Christian Counseling Cannot Be an Anchor if Christ Isn’t Defined

Camille McDaniel (00:05.234)
Welcome back to another episode of Christ in Private Practice. Today we are going to be talking about a conversation that I’ve heard a couple of times actually come up and so I felt like it would be something that could benefit a number of mental health professionals who are Christians and seeking to integrate Christ more and more into their counseling sessions.

I’ve heard therapists kind of just talk about that they’re not always sure about what Christian counseling really looks like, what Christianity means, and how do we serve different denominations when they don’t align with the denomination we are. So I thought, you know, this would really be a good topic to dive into and to

bring some clarity, you know, because I think that this is something that we should kind of stand clear on. And I believe that this episode can really do just that prayerfully. It will. And, you know, always I love to hear what your perspectives are. So feel free to comment and to write me as you all have. And I appreciate your comments and I appreciate

your email. as we kind of take a look at the topic for today, you know, some, some people might say, well, you people have so many different interpretations these days and Christianity means so many different things to so many different people. Some clinicians may feel like, well, you know, I don’t know that I can get too deep into what Christianity really is. I didn’t go to seminary. So

I’m not qualified to speak on those things. And I just want to acknowledge this at the start that, you know, if that’s something that resonates with you, you are not alone in feeling kind of that pull or feeling that tension. But again, the message in the heart of today’s episode is that Christian counseling cannot be an anchor for those seeking it.

Camille McDaniel (02:32.148)
if we as the Christian mental health professionals cannot define what Christianity is. And we’re not talking about forcing our beliefs on our clients, forcing definitions on our clients. We’re not talking about pushing doctrine or getting into back and forth debates about denominations. We’re not going to obviously turn therapy into a sermon, but what we are talking about is clarity.

And with clarity comes integrity and professionalism and ethical delivery of the support services that we provide. So knowing the faith that we claim to have and the faith that we claim to say we integrate is really important so that we don’t unintentionally offer clients

a version of Christianity that is just shaped by the culture, shaped by confusion or personal preference instead of being shaped by scripture. Because let’s be honest, today clients are searching. They are looking for a therapist who is not just Christian in identity, but that can incorporate a Christian worldview.

into their counseling experience. You know, they’re hoping that the person that they work with has a steady understanding of who Christ is and you know how to integrate scripture into mental health care for full healing and how faith actually fits inside of you know, all of this therapeutic process that they are coming for. I’ve heard it over the years time and time again.

I’ve been licensed since 2005. So over the years, I have heard where people were surprised that you could have Christian integration in your counseling session, also disappointed that they had referred someone to go get Christian counseling or they themselves went and got Christian counseling or sought Christian counseling for a child. But the mental health professional that

Camille McDaniel (04:57.838)
advertised as offering Christian counseling didn’t know anything about Christianity and didn’t offer any integration or you know any more than I want to say superficial understanding and it and I’ve heard that a few times it was really disappointing because they were really seeking direction they weren’t really seeking to

define it for themselves and then tell the therapist what their definition was. They were seeking professional expertise and someone who understood how they could better align their life and deal with their challenges according to their faith in Christ. I know that it gets complicated when we talk about this because Christianity today has

a lot of different views of what Christianity is and it has a ton of denominations and traditions. I mean you you know you have Lutheran and Baptist, you have Pentecostal, you have Methodist, non-denominational. There’s you know there are there are a lot of different denominations and some of those denominations people would like describe them as being more charismatic and

Some denominations might be more traditional is what they may refer to, or there’s just a lot of different ways to describe and different things that go into each denomination. And so it’s no wonder that clinicians can kind of feel unsure about how to offer Christian integration or define Christianity.

without offending someone or without misrepresenting the background of someone. But again, I want to bring clarity and bring peace where there is possible confusion. you know, we’re going to talk about how Christian counseling can absolutely work across denominations. I’ve had a counselor ask me, you know, how do I, as this particular denomination,

Camille McDaniel (07:22.606)
help a client who’s coming, but they’re a different denomination. And you can honor your client’s faith traditions without compromising your own and the core of Christianity. It’s really about Christ. we’re going to be looking at what brings us together. And that’s ethical.

It is a part of being ethical and professional when we’re talking about the spiritual care of the people that God trusts you to support at this particular time. So if you’re ever in a position or have been in a position where you’ve thought, well, what do I do when a client’s denomination differs from mine? Or how do I integrate faith without getting into any kind of theological debate?

or even how do I define Christian counseling in a way that is biblical and professional, then we have a lot to discuss and we’re going to jump right in with why clarity matters in Christian counseling. Because I think that’s just basically the heart of the issue. We need clarity.

Here’s one of the things that really came to me and stuck out to me when I I thought about this whole podcast episode is that You cannot guide somebody Toward the Lord if you’re unsure who he is You cannot provide Christian integration if you don’t know what Christianity is How can you ethically market

Christian counseling if you’re not clear on the foundation of what Christianity is.

Camille McDaniel (09:28.872)
That’s just not really possible. If somebody is coming to you for an eating disorder and you ask them, what does an eating disorder mean to you? And then from there, you develop your whole treatment plan based on their definition of an eating disorder. Is that the best use of your expertise?

and your training and your studying? Is that the best use of your expertise for the overall health of your client? Okay, let’s go ahead now and replace that with Christianity. If somebody is coming to you and they want Christian counseling, we absolutely

ethically, professionally are going to ask them how they want their faith to be integrated into their counseling session. We absolutely are going to find out how their faith impacts their worldview and their life. But when it is time to administer the Christian counseling treatment and support, we are not going to go by

a multitude of definitions of who Christ is and what Christianity is and what Christian counseling should be according to each session that you have. You might have, I don’t know, let’s say 10 sessions in a week of individuals who want Christian counseling. And if you asked everybody what it means to them, as in how do you define Christ, then you might find yourself on a multitude of paths.

So we do have to have clarity. We have to understand what is the basis upon which we are developing the treatment plan. What is the basis, as in the foundational understanding, upon which we are then developing the coping skills and integrating them into mental health treatment. This talk that we’re having today, we’re, you know,

Camille McDaniel (11:53.24)
We’re not judging wrongfully, you know, or anything like that. This is about being responsible. When clients are choosing Christian counseling, this is not about just choosing like the latest and most popular treatment modality. This is not like choosing a vibe, choosing an aesthetic. You know, this is a worldview centered around the creator of the universe who

is the savior of our souls. This is pretty serious. It’s a foundation and a way of seeing human beings and their suffering and the path to healing and purpose and identity. And that should come through the lens of scripture and understanding the Lord Jesus Christ. And many counselors might feel

really nervous. I don’t know, dare I say even afraid to define Christianity for a variety of reasons. They may be a bit afraid to define Christianity because they don’t want to be divisive, you know, given that there are different ways that people look at Christianity. They don’t want to offend their clients.

Maybe they feel unqualified because there are some who have said, you know, I didn’t go to seminary. I didn’t do extensive training the way they did. So I don’t really feel like I’m qualified to talk to what Christianity is. Sometimes they might be avoiding potential disagreements and they may think that

if they are clear about what Christianity is and what Christian counseling therefore is, that they would be imposing, wrongfully imposing their beliefs. But this is where we are really going to have to shift our thinking because it’s none of those things. Clarity is not manipulation. Being clear,

Camille McDaniel (14:20.822)
is about being honest, it’s about being professional, it’s about being ethical because informed consent on how you are going to deliver a treatment modality or what you understand about that treatment modality is important. It is ethical. And the clarity gives clients comfort. So the clients actually know.

who you are and how you operate your knowledge and how you might integrate in order to help them achieve the goals that they have for coming to counseling in the first place. So let me just say this really plainly that Christian counselors, they do not have to be theologians. We understand you went to school and trained for mental health, right? Okay.

Not theology. No, some of us did. Some, there are some counselors out there who went to seminary and they are integrating both the training that they got in their graduate studies of psychology and mental health and also the training that they have in the scriptures. but we didn’t all do that. Christian counselors don’t have to be theologians, but they do need to know Christianity.

And so let’s kind of, you know, let’s just look at like, what is Christian counseling and what it’s not. Here’s, you know, just kind of a basic grounded definition of Christian counseling. Christian counseling is professional mental health care that views people and problems and healing through the lens of scripture. And it’s centered around

Jesus Christ and it is guided by the Holy Spirit. So it’s not complicated, it is not divisive, it is not about a denomination, it is biblical. It is about the inherent Word of God being true. And Christian counseling is not about

Camille McDaniel (16:46.472)
letting our clients define God for us and then we take our direction from that and then develop a treatment plan. It’s not about blending the culture and what’s popular with scripture to make it more palatable. It is not about keeping our faith so vague that it loses all meaning. It’s

You know, it’s not about using the Bible verses, kind of cherry picking them without full understanding as coping skills. We got to know at least, know, what the scripture is saying in the context in which it is referenced.

You know, Christian counseling, it’s Christ centered. It’s scripturally rooted. It is spirit led and it’s clinically sound and it’s ethical. You know, we want to know, we want to know that we want to stand firm on that. We want to be able to be bold in that so that we can move forward and have good direction and be able to serve the people God has for us.

well, doing it well, doing it confidently, because we have clarity and we know how we are to move forward. Now, I had mentioned this one, like when I opened up this episode and I said, you know, we have a lot of denominations in the Christian faith. And so let’s jump into talking about that because

What about all the denominations, right? This is the part that for some clinicians gets a little shaky, may feel a bit uncomfortable. What do we do with all the denominational differences? And for example, a Baptist counselor can absolutely work with a

Camille McDaniel (18:58.228)
Methodist client and you know a Lutheran clinician can absolutely work with a Pentecostal client and and why and how well it’s you know, because Yes, the denominations differ in practice they do But not in the core of Christianity again, that’s there might be a lot of differences

There might be some faiths that say they are Christian and your understanding of Christianity and your studies show that there are some things that are misaligned. There might be a lot of things going on when people talk about their denominations, but you know what we can do outside of all of the different traditions that come with denominations and the different beliefs?

that come with different denominations and what we want to stand on as mental health professionals who are integrating Christian belief into mental health settings is that we want to have an understanding, a clear operational definition because what’s at the core of our counseling should be our understanding of Christianity and the essentials that define

find Christianity that do not change. So there should be essentials about Christianity that do not change. And the things that do not change is that Jesus Christ is Lord. Salvation is through Christ alone. The Bible is the authoritative Word of God.

the Holy Spirit does dwell within believers and God calls us to repentance, transformation and sanctification. This is all in the Bible, right? We can all agree with that at the core. Why? Because it’s the word of God. This is not.

Camille McDaniel (21:21.718)
It’s not Camille’s word. It’s not your word. It’s not the clinician down the streets word. It’s not the it’s it is the word of God. So you can you can actually go to the Bible and find where it is spoken about repentance changing, know, asking for forgiveness and and changing having not just asking for forgiveness, but repentance is about

asking forgiveness and making a change within our heart that changes our behavior, that changes our mindset as we try to move forward, which is that transformation. That transformation comes from a desire to do different, to be different as you allow Christ more and more into your life. And as you allow Christ more and more into your life, you allow him to sanctify the things that you are doing, sanctify your thoughts, your behaviors, you

all the things belong then to him as you submit fully to him. We can all look in the Bible and find this. So we should not then have any disagreements no matter what on what defines Christianity at its core. This is the foundation. This is the rock upon which we stand and should not shift from church to church. Now,

where do denominations differ then? They differ in their worship style. They do different in their traditions. They differ in like their practices, their communion practices and the expression of their spiritual gifts and their view of how the church should be governed. There are even faiths that have different views about

even heaven and how you might be able to pray somebody after death, pray them into heaven. I mean, there’s a lot of then nuances that we could still kind of get into scripture and find that it may support or not support. But if we are able to stand on the core of what Christianity is,

Camille McDaniel (23:47.722)
then in all that we do for our clients, we can continue to direct them to God, not our personal opinions or our personal preferences, but to God. And then we can help them process how they feel about the faith that they are telling us they align with and want their counseling to align with. There might be some things that they come to sessions with.

that don’t align with scripture, that they say, this is what our church teaches. And that’s fine. Again, you’re not here to get into theological debates with people, but you can just simply say, thank you for sharing that. Now, I know the Bible says this. Is that something that you would like your counseling to align with? So you’re always checking in with clients, always checking in, because this is a process.

If what they’re taught in their church doesn’t line up, but they say that they are wanting Christian counseling, then you as the professional can then ask them, how do they feel about this scripture? Cause the scripture says this, but I understand that you’re mentioning your church teaches that. So where do you want to go with this? How does this, you know, impact you to hear that? And you can process with them because this is all about again,

how are things impacting your client in their world and how does it impact their worldview and what they understand that they might be getting from this Christian counseling experience. Maybe what they’re going to get once you inform them is different than what they thought. And you’ll go from there in helping them. Again, just the same way as like I used the example a bit ago about somebody who’s coming from

for an eating disorder. And you as the specialist in eating disorders might inform them that what they thought about eating disorders or what they thought about treatment within eating disorder should look like might look a little different because these things need to be accounted for or these things are true about eating disorders. And then what do you do? You process with them how they feel about that.

Camille McDaniel (26:11.426)
You process with them, how does that impact them? Same thing with Christian counseling.

So a client might be asked, what does Christian counseling mean to you? Because when the client comes in, obviously we are, like I said before, getting that understanding. then this is how we start to honor their understanding, their history, their experiences. But it should also allow you to then have an opening to share

your approach and share your approach openly. And that goes back to informed consent. Informed consent is not just with the paperwork. Informed consent happens every step of the treatment way because there might be people who start off and they absolutely want Christian counseling. And then along the way they may decide to change their minds and they don’t want it incorporated. We want to share our approach openly.

So if that approaches that you integrate faith from a biblical foundation that centers on Christ and aligns with scripture, you wanna be able to share that. And then you can let them know that I welcome your denominational background as part of your history. But my role is to keep our work grounded in scripture. So.

Clarify what is essential and what’s non-essential, you know, because this will reassure your client that you aren’t here to convert them to your denomination. You can just gently redirect when needed. Like I said, you know, if there’s something that they are saying or doing and it conflicts with scripture, you know, you can say, I want to honor your tradition.

Camille McDaniel (28:16.62)
And that’s as in to help them. I don’t want this to come across harsh or I don’t want this to be judgmental. I want to honor your tradition. And I also want to make sure that our work stays aligned with biblical principles. That’s a compassionate way to be able to say there’s a conflict here. It’s professional, it’s ethical.

and it is still aligned with faith. So

How do we then take what we’ve been talking about so far and integrate this into our business? How does this become a part of our business model? Well, you know, your business integration or excuse me, your integration of Christ becomes a part of your business that you are going to define on your website or in any of your marketing materials. So you could have something said on your website or…

in your marketing like our counseling integrates biblical truth with evidence based clinical care. We are Christ centered scripture grounded and Holy Spirit led. Feel free to take that one and you know use it for your own marketing materials in your own website. No and then you can go on to say we welcome clients from all Christian backgrounds and work respectfully with your faith tradition while

anchoring our work in scripture.

Camille McDaniel (29:55.052)
So again, respectful, compassionate, truthful. So this is ethical language. It’s very clear language. It’s Christ-centered language. Clarity doesn’t scare away the right people. So for those who are fearful that if you actually put this out there,

and it’s on your website or it’s on your directory listings or it’s on any of your written materials, it might scare away people, but clarity doesn’t scare away the right people. It really doesn’t. It just allows the right people to find you. So this is where we kind of lean in to any of our…

concerns, our fears about business and will this, will putting this out there so clearly and so honestly, will this cause people to not come that if that’s a fear of yours, lean into the idea that standing on your faith so boldly might be a bit scary. Lean into the idea that, you know,

providing counseling for people might cause some people, or providing counseling for people in this way, mean, might cause some people to turn away. But again, you don’t ever want to fear that trusting in the Lord and offering counseling to all people.

Because even in other episodes we’ve talked about how to offer counseling. You can offer Christian counseling. You can be a Christ center therapist, even if you are practicing with individuals who do not want Christianity in their counseling explicitly. But you want to just not be afraid to be clear. Yeah, not be afraid that by being clear, the Lord won’t provide that somehow.

Camille McDaniel (32:13.986)
you know, this is going to devastate your practice. It’s definitely a faith walk. I’ve, you know, I’ve heard, and again, this is kind of where this whole episode came from. I’ve heard clinicians, you know, just express that because Christianity has so many different interpretations and we have so many denominations that they just didn’t feel confident defining it or they didn’t feel as, you know,

right really to define it. But you know again here is the truth that if Christianity becomes whatever people want it to be then Christianity loses its authority.

Christianity is not grounded in people’s interpretation. Christianity is grounded in scripture. So, you know, the book of John chapter 17 talks about sanctify them by your truth and your word is truth.

So.

Camille McDaniel (33:35.619)
you

Camille McDaniel (34:20.424)
And this was the prayer that Jesus prayed, that his Father in heaven would sanctify them.

And so, as he said, your word is truth. God’s word is the truth. So sanctify them by your truth. God’s word is truth.

Camille McDaniel (34:52.682)
If you feel unsure about defining Christianity, you’re not alone. This is not about shame. It’s an invitation to deepen your understanding and invitation to return to the basics. Let the word of God steady your counseling, your worldview, your heart. You don’t have to know everything, but you do need to know Jesus.

and you don’t have to have a master’s degree in theology, but you do need to know what the Bible teaches. Clients are not asking for perfection, they’re asking for spiritual stability. Have you been outside lately? The world is wild. People are looking for stability.

Again, like I said, Christian counseling, it can work across denominations if we understand the core truth of Christianity. It works when Christ is the foundation, not the culture being the foundation, not personal interpretation being the foundation, not our identity and in our different denominations, but in Christ.

So Christian counseling again cannot be an anchor for those seeking it if we cannot define what it is.

Camille McDaniel (36:32.118)
I hope that this episode has given you lots to think about and again, I’m open to your emails, I’m open to your comments and I thank you for joining me on this podcast episode. If this episode spoke to you and you feel like someone else can benefit from it, share this episode with other clinicians. Join us in the Facebook group.

Let me know what your thoughts are. Let me know other topics you would like to hear about as we are preparing for a new year, another year, my goodness. And until we meet again, God bless.