I have been privileged to invest over 30 years of my life into the field of psychology and have been trusted to walk with thousands of people as they grow, heal, and discover their purpose.  I have seen people at their wits end choose life, seen others break the bonds of addiction, and walked with folks addressing trauma and moving beyond their past into the present.  We have worked together to find space and release in areas that feel filled with insurmountable obstacles.  My next few blog posts will be about lessons I have learned from psychology and my clients, as well as how our therapeutic relationships have deepened my faith.

Therapy creates a unique relationship between people.  It is not the type of interaction we typically have with family and friends.  It involves a more intensified single focus on one person:  the client.  Typically therapy includes limited (if any) disclosure by therapists about their personal lives.   While counseling is like coaching and teaching, therapy purports to delve deeper into secret places of pain, addiction, and remorse to bring healing and release.

My friend, Dr. Cynthia Eriksson, once explained the correlation she saw between psychology and the work of the Old Testament temple priests.  The priests entire position in life was to prepare the way for others to meet God.  Some had more “prestigious” positions of praying with the people or entering the Holy of Holies, while others were in charge of less prestigious tasks like sweeping, disposing of the messy aspects of animal sacrifice, or closing the temple doors in the manner God prescribed.  She posits we as therapists are like the “lesser” priests who take care of the mundane and less popular details of life, the work that then clears the way for people to connect with God.  The priests were not God, only servants of God.  We are not healers, only servants of the One who Heals.  I love this analogy.