714 N. Walnut • P.O. Box 817 • Bloomington, In 47402 • (812) 333-1555
How is Christ-centered counseling different from secular counseling? We asked a Center for Women's Ministries volunteer who has also been a secular counselor. Her answers are corroborated by other women who have had secular, then Christ-centered, counseling.
| Christ-centered/Center for Women's Ministries (CWM) | Secular |
|---|---|
| 1. The living God is present in the facility and each couseling session. The counselor brings the supernatural love of Jesus within her to the counseling session. This love allows the client to trust, share her pain, and experience the redeeming love of Jesus. | 1. Many mental health centers (MHC) have rules that religion is an inappropriate topic in therapy. It is not the therapist's place to facilitate spiritual healing. That is up to the client and whatever church and preacher she may find. |
| 2. CWM counseling is free. The client is counseled as a unique person with unique problems, rather than given a diagnostic label which would affect the counselor's and her own view of herself. The counseling plan is based on that client's needs rather than artificially fitting her into an economic framework requiring either too much or too little counseling. | 2. Before managed care there was no economic incentive to the therapist to ever terminate the client. In the era of managed care, the opposite is true. Now in order for insurance, HMO, Medicaid or Medicare to pay, one must have a mental illness diagnosis. When the money is used up, counseling is over. |
| 3. If a CWM counselor has no outside obligations, such as children at home or employment, her case load can be 5-10 clients per week, and she can still bring the necessary ingredients to the counseling session. | 3. A secular counselor's case load is a minimum of 28 clients, but often 40-50 people are seen weekly. These clients believe the counselor is always fully aware of their entire situation, remembers all their histories and problems, and has planned out the current and future therapy sessions. |
| 4. The CWM holds itself to a higher standard of confidentiality. There is no discussion of clients between counselors. Written session notes are placed in an envelope, sealed and given to the center director. (The counselor may occasionally consult with the center director.) | 4. Much of the client base comes from mandatory referrals. Clients must sign a releaase of information, so treatment content is freely shared with the referring agency. This does not build trust in the counseling session. Diagnosis and treatment notes on clients with insurance or Medicaid can be accessed by the payer. Clients are discussed in weekly staff meetings, and often their dilemmas become joke material (stress relief). All of this threatens confidentiality. |
| 5. Clients are considered whole people with potential to overcome their problems. They are valued and respected. A mentally ill label doesn not become their primary identity. | 5. MHCs require a diagnosis if the client wants counseling. Treatment falls under the medical model of doctor/patient or expert/patient. The client is considered to be suffering from a mental illness, no matter what her problems are. Her self-image can be damaged by being labeled mentally ill. |
| 6. The essence of the healing process lies in the relationship between counselor and client. The volunteer counselor/client connection is a more authentic relationship. The counselor has chosen to be in this relationship out of a desire to serve and to bring Jesus' love to the client, not to earn a living. | 6. An artificial relationship exists between professional counselors and clients. Even if she enjoys what she does, the counselor is there to earn a living and the client is there to provide that living. |
| 7. Psychology and our culture have convinced us that God is dead and that we must rely on science and medicine alone for answers. The Center for Women's Ministries, under the authority and power of the living God, provides the opportunity for true healing through the realm of faith, hope and love. It is only through the power of Jesus Christ that the inner woman finds healing for the soul and for all the deep hurts within. | 7. Our culture has evolved to increasing reliance on science and medicine for answers to all problems. Man believes he has the potential to create a better world through science, technology and brain power. Psychiatry and psychology promise answers to all life's problems. Pharmaceutical medicine promises and produces drugs to address these problems. The goal is to explain all human behavior through chemical interactions in the brain, then design the right chemical to control them. People are suffering more than ever. Despair and hopelessness are rampant. Can medicine eradicate single-parent households, juvenile violence, spouse abuse, infidelity, alcoholism and other substance abuse? Today there are cutbacks in all types of funding for treatment and we are being told that services made available by our employers or the government now need to be provided by the churches. |
