Psychology Theology and Spirituality

The duties and responsibilities you need as a Christian Counselor

As you delve into the holistic class of duties and responsibilities of the Christian counselor it is vitally important to understand the phenomenon which often changes within the dynamics of each case. We are counselors looking into the defragmented  pieces of  individual livelihoods to mend the sufferings of  different kinds of pain that needs to be validated and classified as normal so that the client does not see themselves as being weird or strange.

 The ability of the client to see himself or herself and what they are experiencing as a normal occurrence will determine the kind of normalcy they'll have as they try to get back to life the way it use to be.  One of the main duties as a Christian counselor is to recognize your limits and avail yourself to see Gods limitlessness in every situation that you may encounter in your client to counselor sessions.

As a Christian the scriptures admonishes us to acknowledge God in everything and he will direct our paths, Proverbs 3:6.  We must trust in the Lord with all our hearts believing he is able and wise to do what is best in the decisions and directions we make as Christian counselors and the decisions we make in our own personal lives.

Prayer should be the foundation of which we learn to build a working relationship with our clients. It's important as a Christian counselor to remain faithful to the role of your Christian principles which is your invocation and commitment to God and man.  Never compromise your Christian values, the boundaries you set for yourself in the context to your oaths of confidentiality, unbiased opinions, and your honesty to each client whether good or bad.

Jesus always acknowledged his father during his earthly ministry. Luke 5:16 say's, And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.   And at other times we see him in seclusion to the mountains. Luke 6:12, And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Duties should never be compromised. There will be instances that our inability to solve certain issues may cause us to shirk some of the duties that are included in our professionalism. When we're at a road block and don't know if we can help someone through their dilemma it may make sense to avoid them altogether  but remember Jesus never left us.

Never deny to see a client unless you have made the necessary transitions to which you feel you are no longer capable to treat your client and believe that they may  be in better hands seeing a professional psychiatrist.   You are better off emotionally and the client is better served by persuading them to see someone more capable to render adequate care for themselves.

Always leave your personal issues at home, there's no room for them at the office.    

Responsibilities needs to be differentiated because there are other factors that we must recognize in order to be fare in our own ability to remain responsible. Notice that many of these responsibilities require both courage and self-sacrifice, love for one another being the overruling and primary example.   Loving each other requires the courage to be honest, open, vulnerable, and selfless, and these are no easy responsibilities to assume.  We will need courage.

Mat 14:27  But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, take courage; it is I; be not afraid. In the Christian sense, courage is often attributed to both missionaries and martyrs, such as St. Stephen or Jesus Christ.  Martyrs overcome the fear of death for the noble purpose of staying true to their own beliefs.

Counselors and mental health professionals have championed the idea that most fears are really fears of the unknown - and, for the most part,they've been right. Responsibilities always faces challenges.  For the counselor it is extremely important for us to recognize our need for humility as we face responsibility. Humility wil give us the capacity to forgive and will allow us to identify with our clients need to forgive through their own courage and humility. 

Humility is a divine quality that is deserving of all good Christians who are following the paths towards appropriating their faith in Jesus Christ.  Some of the challenges towards humble responsibility should be:

1) Recognizing the similarities you share with your clients. Counselors who have been to therapy are familiar with taking on the client role. We need to see ourselves as better adjusted, more healthy and Spiritually sound to set the correct parameters in measuring up to our clients need for adequacy and experience.

2) Be capable to deal with passive communication and verbal anger. Some clients may show a pattern of responding to you with body language to passively communicate their frustration or anger in the session.  Good counselors draw out emotions and deal with them frequently.

3)Our interactions with our clients needs to be on a personal level in order to reflect our capacity for humility, forgiveness and setting appropriate boundaries.