Services

I provide individual counseling for women only to help with any issue that you might be facing – marriage, parenting, relationship issues, addictions, mental disorders, issues of the past (including abortion, abuse, and childhood sexual assault), fear, anger, grief, depression, anxiety, etc.

To initiate the counseling process, simply complete the attached “Personal Data Inventory” as thoroughly and as accurately as possible. Your answers to the questions will help me set goals and develop an agenda for your case. Therefore, the more information you provide, the more effectively I can assess your circumstances. I prefer to have your original signed paper copy over a digital copy, so once you have completed your PDI, notify your counselor, who will advise you as to how to forward the forms to them. It will remain confidential.

In the first session, I will want to hear a great deal from you. I will want you to tell me about the problem(s) that brought you to counseling. I will most likely ask you questions to clarify some of your answers on the PDI to ensure our understanding is accurate. I will most likely ask about your past. Because I will design counseling goals around what you tell me, it is very important that you be thorough, honest and transparent with me.

After gathering life data from you that will aid me in developing goals and agenda for your case, I will then teach you a short lesson that I believe can help you discover hope and change quickly.

During the latter part of each session, I will assign “homework.” The homework will consist of your doing some things that you most likely have not yet tried. I design homework to help you in your specific circumstances. I will expect that you will complete your homework before we meet for the next session, because the following session will be built around your homework from the prior session. This will continue week after week, until our goals are met. This makes homework a central component of your counseling. Because I want to tailor your counseling experience to meet your spiritual and practical needs, I will want to hear feedback on your homework experience.

In our sessions, your questions are always welcomed. I cannot promise that I will always answer your question(s) the same day you ask it. Once I make a plan to help you, it is often important for us to adhere to our plan, otherwise “rabbit trails” may be the result. Therefore, if your question is not urgent and it relates to something that is not related to the plan for the day, or if it is necessary for your me to do some research before answering your question(s), the question(s) will often be inserted into a subsequent week’s agenda.

As your sister in Christ, I will come alongside you in love to show you relevant biblical principles that bear on your circumstances. I do not want you to view me as an “expert.” I, like you, am a fallen person, saved by grace. I, too, have needed help from others at various times in our lives. Therefore, you can be confident that I do not look down on you for needing help. It is our hope that the day will come when you can pass along to someone else in need, the biblical truths you learn in your counseling.

The first two counseling sessions are typically 1 – 1 ½ hours in length and subsequent sessions are approximately 50 – 60 minutes in length. There are many factors that determine how many weeks we will continue to meet. I will discuss this with you as you proceed through the counseling journey. It is typical to meet weekly for 15-20 weeks (or 3-5 months). However, there are those cases in which the major underlying issue can be identified and addressed very quickly. There are also those cases in which deep-seeded problems have developed and accumulated for years and more time is required to unearth each of the relevant problems in order to bring about change.

You will need your Bible, a notebook designated for counseling and a pen at all meetings. A three-ring binder with separate sections for session notes, homework assignments and handouts is an efficient way to organize your counseling notes. I will expect that you can quickly locate any item which you have been given in past counseling sessions. Be sure to bring these materials to each session.  Always bring your homework and any materials you’ve been asked to read.

There is no set fee for a counseling session however a gift of any amount is greatly appreciated.

I will typically use books or other materials relevant to your circumstances throughout the course of your counseling and you will be responsible to pay for these materials, including shipping costs. 

I request that you respect my time and commitment to you by being prompt for scheduled sessions, by putting forth your best effort in sessions and in the completion of homework and by giving as much notice as possible when you have to cancel or change the time of a session.