Counselors say it’s a hot topic now, and clinics find patients open to the approach

Counseling with a skilled psychotherapist is a helpful process, but more and more people are asking if it wouldn’t go better with God — or some manifestation of divine guidance.

"It’s a very hot topic in psychology now — how to minister to emotional and psychological needs in a faith-based way," said marriage and family therapist Barbara Massey, clinical director of Samaritan Counseling Center of Southern Oregon, one of several such clinics. "It’s one of the fastest growing areas of psychotherapy."

When people hear of religious counseling, they usually think pastoral counseling, where the minister frames your problems in a scriptural context. This is different, said counselor Jim Stumbo, director of the new Wellspring Counseling Center in Medford.

Faith-based counseling uses a client-centered approach, where the therapist works primarily with psychotherapeutic methods, Stumbo said, but tries to find "positive resources" — including God — in the clients’ lives, rather than the pathologies that may be making them unhappy.

"Our calling is toward compassionate service and bringing out the strengths that are familiar to them, whether it’s friends, exercise, meditation, nutrition, joining clubs and, of course, God or some spiritual presence in their lives," said Stumbo, whose counseling center formed when four counselors split off from Samaritan.

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Faith-based counselors will treat clients from any religion, said Gabriel McCoy of Family Counseling and Consulting in Medford, attempting to bring out and explore their understanding of God — or some divine presence.

"A lot of people come to us with a punitive orientation to God," McCoy said. "Working with this, we try to bring out an understanding of God as a gracious, forgiving, loving, caring and relational being and challenge them to a different view."

Many clients suffer from feeling they live in a world without God, said the Rev. Karen McClintock, an author and clinical psychologist with Samaritan. "Depression, negative self-talk and thoughts of suicide are part of not having hope. We use religion to bring hope."

Faith-based counselors don’t slavishly follow scripture, she added, but will confront "negative religious beliefs," such as a man who feels he has the right to beat his wife because he’s head of the household — or a woman who feels obligated to go back for more such treatment.

Do they use prayer as a therapeutic tool? Yes, but only if asked, all faith-based counselors said. "If they indicate interest in praying, I offer to pray with them," said Massey. "Often, I will suggest silent meditation, which allows a Buddhist or Muslim to pray in their own way. I never inflict prayer on anyone. They could be mad at God because they had a child die or some other reason."

Samaritan Executive Director Rex White observed, "It’s not so much God as the belief in God that allows healing."

McClintock agreed: "If you grab hold of the belief that you can change, then you do, by believing that God is making you new."

Faith-based counselors face the same "presenting problems" as other psychologists — depression, anxiety, addictions, adjustment disorders (after divorce, illness, death of loved one), domestic violence. All said they treat them with the same methods, bringing the problem, causes and solutions into the client’s awareness and helping them make positive choices, but with a twist.

"I might say, are there any moments when you have feelings of hope," said Massey. "How has God got you through things like this? Do you feel the presence of God in your life? Are you getting support from anyone who knows God in his life?"

Faith-based therapists add another ingredient — love, treating the client with "unconditional positive regard" and lots of plain old, heartful caring, even though the psychological examining board would not allow her to mention that as a tool in her work, said McClintock.

"It’s strength and asset-based, rather than pathology-based," said Stumbo.

The clinics charge about $125 an hour for insured clients, who make up about 80 percent of their caseloads, with fees sliding down to $50 for the uninsured.

Samaritan, which operates on the grounds of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in downtown Medford, treats indigents at no cost from an Innkeeper’s Fund (playing off the story of "no room at the inn" for Mary and Joseph).

As an index of the demand for faith-based counseling in the Rogue Valley, Samaritan, part of a nationwide organization of such clinics, started 11 years ago and now has more than 7,000 client visits a year. Another branch operates at Trinity Episcopal Church in Ashland.

Stumbo believes people are seeking faith-based counseling now, not so much from personal psychological problems but because "We live in a post-modern age where we’ve lost consensual agreement on core meanings and are witnessing the decline, death and transformation of all institutions — government, education, churches, unions — around which people built their identities."

Stumbo, a Baptist minister, said, "It’s a time of great spiritual exploration and curiosity. Evangelicals seek faith-based counseling because they want Christian counseling but may feel the church is too busy being a church, and they can’t find that specialized care they want. Another client may have had extraordinarily vivid visions on LSD following the death of his father and he feels church is too narrow to help him.

"In these clients," Stumbo said, "I’m not content to look at symptom alleviation. Here, the malaise might be a sense of emptiness that’s really a longing to be part of something bigger. I would ask, what is the function of the depression and try to place them in a larger narrative — and that often includes a new kind of relationship with God."

John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org