Navigating the Challenges of Working with Clients Who Struggle with Faith

Camille McDaniel (00:05.546)
Welcome to another episode of Christ in Private Practice. It’s wonderful to have you here. And if you are new, welcome. I hope you stick around for the journey. We are going to jump in with a really important topic today. I feel like I say that quite a bit, but I do think that this topic today is pretty important for us as Christian counselors.

It’s important because it’s about helping us to like navigate the challenges of working with clients who are struggling with their faith and so as Mental health professionals who happen to integrate our Christian beliefs into the way that we practice It can sometimes feel a little tricky when we have a client who is wrestling with their faith or maybe They’ve lost their faith altogether, you know, so

The question then becomes, how do we honor their journey and where they’re at and respect their individual decisions surrounding it while still being able to align ourselves with our own beliefs and provide them with guidance that may actually incorporate our worldview through the lens of Christianity? So in today’s episode.

We’re going to explore that. We’re going to look at some practical strategies for working with clients at different stages of their faith, whether they happen to be questioning their faith, whether they have rejected their faith, or whether they are rediscovering their faith. We’ll talk about some dilemmas that can come up ethically, boundaries that we wanna go ahead and put into place, and then.

how we can just create a safe space for clients to just explore their faith at their own pace, you know, if they so choose, if they choose to do so at all. So get comfortable, really like get a blanket if you want or get your favorite beverage if you want or just kind of settle in and allow your mind to really focus on.

Camille McDaniel (02:26.274)
this episode as we kind of talk about how we can walk alongside our clients without forcing our beliefs on them and still staying true to our calling as Christian counselors. So with that being said, let’s look at one of the first challenges that we face as Christian counselors. And that is how to respect a client’s individual decisions.

their decision-making ability as an individual while still staying true to our biblical values. It is essential to understand that as therapists, we’re not here to force our beliefs on anyone. And I know we already know that, but we’re just saying it just to make sure everybody is clear about that. We know we are not here to force our beliefs on anyone. It’s not ethical.

at the same time, our faith is deeply embedded into who we are. So it’s just naturally coming with us, right? And we kind of like move forward in this world with a lens that incorporates our faith. So it would be natural that we want to integrate it into our practice. So how do we navigate the balance? And that is bringing us to

you know, the talk about respecting boundaries, right? So if a client is open to discussing their faith, we can definitely, obviously that’s a no-brainer, we can use biblical principles to guide our conversations and to guide the healing process. But if the client’s not open or if the client is resistant, then we need to respect their space. And this means that, like,

prayer and faith integration, it should not happen at like the pace that we want to set for the client. No, that means that prayer and faith integration happen at the client’s pace. If it happens at all, because some people may be very resistant to it. So it doesn’t mean that you can’t pray for your clients. It does not mean

Camille McDaniel (04:49.762)
you know, that you’re not setting the atmosphere maybe before they come with prayer or after they have left. It just means that as far as respecting their boundaries and their individual decisions, we’re not going to always be able to bring that front and center with our clients because this is about their journey and everyone has free will.

So some people will decide that they want to incorporate it and some people don’t wanna talk about it and it’s not comfortable for them. So for an example, if you have a client who happens to be struggling with like anxiety or depression, we can ask them, how do they cope with their feelings, whether good or not so great, how do they cope with their feelings?

as it relates to their faith and how does faith play a role in them being able to work through their anxiety or work through their depression, we can ask them, they have any faith base that allows them to work through it, through that lens? So in this way, we’re not imposing our beliefs, but instead we are allowing the client to share their faith or lack of faith.

and how that all fits into their healing journey and the process that they use in order to tackle some of the things that have been coming up in their life. So it’s really important to remember that our role as counselors is to empower our clients to find their path to healing. It’s not that we’re telling them exactly what path to take. We are guiding them. We are providing education.

We are providing techniques, but we also are remembering that at the end of the day, this is their path. They have the ability to make choices. They have free will. And we are there to be a safe guide. And we want to be able to respect the decisions that they make knowing that we all get to make decisions in this life, whether we agree with those decisions or not.

Camille McDaniel (07:10.498)
So if they choose to explore their faith, that is wonderful. And if not, that is okay. We want to kind of meet them where they are at on their journey and just help to guide them from that place on the journey. As we integrate faith into our counseling sessions, we can also find ourselves facing some ethical dilemmas, especially

like when a client is resistant or uninterested in discussing spiritual things at all or faith-based things at all. So many Christian counselors might even find that they’re asking themselves, okay, can I ethically integrate my faith into this session without crossing a line? So let’s kind of go into that a little bit more because we definitely wanna stay ethical and professional.

You’ve worked too hard for the license, the education to lose it by crossing a line. So one of the biggest concerns is whether or not it’s ethical to share our faith when a client isn’t receptive. So if a client isn’t receptive, is it unethical to share our faith? Well, the simple answer honestly is it kind of depends, right?

Now, according to the ACA or the American Counseling Association, their code of ethics, we can integrate faith into our practice as long as it’s not coercion. We cannot coerce somebody into accepting the faith integration. And the client also, this is very big, and we have, you know, we’ve talked about this in other podcast episodes and many, many.

many professionals, you all already know this, but the client has to be fully informed. So informed consent is going to be the key here. So as Christian counselors, we have to always be transparent about the fact that our faith guides our practices. Now this can be done. Yes, true indeed. You can do this during the initial consultation. I actually…

Camille McDaniel (09:34.882)
Don’t advise that though. I would say that informed, providing information, informed consent when it comes to faith integration should really start with the marketing. So your website, your directory listings, if you happen to accept insurance, what you actually put on the insurance application when it asks what your specialties are. Look, I think all of that is a beginning.

of allowing a client to know that if they come to see you, that they are coming to see somebody who integrates their faith into their practice. And then when they make a decision and they come and see you, then I think it can also then be, you know, stated within the initial evaluation or the initial consultation. Sometimes you will have people come to you and they will totally miss all the marketing.

They didn’t notice it on the website or they didn’t see it on the directory listing or they didn’t happen to notice anything written about that when they got the referral from their insurance company or when they went to look it up in their insurance directory. So those things are very possible. And I have definitely had that occur a couple of times over the last few decades that I have been practicing. when I have asked people, like, well, how did you miss all of that?

which because it was appropriate to ask at the time based on what they were sharing. And it just so happened in those cases, they came from other referral sources that did not happen to mention anything about my faith being integrated into the way that I practice. So that’s how. So yes, you absolutely wanna make sure that it’s a discussion had when you meet with the client, but ideally,

you give them a heads up through the way that you market yourself so that they are able to make an informed decision before they ever call you. So this way that we are always like respecting their values and their beliefs in the way that they may want them and we give them the option to choose. So one of the things that can be another dilemma ethically, you know, outside of making sure informed consent and no coercion.

Camille McDaniel (12:00.17)
is that we can find ourselves slightly in a dilemma ethically when a client requests like professional advice, a professional perspective that isn’t consistent with our beliefs. So an example of this would be like if a client may request to get help with engaging in behaviors or they are making decisions that go outside of our

beliefs that kind of guide our worldview. And this can happen with clients who happen to be Christians or clients who happen to have no faith or restricted faith, you know, but they are asking for help in that way. And a more specific example could be like if a client happens to be in a relationship with somebody and maybe they’re married, but they are like having a relationship outside of their marriage.

And they’re asking you for advice because maybe the relationship outside of their marriage is experiencing some struggles. And they want you to help them have a better relationship with the person that they are cheating on their spouse with, something like that. And I know that there are many other examples. in those moments, those would be prime moments to be able to, again, gently

because with compassion, we want to address all things, but with compassion and also being straightforward. So compassion, but firmly, kind of just communicate where your values align and where, and I mean values as in like there might be some challenges in the way your value system is kind of leading you in the process of counseling this individual.

and talking about where the values might kind of go astray such that it may then influence the way that you are going to advise them or the way that you are seeing the situation, right? So you can acknowledge, so this is how it go, you acknowledge their feelings. So if it happens to be that they are really struggling with the…

Camille McDaniel (14:21.026)
the relationship that they are in outside of who they’re married to, so the infidelity, right? You can acknowledge that there must be a lot of strain and heaviness on them. You can point out that, you know, can tell that, you your mind, your head is kind of thinking through this, you know, and trying to figure out the logic, your heart is being pulled.

in multiple directions, and kind of ask, how do you feel about this situation in light of the value system that you use to guide you as you walk through this earthly journey? What would your value system, what would your faith say if you needed to maybe give yourself a response about how to handle this situation?

by asking a question, by being clear first. So I’m going to go back and kind of, because I don’t feel like I gave really a very clear response on how as the therapist, you might talk about that divergence of belief systems. So let me go back and just say, as the therapist, it may look like you saying, at this point, this juncture,

I believe my worldview, my faith, integrated into the way that I operate as a therapist might go in a different direction than your value system. And I want to be respectful of that. So let me ask you, how do you feel about this situation given your values and your faith? What is your faith? What are your value system say to you in this moment?

about the challenge that you are wrestling with. When you present it that way, then you do actually open the door to a faith discussion without imposing your beliefs and without making it seem like this is a situation of pure judgment. So you are acknowledging the differences in how your worldview and how your belief guides your therapy.

Camille McDaniel (16:49.39)
practice and how that might actually go different in a different direction than where the client is at or maybe even wanting to go. So then you allow the client to do some introspective work and answer that question through the lens of their own faith and their own beliefs. And that may give you a lot of information to go by for this particular individual that you happen to be meeting with. So I would say

Let’s kind of sit on that, how we might be able to do that, because that is a way to open the discussion of faith without coercing anyone into your faith in particular. But definitely then can open the doors where maybe for a client who had strayed from their faith for different reasons, you might be able to then find yourself having some really good discussions with that client.

Another challenge that sometimes can come up when clients have lost their faith or they’re questioning their faith is that as Christian counselors, we may feel like a deep desire to help these clients rediscover their faith and heal spiritually. And that can be so hard. It really can because you feel sometimes the heaviness that is on them. And sometimes you understand the circumstances surrounding why they lost their faith.

and or why they just are not interested in anything related to faith. You understand the story behind it and you really feel for them. You you may have some details and understand how maybe it was twisted, their faith, their belief was twisted in ways that were wrong, you know, which have them now drifting away from their faith in Christ. And that can be really heavy on you.

as a counselor who has a heart for God’s people, right? You know, and a heart for them to heal. So when you have these clients, you know, and you want to, you really want them to heal and you really want them to repair their relationship with Christ, but you have to remember, it’s essential to remember, right? That we have to respect where the client is and we have to respect whatever the client wants to do at that time.

Camille McDaniel (19:11.894)
And maybe that client is, know, baby steps, one step at a time. Or maybe that client is totally closed off to it because there’s a lot of pain surrounding it. Remembering that, you know, for some people, their faith was used to manipulate them. Their faith was used to abuse them. Their faith was used in ways that are just so, so against what the Bible actually says.

And so we want to be able to recognize that if the client is not ready, the client has free will and we are there to just walk the journey with them one step at a time. So, you know, because some clients may have also told you that they have had experiences with spiritual trauma. You you may be very aware that they have sustained some abuse, whether it was abuse in the church or whether it happened to be.

somebody in their personal life using the faith in order to manipulate them or harm them. They may have had some experiences, like sometimes it was just personal pain, where they may have prayed for a certain thing that just meant so much to them and they didn’t receive the answer that they were hoping for. And so it’s important for us to, in all of that, just create a safe space for them to express their doubts.

to express their struggles. It can be hard to listen to clients when they are expressing doubts and anger and struggles when you know that Christ is such a loving God, but you want to hold safe space for them to be who they need to be in that moment and to get it all out. We are listening and we are not judging.

And this is the first step to healing. So here’s where we can though, like gently introduce faith-based healing when appropriate. So for example, instead of us obviously bringing up Bible verses or talking about let’s pray or encouraging them pray, we can ask like open ended questions again. like for example, do you remember a time?

Camille McDaniel (21:34.486)
when your faith helped you get through a difficult situation. This can open the door to us exploring how faith might have played a role in their healing or in their harm. Because when you ask them if they remember a time where faith helped them through a difficult situation, they may say no. Matter of fact, I remember a time where it absolutely made things worse.

And then you can then go down, because again, now at least the door has been open to discussing it. And so when the client allows the door to be opened, then you can walk through it and you can have some really good discussions about faith. You may even be able to say after hearing how maybe it was made worse, know, made the situation worse and they were devastated, then you might be able to say, you know, I am so.

very sorry to hear that because I can feel the heaviness that that has placed on you. Would you be open at this time to me adding some truth because I heard several things that you were told that should have never been told. Were you able to ever find truth? Can I share just a bit of truth with you just for you to?

have and you can discard it if you want, you can hold on to it if you want, you can process it more or not.

Again, that allows the door to be open. We can have those discussions. You can get their permission to talking more and having a conversation versus forcing somebody, which is unethical and unprofessional, forcing them to have a conversation that they’re not ready for, which can make things much worse. The key here is patience and prayer. So,

Camille McDaniel (23:39.202)
As we trust God to work in their lives, we also are trusting that our role is simply to walk alongside them in the healing process, not to rush the healing process at all, but knowing that the Lord is in control, the Holy Spirit will guide us, sometimes even giving us the thoughts and the words to say on that client’s behalf and.

and allowing this journey to unfold the way it needs to at this particular time. So.

there may come a time, talking about at this particular time, there may come a time when despite our best efforts as professionals, that a client is not ready to engage with faith-based counseling. And so if faith-based counseling is what you offer, there may be a time where you recognize that the client’s needs extend beyond

the scope of your practice. And that is totally okay. And you need to know when to refer out because knowing when to refer out is just as important as knowing when to integrate faith into our sessions. So if a client is firmly against faith-based discussions or anything that has to do with spiritual and mental health integration,

And if you know that that is absolutely the way you practice, that it has an integration with it, then it’s essential to recognize the limits. So this is not about moving a client along just because they don’t have your same faith base, not at all. This probably is more aligned with when you recognize that whatever it is the client happens to be struggling with as it relates to faith, or even in times where you recognize that

Camille McDaniel (25:40.13)
The client absolutely wants to have discussions about faith and integration, but it goes beyond a faith that you’re familiar with. They may have a totally different faith and they absolutely want it integrated into their experience. And you’re not able to provide that because you’re not proficient in that area. That’s not the integration that you use, the faith integration that you use. And so…

That can be a time to refer when you can tell a client is wanting their counseling experience to integrate their particular faith and it is not the same as yours. You wanna find an appropriate referral. When you notice that a client happens to have certain things that they are experiencing and even discussions of faith at this time are going to be very difficult.

And if you recognize that that is not something you’re able to offer because all of your services integrate faith, then you want to be able to provide a proper understanding for your clients so that they understand why a referral would be necessary, helping them to understand how you integrate your faith into what you offer with counseling services.

and how if they continue to work with you and you continue to support them, that some of your techniques, your therapeutic methods are going to have some faith integration in it and then seeing how comfortable they are just double checking with them. And if that is something that they’re not comfortable with or if you can see it’s causing them some kind of distress, even if they say they’re comfortable, then you want to have that discussion with them about getting a

a professional, a mental health professional that might be better aligned with being able to meet their needs. Have the discussion, but you wanna be open and honest. And that’s where that open and honest, transparent marketing comes in because you don’t want to have somebody in your counseling room who has seen you for several sessions. And then you just break out with…

Camille McDaniel (27:51.54)
I don’t think I can see you because we don’t have the same faith. Like how devastating, how devastating. So we don’t want to take that approach. We wanna be very careful with how we inform people. We wanna be very thorough with how we inform people of how we operate so that at every step of the way, they are making an informed decision and it allows you all to have very open, honest conversations, okay?

And that would be just the same way with any other client for that matter. I mean, if you had a client who had such severe trauma, you found out that the client absolutely needs someone who specializes in trauma therapy. And this goes beyond what you can do. You want to be able to have that conversation with them, you know, and be able to then see how they want to move forward, a specialized approach. So knowing when.

to refer out is going to be really important. Yeah. It’s also important to remember that referring out isn’t about, you know, it’s not about abandoning our client. That’s why we want to take good care in how we do it. But we are providing them with the best care for their specific needs. So we want to refer out, refer with grace, you know.

We want to have these conversations with a lot of compassion because we do not at all want people to feel rejected or feel like there’s something wrong with them. If anything, it is us who does not have the ability to meet their needs, if that happens to be the case. So.

As we kind of bring our time together to a close, let’s remember that as Christian counselors, we are called to meet our clients where they are, whether that means we’re walking with them through faith struggles, or we are respecting the fact that they have some boundaries around faith and don’t wanna talk about it, or we might be guiding them toward rediscovering their faith if they’re open to it. So it’s about being patient, being ethical.

Camille McDaniel (30:01.45)
and being gracious as we trust God to do the healing work that he’s been doing all the years that we’ve been practicing, right? We trust him to do the healing work in their lives. So thank you so much for listening today. As always, it has been wonderful to have you here. I appreciate you all commenting in the Facebook group.

and also commenting under the videos, YouTube, just to share your perspective or to share a word of encouragement or anything else. It’s always appreciated, always appreciated. So if you have found this episode helpful, please like, subscribe and share this episode with someone that you know who’s in the mental health field who could really

use this information. Reach out to me if you need to at hello at christinprivatepractice.com and I look forward to speaking to you next week. Bye bye.

CPP Ep. 36 Navigating the Challenges of Working with Clients Who Struggle with Faith