What Is Faith-Based Counseling?

Mental health counseling is a form of help that can be tailored to many individual interests. Some mental health professionals make a point of incorporating spiritual or religious elements in their therapeutic practices. They may do so because they primarily serve a particular religious community, because they themselves adhere to religious principles in their own life, because they feel they have a religious calling to help others, or because they believe that those experiencing distress can especially benefit from the help of God and spiritual teachings.

Faith-based counseling is available in almost every variety of faith. It may be of special interest to those people for whom religion plays an important role in everyday life. At the same time, it may be of benefit to those who are experiencing a crisis of faith or questioning their purpose in life.

Typically, faith-based counselors understand the important role the Bible or other religious text plays in guiding the behavior of individuals and the value of faith in helping people through crises. Such counselors are often familiar with the types of struggles individuals may have related to faith, family and other relationships, sexuality, and all other aspects of life. Their own faith background may provide a welcome sense of safety for clients—an assurance of shared worldview and values.

Choosing a counselor well-versed in the principles and values of a specific faith can help those raised in it to speak freely about troubling thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Faith-based counselors differ in the degree to which they incorporate secular principles of psychology into their work. In addition to their religious orientation, many faith-based counselors have undergone training in a number of secular treatment modalities and have at their command a wide range of tools to treat the many ways psychological challenges can affect a person’s life.

Who is faith-based counseling for?

People of all belief systems can experience periods of mental and emotional turmoil. A faith-based counselor typically seeks guidance from and incorporates principles of behavior from religious texts. Such an approach may be particularly helpful to those encountering marital difficulties or family problems, experiencing prolonged grief, struggling with substance use, or questioning their purpose in life.

Faith-based counselors are also often familiar with the types of struggles individuals may have related to faith. In addition, like all counselors, they are equipped to help people manage the emotional difficulties and personal challenges that can arise in everyday life.

How does faith-based counseling differ from traditional counseling?

Traditional counseling and therapy, based on principles of psychology, regard individuals and those with whom they are in close relationships as the agents of change when they are feeling distressed or struggling with challenging situations. Faith-based approaches see religion as a resource to draw on, especially in times of difficulty. They endorse prayer and reliance on a higher power to provide guidance. Clients are typically encouraged to examine themselves and their life through faith-derived principles and values.

By way of contrasting examples, a couple seeking faith-based counseling because they are struggling with their differences, perhaps even infidelity, may be asked to mutually increase their commitment to religious principles as a way to minimize their differences. The same couple seeking traditional counseling might be asked questions that explore the roots of their differences, with the goal of diminishing the disruptive power of those differences, and also be coached in more respectful ways of arguing.

How can I find a good faith-based counselor?

Faith-based counselors differ in the degree to which they draw on religion and spirituality in their practice; to get the kind of help that fits most comfortably, it is important to ask a candidate counselor what role religious principles play in their work and what role secular principles play.

Whether traditional or faith-based, mental health counseling requires that practitioners hold a master’s degree and are licensed by their state. There are other forms of counseling that are faith-based, with differing educational requirements. Pastoral counseling, for example, is usually conducted by a leader of a religious congregation for members of their fellowship. Pastoral counselors may hold a degree in psychology as well as in theology. In the U.S., Biblical counseling, as defined by the Association of Biblical Counselors, draws exclusively on the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

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The Psychology Today Therapist Directory enables anyone to search for a licensed therapist or counselor not only by the convenience of location but by various categories of expertise, such as specific mental health conditions and life problems they may focus on and treatment approaches they are trained in. In addition, users can search the directory for a therapist who openly acknowledges and respects such important facets of identity as a client’s faith. Search results provide extended profiles of therapists who meet desired criteria along with important information about credentials, fees and payment options, and special communities they are comfortable serving.

To find a therapist near you, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.