During periods of depression and doubt, individuals struggling with a crisis of faith and mental health depression may find the help they need via Christian counseling. Christian counselors help clients trade their cycles of depression and doubt for the trust that God has a plan for them. Prayers and expressions of thankfulness integrated into therapy have been shown to have a positive impact on emotional well-being and spiritual renewal.
Models of Christian Counseling
In a search for the best therapist to suit your needs and goals, you will find five practice models for Christian counseling or faith-based therapy:
- Levels of Explanation Approach – emphasizes how things work at various levels for a holistic view of mental health
- Integration Approach – designs treatment plans by combining theories on an individual basis for each client
- Christian Psychology Approach – integrates faith-based prayer with traditional psychology principles
- Transformational Approach – a client-centered model that stresses the identification of deep-root causes of emotional struggles rather than focusing on symptoms, and
- Biblical Counseling Approach – As the name implies, this model uses the Bible as the authoritative source for understanding human mental health struggles.
Make sure to select the therapy practice that follows a model of Christian counseling that makes you most comfortable and that suits your needs and goals.
Overcoming Doubt with Faith
People struggling with depression and doubt often feel isolated from their families, friends, and communities. Christian counselors offer motivation to re-establish a connection with the faith community. The connection may take the form of Bible studies, prayer circles, or other small social groups.
Christian counseling helps restore God’s place in a person’s mental health struggles. Christian depression help integrates religious practice more deeply into a client’s life and works to increase their certainty of God’s love. To do this, Christian counselors combine psychological therapeutic skills with a belief in the strength of the spiritual healing process. Concentrating on the songs in Psalms and other inspiring Bible passages emphasizes that God is always near, provides comfort, introduces inner peace, and inserts hope in depression.
Faith-based emotional healing reminds those suffering through challenging times that God is ever-present, guiding their life along a path following God’s plan. Trust in God’s plan is trust in the possibility of overcoming doubt with faith. Trust in God’s plan brings inner peace.
Building a Stronger Connection to Faith Community
Faith-based emotional healing focuses on stronger engagement with a faith community. Christian faith advises believers to connect with people of like values. Fellow community members will encourage a journey that consists of faith and mental health depression. Finding a small group of mentors who walk with God to prepare for mental health struggles gives the traveler along life’s highway a feeling of peace and of belonging to a wider community.
Spiritual Doubts, Faith-based Emotional Healing
Facing mental health issues for a Christian sometimes means they come to doubt God’s purpose in their lives. They may even doubt the relevance of God in their lives. When therapy fails to address the crisis of faith during a Christian’s mental health journey, that failure may lead to lingering negativity in the form of shame, guilt, frustration, and hopelessness.
A person challenged by mental health issues recognizes three elements to the healing process: the body, the mind, and the soul. The body may be in physical pain, as when suffering from a chronic or debilitating disease. The mind may suffer from disorders such as anxiety, stress, or PTSD, which interfere with decision-making and concentration. The soul may suffer from a loss of purpose, feel disconnected from hope in depression, or feel isolated from family and friends during any number of life’s troubles. Including God in mental health struggles leans on the strength of faith-based emotional healing. It presents a holistic view of the mental health journey. At its core, Christian values interlaced with talk therapy explore what makes a person a human being. Holistic mental health care delves into the concepts of the meaning and purpose of life, and what it means to connect with oneself and others.
Christian counselors will listen without judgment as a client shares doubts about their faith. They will help focus the client’s faith and mental health depression journey on the spiritual questions and resultant emotional fractures. While integrating scripture and psychotherapy tools into a client’s healing journey, faith-based counselors help clients find the spiritual perspective that works best for the client’s overall emotional and spiritual healing. Christian counseling may be bound to a particular branch of religion. Other forms of faith-based counseling may relate to a client’s broader definition of spirituality. They both related to what the client needs and the goals to which the client aims.
In either case, bear in mind that this form of therapy is designed to meet the specific goals and needs of the individual. The counselor does not impose their personal beliefs on the client. The process enables the client to discover and strengthen their own values. Spiritual counseling helps individuals navigate through emotionally tempestuous waters, fraught with anxiety.
Individuals may gravitate toward Christian counseling to reconnect with their religious roots. Others see spiritual counseling as a direct path to defining their personal values, connecting with their inner self, and encouraging hope in their lives. Christian depression help has shown itself to be an effective tool.
Find Renewed Purpose, a New Direction
As discussed above, a person challenged by mental health issues may feel they have lost their purpose in life. They may even question whether life has a purpose at all. Christian counselors help clients find their way back to living and trusting that God has a plan for them.
Faith-based counseling concentrates on an individual’s God-given gifts, innate talents, future growth goals, and a renewed purpose. These are all intended to reorient mental health healing to Christian values.
Christian counselors may suggest reading specific Bible passages that provide a practical way to align the client with God’s purpose and move toward a clear path of spiritual renewal.
Faith-based therapy may help the client discover a new direction, one that they never considered before the crisis of faith.
Choose Therapists Carefully
Not all therapists are the same. When researching the best therapy practice for your mental health journey, it is essential to do the following:
- Review each therapist’s education level and experience in your field of interest, as well as the junior staff’s education level and experience.
- Ask about the specific therapy model that the firm practices.
- If interested in faith-based counseling, ask for references and a description of a sample faith-based treatment plan.
- Ask which Christian counseling model the firm follows, if interested in pursuing that type of therapy.
- Ask about the firm’s experience with Veteran issues, if applicable.
- Ask for a description of the firm’s experience with disability impact in mental health cases.
- Does the firm practice compassionate care and cultural competence?
- What kind of resources can the firm connect patients to?
- What types of therapy are available (group, individual, family, and so on)
Why Choose Refinery Counseling Services
Founded in 2020, this psychodynamic (also known as talk therapy) practice is a woman-minority-veteran-owned private firm. Our therapists provide the following types of therapy services:
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Family therapy
- Adolescent therapy
- Couples therapy
Group therapy consists of a small number of participants who come together to share their experiences on a particular mental health issue. Mental health issues under discussion may include grief counseling, suicide survivor support, depression, anxiety, alcohol and substance abuse, and PTSD.
Faith-based therapy is a component of our practice for those individuals who request it. Our mission is to empower every person along their mental health healing journey. We are committed to cultural competence, compassionate care, and providing a safe place for clients to share with others their goals toward personal growth and healing. We also commit to community engagement for clients and the idea that every person can heal and grow.
Embracing New Horizons
If you, a loved one, or a friend suffers from bouts of depression or doubt, please contact us today. We make it easy to schedule a consultation with one of our therapists via telephone, email, or by submitting the form on our website.
Your therapist will assess your situation, review your mental health history, and partner with you to determine the best course of treatment that meets your needs and supports your mental health goals. Your free initial consultation will provide an opportunity for you to decide if the practice and the therapist are a good fit for you. We strive to make clients as comfortable as possible and provide a safe space for sharing sensitive personal information.
To start you on your way, we invite you to read our July 14, 2025, article entitled “Setting Boundaries Without Guilt: Why It’s Vital for Mental Wellness.”
We look forward to hearing from you soon. Let us show you how time spent in our care will start you on your journey to personal growth and healing.
