The State-of-the-Art of Christian Counseling 1
The State-of-the-Art of Christian Counseling
A Personal Perspective from a Christian Psychologist
By, Dr. Brian Campbell, (2015)
The purpose of this paper is to provide a broad overview of the history and subsequent development of my career as a Christian counselor. As the story unfolds, I hope to provide the reader with interesting insights into important topics that are relevant to contemporary Christian counseling. As we travel along the road of my life’s journey,I will stop to address important topics such as the theoretical underpinnings of Christian counseling, as well as more practical topics such as finances, and how to set up a private practice. Eventually, I will provide my view of the current state-of-the-art of Christian counseling, followed by a discussion of what I see to be the future of Christian counseling in our ever-changing society.
I pray that the information I provide will be helpful for LU students who are pursuing careers in professional Christian counseling.
My Bio:
A few words about me… I am a born again Christian. My wife, Claire, and I have been married for 38 years. We have three grown children, and six beautiful grandchildren (I’m not biased—ha! ha!).
I completed my undergraduate degree in psychology at Grove City College, Grove City, PA. Then I travelled to St. Andrews, Scotland (notice my last name is Campbell) to study for my doctorate in psychology. While there, I met my wife-to-be, Claire. We married in Scotland, and I returned home to complete my pre-doctoral clinical psychology internship at the Veteran’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.
I then went on to do a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Developmental Disabilities in a program affiliated with Brown University, located at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Child Neurology, in Rhode Island Hospital. Following my postdoctoral education, Claire and I decided to move south (we had had enough of the winters in St. Andrews, and Pittsburgh—where I was born and grew up) and I took up a position as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Nova University, located in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
We stayed at Nova for over 10 years. During that time, I primarily taught doctoral level courses in our APA approved Ph.D. and Psy.D. clinical psychology programs. In addition, I taught some Master’s level courses in our psychology counseling program. When I left Nova, I had been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. After 10 years as a professor, I decided to go into private practice as a Christian counselor. Claire and I moved to Lake Mary, Fl., where I set up an office and was in private Christian Counseling from 1990 until 2015.
Over the years, I have written three Christian counseling books and I have developed a Christian Counseling website (Counseling4Christians.com) which won an award as a "Top Counseling Resource." In my capacity as an online professor at Liberty University, I returned to the profession of teaching, which is my first love, and my spiritual gift.
My Calling:
Many students pursuing a career in Christian counseling feel a special calling on their life. They feel that God is at work in their lives and that God has called them to serve others through a career in Christian counseling. In my own life, there were two flashpoints that influenced the course and direction of my life. The first occurred when I was 18 years old.
God gifted me with a very good singing voice. As a child, I sang solos in church since I was about six years old. When I was older, I took professional singing lessons, sang in a touring choir at Grove City College, and also participated in college opera productions.
Backing up a step, when I was 18 years old (in 1968) I was selected to sing in an ecumenical singing group of young people who were selected to go to Bogotá, Colombia to sing at the Ecumenical Congress held by the Catholic Church and overseen by Pope John Paul the IV. Our missionwas to help soothe the tensions between Protestants and Catholics in South America. (By the way, I was raised Presbyterian).
When we arrived in Bogotá, we were filmed on TV and then whisked away to meet the Pope. In the blink of an eye I was standing on the podium with the Pope nearby. Then I looked up and glimpsed am astonishing sight. There were over one million people gathered in the audience that day. There was literally a sea of white handkerchiefs waving at the Pope that seemed to go on forever. I had never seen so many people in one place, and I probably never will again.
As God preordained, I was chosen to sing some solo lines in one of the songs we had prepared. I will never forget standing up to the microphone and singing (in Spanish):
Of my hands I give to You O Lord
Of my hands I give to You
I give to You as You gave to me
Of my hands I give to You
There are no words to express the joy and peace that I felt at that moment. But little did I know that another event later on that day would be even more significant and literally change the course of my life.
When the Pope came to visit this Bogotá, all the orphan children living on the streets of Bogotá and sleeping under newspapers, were rounded up and put into special camps. Our choir members decided to visit one of those camps. It was there that I encountered a young boy who came up to me, put his arm around me, but was clearly unable to speak. He was completely mute. I tried to talk to him, but he couldn’t speak at all. But although he couldn’t speak, the way he held me spoke volumes.
It was at that moment I distinctly remember saying silently to myself, “I’d really like to help kids like this when I get older.” I was scheduled to attend Grove city College after the summer break. Because of my experience with this young boy, I decided to major in psychology. And as Paul Harvey used to say, “And now you know the rest of the story…” But this was not the end of the story. Jump forward 22 years, when I was 40 years old.
As mentioned above, the first 10 years of my professional career were spent teaching doctoral level clinical psychology at Nova University in Fort Lauderdale Florida. At that point, I had reached the rank of Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology, and I was effectively tenured. But I wasn’t happy. For years, I had been struggling financially trying to support my three children and still have my wife stay at home to raise the kids. When I was first hired at Nova, in 1980, my salary was $16,500. Ten years later, even after my promotion, I was only making $38,000 a year. To put things in perspective, my brother’s wife was a home economics high school teacher in Pennsylvania. She only had a bachelor’s degree, and for a nine-month contract she was earning $55,000 a year.
So, at age 40, I decided to leave the University try to make my career in private practice. At that time, psychologists had just received approval to bill Medicare for services. I landed a big contract with a nursing home facility and was going to “make my millions” serving elderly residents. Unfortunately, the contract fell through three months after it began. There I was-- a wife and three little children, with no money and no job. To say I panicked would be understatement. However, in retrospect, it is clear that these events were ordained by God.
I tried everything to get work. I was going to wear a sandwich board that said: “Will talk for food.” But God kept the door tightly shut until I was well and truly broken. One day, in utter exhaustion, I stopped my car along the road, got down on my knees, looked up and told God that I couldn’t go any further. I remember holding out my arms, as if presenting a gift, and saying, Thy will be done!
At that moment, in an instant, I felt a peace that transcended all understanding. I had finally submitted my will, to God’s will. I know He must have been waiting a long time for me to say those words. I was instantly filled with the Holy Spirit, and my life would never be the same again.
My “born-again” experience shaped the course of my life and my career as a Christian counselor. At that point, I didn’t know what I was going to do or where I was going to go. I just knew I could trust the Creator of the universe to guide my steps. I was finally nestled firmly in God’s will, rather than my own will. If my mind started to wonder I started to worry, I would shake my head, look up, and turn everything back over to God. Then, “peace like a river” would flow into my heart.
Now that I was filled with the Holy Spirit, the next part of my story unfolded fairly quickly.
Many of you undoubtedly feel called by God into the Christian counseling ministry.
But I strongly recommend that you stay open to God’s plans and not your own. His ways are not our ways, and it is often difficult to discern the path ahead.
Stay in the moment and stay in connection with God. Completely abandoned your will to God’s will.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5)
As the Scripture suggests, we are not wise enough to direct her own paths. I frequently have to tell myself to “get your little pea brain out of the way” and turn everything over to our heavenly Father. Make tentative plans for the future, but then turn them over to God. Don’t try to insist on your plans when roadblocks consistently block your progress.
Turn to God and ask for guidance and direction. Be prepared to change course and change direction at any point in time. Abandon yourself to God’s will and don’t fear that there are minor changes or even major changes in the course of your direction. Remember when Jesus told the rich man to “drop everything” and follow Him. Even bold and radical changes are sometimes in order to properly follow God.
You may even find that your time spent as a counseling student is brief, and that God will move you on serve in other areas of his kingdom—even before you finish your degree. As you study, just do your best with the talents God has given you. If you have limitations, accept them. Not everyone is equally skilled in all areas of life.
And how do you make decisions as you move along the path of life? Personally, I look for “peace.” If I abandon my will to God’s will, I feel a deep sense of peace. I am no longer making the calls—God is. Wherever He wants me to go, I will follow. But God rarely speaks directly to me to tell me where I should go, or what decision I should make.
When I am faced with a decision, I pray to God for wisdom and guidance. If no clear answer emerges, I just keep doing what I am doing, and wait on the Lord. If a clear answer does emerge, the door that opens up is characterized by peace. I walk through the door without any fear or trembling.
“Do not be anxious about anything,but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).
After my “born-again” experience, some marvelous things started to happen. I sold my house within two weeks in Fort Lauderdale and, at the same time, I was offered a job in Christian counseling in Orlando Florida. The doors opened up so quickly and so smoothly that I felt like I was riding a wave of peace. No more fear. No more anxiety. Just a great sense of excitement about what God was going to do in my life. I wasn’t sure of everything, but I knew for certain I was going to be a Christian counselor.
Historical Perspectives:
I entered the field of Christian Counseling in 1990. At that point in time, major health insurance carriers typically allowed for patients to spend up to 28 days in and inpatient psychiatric facility—no questions asked.
Christian inpatient programs were springing up around the country, and were operating within the publically funded inpatient psychiatric facilities. I had privileges at one of the hospitals and I became a service provider for one of the programs. National organizations such as RAPHA were spreading across the country and it began to look like there may be a real Renaissance of Christian counseling.
However, at about the same time, other forms of insurance companies started to emerge. HMOs, PPOs and other less traditional insurance companies started compete in the market. Most of these insurance companies undercut the traditional “large players” such as Blue Cross Blue Shield. The competition drove down prices and reimbursements. To cut costs, the length of stay in psychiatric facilities was dramatically reduced. The month-long Christian inpatient programs could no longer be sustained. As a result, they dropped out almost completely. The average length of stay in psychiatric facilities dropped to an average of three days.
Private Christian inpatient facilities still exist, but the costs are often exorbitant. You can view a list of some of these programs on my Internet site: Treatment Centers.Most of these programs focus on addictions and eating disorders, using traditional 12-step programs that evolved out of the treatment of alcoholism. Many of the programs are only available ‘out-of-state.”
Bottom line, in today’s world, you are unlikely to find very many psychiatric facilities that offer Christian oriented counseling – especially public sector facilities. Unfortunately, if you do send someone to an inpatient facility, very little psychological treatment is likely to take place. The focus is on medication management and release as soon as client is stable. This usually occurs within the first three days of inpatient “treatment.”
As far as I know, there are no longer any long-term Christian oriented treatment programs in publicly funded psychiatric facilities. However, private practice Christian counseling has continued to survive since I entered the field in 1990. Interestingly, I named my private practice “New Life Christian Counseling Center.” Some of my friends advised me to not put the word Christianin the title because I would miss out on the non-Christians who might want treatment from me.
But I stuck true to my calling. I kept the word Christian in the title of my business. And God honored this decision. Here is what happened…
There are a lot of Christians in the Orlando area. When they would call up their insurance companies to ask for a referral, they would specify they wanted a Christian counselor. Of course, I was one of the few providers who used the word Christian in the title of their business. As a result, when the referral specialists for insurance companies would look down the list of providers, my name stood out as being distinctively Christian oriented. Bottom line…I started getting all the referrals. To this day, before I retired, I never did any advertising at all. It was clear that God brought these people to me because I honored Him.
Honor God and He will honor you.And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
When God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. (Ecclesiastes 5:19-20)
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
Theoretical Perspectives:
Interestingly, the story of my career threads through many of the major theoretical developments that have ultimately led to contemporary Christian counseling. As I recount my story, you’ll be able to see how early theoretical models of psychology were combined to arrive at the most efficacious treatment modality for Christian counselors, namely: Christian Cognitive – Behavioral Therapy (CCBT).
Psychoanalysis: Candidates for licensure in psychology are required to undertake a 2000 hour (one year) APA approved predoctoral clinical psychology internship. In 1978, I returned from Scotland, to undertake my predoctoral internship at the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh. The great majority of internships at that time were based almost exclusively on psychoanalysis. Although I knew virtually nothing about psychoanalysis prior to the internship, I am a fast learner and I dove into the model head first.
I mastered the terminology of id, ego, superego, and all the other esoteric terms that form part of the psychoanalytic “language.” However, psychoanalysis never really “sat well” with me. I was too much of a scientist, and the scientific literature supporting psychoanalysis was scant and lacking in many ways. I did not like the “reflective” and nondirective nature of the treatment model. Over the year that I provided treatment, I can honestly say that I’m not sure if I helped many people. Yes, I did observe evidence of catharsis and abreaction, but not much else.
As an aside, all of the psychiatrists in my generation were also trained in psychoanalysis. Today, comparatively few psychiatrists utilize this treatment paradigm. In fact, most psychiatrists do not provide counseling at all. Without an acceptable treatment model, psychiatrists were “left out in the cold.” Today, most psychiatrists simply provide psychotropic medication. In fact, I would go so far as to say that most authorities today would consider it unethical to provide treatment based on the psychoanalytic model. Once again, psychologists are to provide treatments that represent the highest standards of care available in the community.