Christian Counseling Menlo Park, CA. Find a Christian Therapist Near You.

Faith and spirituality can provide comfort and meaning to those guided by their beliefs. I was raised in a Christian household myself so I have an appreciation for the values instilled by religion, the importance of tradition, and the strength of community. My approach to counseling is humanistic and welcoming of all spiritualities. Though I do not incorporate any specific pastoral counsel, I encourage my spiritual clients to draw on their beliefs during the counseling process.

"Not of this world," often found in the logo NOTW, is a common phrase many Christians identify with. There is a lot of truth to this given the teachings of Jesus Christ. In our culture, we are taught to produce, rush, ignore our feelings/truth, and say "Yes" when we really mean "No." According to Christian principles, love, trust, surrender, and forgiveness should be the norm in one's life. Unfortunately, we have all suffered wounds from our families as well as other relationships making it impossible at times to adhere to these principles. Counseling can enable us to reconnect with God in a way that fosters healing, clarity, and authenticity.

In Christian life, the goal is to become more real; more fully all you were created to be in relationship to God and to other people. I will help you access all that is available to you in the Christian faith that can help you in your journey and relationships. Whether you struggle with faith itself, trauma, relational conflict, or other life issues, I provide a safe environment for you to struggle and be authentic without fear of judgement. I also support you in maintaining your autonomy and freedom of choice in your decisions. I draw on the wealth of psychological knowledge in the Christian faith and in psychology and science to help you become a healthier, more fulfilled relational being.

Our deepest wounds are often those that are at the hands of another person. Human brokenness is the root of our need for redemption. This holds true in therapy and growth work as well. When we encounter our deep wounds, we encounter our need for our Big God. Here, we are able to reconcile the broken our hurt parts of our ourselves. I have been a pastor's wife for 15 years. I am trained in integrated counseling. I have Masters degrees in Theology, Clinical Psychology, and Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Master's in Clinical Psychology: Marriage and Family Therapy from Azusa Pacific Universality. In addition, I am a professor at a faith-based institution.

While I do not bill myself as a Biblical Counselor, I do use a lot of wisdom from Jesus and the Bible as well as wisdom from the Eastern traditions, in a non-denominational transpersonal practice. To me life and relationships are spiritual journeys to be explored and mastered. Traits such as humility, surrender, gratitude, service, devotion, awe, and mystery are integral to my methods and style of doing therapy and couples counseling.

Life’s journey is filled with challenges, and many clients seek guidance from a spiritual perspective that authenticates the essence of who they are while looking for a plan to heal symptoms, resolves issues and promote the cultivation of skill, and wisdom to live out their life’s purpose. Together clients and I collaborate and design a plan that enlivens them to successfully transform their lives in the context of their spiritual, family, community and/or professional commitments. As a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, my research in this area enhances and informs my service to clients from all walks of life with diverse spiritual and existential orientations.

Many people going through challenging times and even misguided times are aided by biblical scriptural verse or religious philosophy. There are many times in life where scriptures and religious thought can help to restructure and influence one’s life choices. Biblical concepts speak to the soul of a person who has been raised or nurtured within a religious community and within a religious poetic narrative. My personal background is steeped within the first 24 books making up the Bible, the Tanach, the Five Books of Moses, the Prophets and the Writings, that which is the core of the Judeo-Christian religious foundations. Religious concepts that can be effective spiritual tools to help, enlighten and guide a client’s chosen path to recovery or to healthy...(view profile to read more)

My Christian clients come to me because they want to work with a therapist who shares their biblical orientation to life and growth. I attended Focus on the Family's extended training on the integration of Christianity and psychology in the early 1990s to develop my approach to Biblical counseling. It is my experience that Christians are looking for the same kinds of changes in their lives and relationships that secular clients seek out, and along with these want to find God's purpose and meaning in their suffering. Finding and maintaing an eternal perspective while reconciling current life issues is the added dimension my Christian benefit most from.

I offer therapy for clients who identify as Christian and would like to approach therapy from a faith narrative potentially. I also help clients integrate mental health and their Christian Spirituality healthily and holistically. Lastly, clients who are dealing with faith deconstruction or spiritual trauma may want to seek help with a therapist rather than a pastor. I give clients the safe space needed to process feelings about their spirituality in a way that is nonjudgemental and centered on what my client's needs are.

In Christian Counseling with me, you will experience a safe place to be heard, understood, and coached by a psychologically trained fellow believer. I will guide you on your healing journey using Christian principles with the ultimate goal being more meaningful connection with your higher self, other people, and the Holy Spirit. By having Jesus’ teachings be the framework during therapy, you will be better able to release your pain to God and move toward a stronger faith, freedom from difficult emotions, and more satisfying Christian relationships. Please feel free to call me with any questions or to schedule an initial appointment.

While most Christian Counselors pride themselves on how many Scriptural passages they can recite and how many links they can make from the Bible to psychological disorders, the Christian-centric work of Grey Matters International, Inc.is grounded in one principle: truth. For us, the work is more about truth and transparency of Christ's message and working on the natural laws of accountability and decision making that evolves from that. If one honors God's natural laws of reaping and sowing around the decisions one makes, one is indeed living Scripture to its fullest. We prepare the brain to better maximize the spiritual realities of Christ's words. Contact kevin@kevinflemingphd.com.

I think counseling and psychology are compatible with faith. In fact, I believe faith to be a major contributor to our healing. The maturation of our beliefs is an essential aspect of life. For a person of faith, one must trust that psychotherapy will be inclusive of God. While church and sacred texts can be valuable contributors to finding our way, it is our internal experience of God that is essential. This is why prayer and meditation can be so essential in our healing in psychotherapy.