The Flow of Counseling
If ‘What is Biblical Counseling’ is the most common question that I receive then some variation of, ‘Well what does the process actually look like?’ is almost certainly the second. This post is intended to help clarify the counseling process to help you and your congregations understand a little more about the counseling process.
‘How long is the process?"‘ That’s an excellent question! While some counseling approaches seek to keep an individual in counseling for as long as possible (often to line that counselor’s pocket), Biblical Counseling takes a different approach. 2 Corinthians 3:18 reads, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into this same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The goal of the Christian life is what we call progressive sanctification, gradually becoming more and more like Jesus. While decidedly a slow process, Biblical Counseling intends to help get this process moving. We help counselees get into the Word and prayer, to take a hard look at their sin and grow in understanding how Christ is to be loved and magnified in every sphere of our lives. With this in mind, there is an expectation of growth in faith and repentance within the counselee’s life. There is an expectation of growth in the areas mentioned above. “That tells me there is an end goal, Kevin, but How long is the process?”
Starting out I like to meet counselees every week for about an hour. This helps us to take the rough edges off of whatever needs addressed, allows us to build a working relationship and allows us to get into Scripture, recognize roots and patterns of sin and show how Scripture speaks to these areas. My initial goal is about 6-8 weeks in this stage. After significant markers of growth I typically move to twice a month. This allows a counselee more margin to practice these principles and to review them together. This stage might last another 2-3 sessions and from there I typically set a 30-day check in. Assuming nothing has hit the fan and there are no major steps backwards, I will ‘graduate’ my counselee from the process. This is not to say that they will never return for counsel and equipping, but that they are equipped to handle their difficulty and to continue counseling themselves, engaging in community and practicing the Spiritual Disciplines as they behold the glory of the Lord and continue in their sanctification.
All in, my hope and prayer is that the process start to finish does not last much longer than 12 weeks, but that is in the Lord’s hands. Some cases may take significantly more time while others significantly less. Either way, my heart is to help point you towards your Savior who is able to do far more abundantly than you can ask or imagine.
