So you've ended up on a Christian Counselling website. What could Christian counselling possibly offer a non-Christian?
Perhaps the idea of Christian counselling rings alarm bells for you. Perhaps you're concerned about judgement, hatred of your identity group, or being evangelized to in a counselling session.
Let's start off by saying that if you feel judged, hated, or pressurized in counselling of any kind - that is unethical. You should tell your counsellor you feel that way, if you can. If you don't feel comfortable or safe to address it, you should leave that counselling relationship immediately. And that counsellor should have a complaint against them sent to their supervisor or organizational body. If you have concerns about your counselling relationship, you can get free confidential advice from the BACP.
Reaching out for counselling is vulnerable enough. You deserve to be treated with respect and dignity in your counselling time. And good counsellors will aim to give their clients the kind of care and empathy that is hard to ignore.
If you are not a Christian, I would not include a faith element in our counselling. It would not be ethical or right to do so.
Similarly, if you are a Christian and you don't want faith included in the counselling, I'd respect that choice as well. People have many reasons to want to include faith in counselling and many reasons to exclude it as well.
One thing you can know about me as a Christian counsellor ... while I hold to the ethics of my professional bodies, I also hold to the even higher standard of love set out for me by Christ.
If you don't know the story of Jesus, and you only see the impact of Christians historically, you may feel like there's a lot of judgement and pain from Christians. Yes, that's true. But Jesus himself, and many Christians throughout history who did not make the news, have loved in a way that is truly and deeply transformative.
As a Christian, I see you as made with deep, inherent dignity. I see you as worthy of love, even if you've never been loved well before. And I see you as someone who is worth caring for. That is what you will experience in Christian Counselling here at Renewal.