"I'm looking for a Christian counselor"
A lot of my consult calls with new clients start out this way. People want to know how their faith beliefs, so often a foundation of their lives, will be incorporated into therapy.
I typically tell them 3 things...
- Your faith is your greatest resource for healing, and when you desire to bring that into the process of therapy, we use it as the foundation for everything else that we do. We reach a point of being at the end of ourselves and our human strength, and the presence and power of God can get us to places we wouldn't reach otherwise.
- The way I incorporate faith into therapy is primarily that I rely on you to spend time in the Word and in prayer, and then bring Scripture and insight from your time with God that resonates with you into our sessions for us to build on as a foundation.
- God designed our brains and bodies to work in a really amazing way, but many things can cause us to get out of alignment with that design. I focus on very practical things you can do to come back into alignment with God's design for your mental and emotional health that are both Biblical and backed by neuroscience (God designed our brains after all, and understanding how the brain works and how to optimize it for mental health is invaluable to healing).
Physical Life vs. Spiritual Life
You are not just a brain, and not just a spirit, and not just a physical body...
God designed you body, soul, and spirit.
This means you have a physical life and a spiritual life.
Your physical life is made up of your physical health - your body - and your mental health - your soul that holds your mind, will, and emotions.
Your spiritual life is made up of your spirit, and God's spirit within you.
Your physical life and spiritual life are intertwined and impact each other in many ways.
Mental health is one of the areas that your spiritual life and physical life intersect.
Your spiritual health will influence your mental health, and your mental health will have an impact on your spiritual connection to God and people.
Unfortunately a lot of counseling, whether in the church or in the therapist's office, ignores a whole person approach. Many therapy approaches focus solely on your physical life with coping skills and talking, and often church teaching presents only spiritual solutions for physical life problems that can leave people feeling frustrated, ashamed, or condemned.
EMDR is an approach that can integrate your physical life and spiritual life to bring healing
I'm kind of a neuroscience nerd. In the 25 years I've been a mental health professional, so much has been discovered about the brain and how it works. As we learn more about the brain, we understand more about how therapy works most effectively. We also have insight into the way God designed our brains and bodies to work for health.
Every time I read a new neuroscience study, I think... "That's in the Bible!"
??????????????????Biblical concepts and disciplines like gratitude, prayer, quiet time, focusing attention on positive things, and taking thoughts captive we now know have a powerful impact on brain health, which has a huge impact on mental health.
EMDR is an evidence based approach that uses what we know about the brain to activate your innate ability to heal. EMDR can help your brain to work in alignment with its innate design for optimal health.
Integrating Faith Into EMDR
EMDR is different than other therapy approaches because it is not therapist led. A therapist facilitates the EMDR protocol, but the idea is that we follow where your mind and spirit lead, trusting in your God-given, innate ability to heal.
This approach leaves so much room for God to show up and work.
The initial phases of EMDR include preparation and resource building. During these phases, we can build adaptive memory networks around your faith, so that we can weave them into how you process and resolve difficult memories.
During the reprocessing phase of EMDR, difficult experiences interweave with positive faith resources to change your perspective on past events and find resolution to move forward. It is common for people to experience God's presence or connect to His perspective while they process. As you process, I'm able to stay in tune with what's happening and where God is leading, pray internally, and reflect back to you patterns or insights I see emerging along the way.
Using this integration of faith and EMDR, I consistently see...
- Reconnection to a deep sense of meaning and purpose
- Renewed perspective on where God was in the trauma
- Repair where faith has felt "broken," which is common in the wake of difficult experiences that are hard to reconcile with your belief in God
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- Relationship changes and healing in marriage/family as it becomes easier to trust and engage with people from a place of greater emotional freedom
- Reset sense of identity in who you are created to be
Unresolved pain can get in the way of your relationship with God, your relationships with people, and your sense of purpose and hope for the future. Healing your pain can free you up to hear God more clearly and connect with Him more deeply, while also reconnecting to yourself and your relationships.
For faith based EMDR or EMDR Intensives in Colorado, contact me for a free consultation.
About Celia Sugg, LCSW
Celia Sugg, LCSW, specializes in helping professionals, perfectionists, and people pleasers struggling with anxiety and overwhelm get results oriented help so that they can experience healing and hope. She provides in person therapy in Colorado Springs, and online therapy across Colorado and Florida.