How is Biblical Counseling Different?

Biblical counseling is guided by a faithful interpretation of God’s perspective of an improved way of life.

The best counseling helps people trust God enough to reorient their lives towards an application of His principles and purposes. Biblical counseling embraces that choices have consequences on a relational, spiritual, and personal level. Biblical counseling doesn’t view all possible outcomes as equally beneficial or even acceptable just because the client, culture, or clinician prefers it.

A biblical counselor has done their job well when the counselee sees that God is good, His word can be trusted, and your goal together is to discover how to best honor God in responding to life’s trials. A good biblical counselor commits to wrestling with various biblical principles and how they should impact the way we think, feel, and desire.

In a word, we believe that good counseling requires good theology.

The theologian AW Tozer captures it well with this quote: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Good theology has a place in good counseling, and it is impossible to truly improve life without it. While biblical counseling is certainly more than a theology lesson, it must wrestle with how a counselee views God and how that impacts the trials they are facing.

Make sure the counsel your receive is biblically accurate and compelling so it won’t bring further harm or distress!

Suicide Prevention Awareness

Trying to tell the difference between what expected behaviors are and what might be the signs of a mental illness isn't always easy. There's no easy test that can let someone know if there is mental illness or if actions and thoughts might be typical behaviors of a person or the result of a physical illness.

Each illness has its own symptoms, but common signs of mental illness in adults and adolescents can include the following:

• Excessive worrying or fear

• Feeling excessively sad or low

• Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning

• Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria

• Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger

• Avoiding friends and social activities

• Difficulties understanding or relating to other people

• Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired and low energy

• Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite

• Changes in sex drive

• Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don't exist in objective reality)

• Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior or personality (”lack of insight” or anosognosia)

• Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs

• Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)

• Thinking about suicide

• Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress

• An intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance

Mental health conditions can also begin to develop in young children. Because they’re still learning how to identify and talk about thoughts and emotions, their most obvious symptoms are behavioral. Symptoms in children may include the following:

• Changes in school performance

• Excessive worry or anxiety, for instance fighting to avoid bed or school

• Hyperactive behavior

• Frequent nightmares

• Frequent disobedience or aggression

• Frequent temper tantrums

Where To Get Help

Don’t be afraid to reach out if you or someone you know needs help. Learning all you can about mental health is an important first step.

Reach out to your health insurance, primary care doctor or state/county mental health authority for more resources.

Contact the NAMI HelpLine to find out what services and supports are available in your community. 

If you or someone you know needs helps now, you should immediately call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or call 911.

Receiving A Diagnosis

Knowing warning signs can help let you know if you need to speak to a professional. For many people, getting an accurate diagnosis is the first step in a treatment plan.

Unlike diabetes or cancer, there is no medical test that can accurately diagnose mental illness. A mental health professional will use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, to assess symptoms and make a diagnosis. The manual lists criteria including feelings and behaviors and time limits in order to be officially classified as a mental health condition.

After diagnosis, a health care provider can help develop a treatment plan that could include medication, therapy or other lifestyle changes.

Finding Treatment

Getting a diagnosis is just the first step; knowing your own preferences and goals is also important. Treatments for mental illness vary by diagnosis and by person. There’s no “one size fits all” treatment. Treatment options can include medication, counseling (therapy), social support and education.

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May is Mental Health Month

As we embrace the sunshine, energy and change of seasons that these early days of May are beginning to bring us, I want to remind you that May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

Focusing specifically on mental health provides an opportunity to remind ourselves and those in our lives to stay connected to each other, to ourselves and to our community.

Part of being human is for each of us to move with our emotions, to know when something isn’t going exactly how we want it to, to check in with ourselves and to reach out to friends, family or a trusted adult for help when you need to take some time for your mental health or don’t know what to do. Here are a few tips to consider: 

•         Write down your daily accomplishments and celebrate them.

•         Create a self-care plan to support your mental well-being in your daily life. 

•          Find joy, connect with others, help others and/or learn something new on a daily basis.

•         Learn how to cope with stress with practical exercises like taking a few slow deep breaths, focusing on each of your senses and trying to be fully present in what you are doing.

•         Make small goals. Taking time for yourself is not something that will happen overnight.

•         Get out in nature and be present with your surroundings.