healthier) results. If the counselor has trouble explaining themselves through their homework, they will also have trouble explaining themselves to clients.
4. Are they handling their own lives in a healthy manner? Homework means that the counselor must take time from their family life, work time, entertainment time, or other time consuming activity to do the homework. If the counselor has trouble making this time, this is a good indication that they will also have trouble scheduling themselves to be available to clients.
5. Are they disciplined enough to teach other to be self-disciplined? If the counselor waits until the day before the class to start working on their homework, they are proving that the homework is not a priority. This implies they do not believe they must prepare themselves for their clients as well. I can usually tell if someone took time to do a homework, as compared to those whose work seems rushed and ill-prepared.
6. I also learn from the homework which area (or areas) interest the counselor more. This way I start choosing their homework more carefully. By the third month I start assigning homework that will help them develop their knowledge in those specific areas of interest. In a sense, I start helping them to become “experts” in those areas.
As well, I add an additional component which other training procedures do not. I make time for some of the more promising student to attend actual counseling sessions (with real clients) whom I am counseling. The student counselor is invited to attend, but is not allowed to participate. The student counselor is required to take notes of the session itself (not the client’s information), and afterwards I will go over the session proceedings with the student. The learning counselor is able to ask me questions as to my techniques and other things of interest. This will give the student counselor a feel for what actual counseling looks like.
Another component of my training classes is that they are divided into two sections. These classes are usually 2 and ½ hours long. The first section usually involves a lecture on the scheduled topic. I cover the topic or subject in general, then I introduce techniques, steps, or processes I use, and I wrap the topic up with Biblical principles which I use in counseling. After a break time, we enter into the second half of the class. These second halves are used in two different manners. One, I may continue the topic from the first section, with additional information and class discussions; or Two, I will hold practice sessions.
Practice sessions provide the “trainer” (or instructor is you prefer) with much needed information about the new counselors:
1. Are they comfortable with questioning someone else? The students practice being counselors. Often the new counselors will freeze. They will fight mentally to figure out what the “right” or “correct” question must be so they won’t look bad in front of the others students. This fear is theirs alone, because practice sessions are for learning how to do something. If the new counselor cannot get past having to come up with the “right” questions, they will also fail when they start counseling others in real sessions which could impact on the lives of those persons.
2. How well are they able to identify with the client? The students also practice as clients. Their job is usually to follow a predefined issue and response (for example, to play the part of a wife who committed adultery and wants help), or they are asked to make up a problem and create the circumstances in their minds as to what is going on. Besides being a great tool for new counselors to practice trying to figure these out, I also learn from the way they make up information and follow along with it. If the student counselor can create a problem area, and come up with circumstances to go along with it, they are understanding the problem better.
3. I learn about their communication skills. As they practice, I pay attention to what they say, how they say it, why they say it, and what they are trying to accomplish. This gives me great insight into their way of thinking. This is one way I learn how to better teach that counselor, and what homework to assign.
I also cover such topics as state laws which will apply, the Code of Ethics, the rules and regulations of New Life Christian Counseling Ministry (and whatever church we are working with, in training their counselors), and much more.
Other religious organizations offer much the same. Especially those who are also colleges and academic organizations, as well as religious. If a counselor is trained under those conditions and circumstances, the client can expect better results, if they follow the instructions of the counselor.
So again I say, it is the training that makes the difference. We do not certify or license everyone who takes the training. Though some people do take the classes for the sole purpose of learning more about themselves and their families, there are those persons who fail to comply with the requirements for certification and/or licensing. In those cases they will not be certified or licensed, but they will be encouraged to attend the next training class and try again. In my case, I do not charge the person again to take the class. They are able to attend as often as they want, free of charge, until they succeed.
Written by Rev. Juan M. Pérez