What Is Christian Counseling? Is Faith-Based Therapy Right for Me?

Faith-based counseling comes in many forms, but it is always rooted in the spiritual or religious principles of the person or organization providing it. 

Sometimes, that just means your counselor sees their work with you as part of a religious or spiritual mission to serve others. Whether you actually discuss spiritual subjects or incorporate religious practices into your sessions with your faith-based therapist is nearly always up to you. And chances are good that there is a spiritually-oriented therapist out there who is a good match for you even if your spiritual views fall outside of the major religions.

However, if you’re curious about the spiritual dimension of life, a faith-based or faith-oriented therapist can help you connect the work you’re doing in therapy to the spiritual path you follow.

All the better if you find a therapist whose approach to spirituality is compatible with yours. While a therapist from a different religious background can help you explore spiritual questions on your own terms, their ability to engage with you on religious topics or themes will depend on how much they know or understand about your religion or spirituality.

There are many different ways to get faith-based counseling. It’s important to understand the differences between these options. Which one is right for you will depend on your reason for seeking therapy or counseling. 

Pastoral counseling can be an excellent choice when you’re wrestling with spiritual questions. On the other hand, you’re going to want to work with a licensed therapist if you’re having moderate to severe mental health issues and need to work with someone who knows how to treat them.

Faith-based counseling centers can be a great option if you’re looking for low-cost therapy regardless of whether your concerns are particularly spiritual in nature.

Pastoral counseling can refer to a few different things. It can refer to the informal and free counseling you get when you meet with a spiritual leader in your faith community. It can also refer to something much more formal. 

Many faith leaders seek training in therapy to better serve members of the congregation who are in crisis or who are struggling with mental health issues. Some actually become licensed therapists, while others become certified by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. Some certified pastoral counselors continue in their role as faith leaders, while some open a private practice.

Certified pastoral counselors are trained to address behavioral health issues, though not to the same level as a pastoral counselor who also has licensure as a therapist. In a few states, pastoral counselors can obtain independent licensure like therapists do.

If your questions or issues are primarily spiritual in nature, and you have a good relationship with the leader of your faith community, meeting with them one-on-one may be all the help you need to get through a personal spiritual crisis. However, you’ll probably want to see a therapist if you’re seeking treatment for a mental health condition.

And it’s important to understand that while it’s usually free to get pastoral counseling in a house of worship, you’ll usually pay an hourly rate to see a pastoral counselor in an office setting. The rates pastoral counselors charge can vary. In some cases, those rates may be less than what therapists charge, but not always. So, whether or not this is a more affordable approach totally depends on what kind of pastoral counseling you get.

In order to call themselves therapists, faith-based therapists have to get the same license as any other therapist. This means they have the same qualifications to treat mental health conditions and can address any of the issues you’d go to a secular therapist to address, like issues with sex or relationships, work or career decisions, or personal growth. The difference is that faith-based therapists can incorporate a spiritual or religious approach into their work with you if you want. 

There are faith-based therapists from nearly every religious background. You can find therapists who are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu. You can find therapists who are pagans or witches, who practice an indigenous or ancestral spiritual tradition, or who have New Age spiritual perspectives. You can find many who take an interfaith approach. Of course, your best result will come from finding a therapist whose views and values align with your own.

That said, if you are comfortable with it and indicate to your therapist that you are, they can incorporate any number of spiritual practices or approaches into your sessions. This can include prayer, study or discussion of spiritual texts, meditation, mindfulness, ceremony, ritual, or divination. In many cases, however, the way they will blend religious approaches with therapy will be subtler.

For example, a faith-based psychodynamic therapist might reference religious symbolism when they interpret your dreams. Or a faith-based cognitive-behavioral therapist might draw from contemplative principles or practices, such as Buddhist meditation or Christian centering prayer, in their work to help you shift your relationship with your thoughts.

Faith-based counseling centers are non-profit or charitable social service organizations that are run by a religious group. They usually have a religious or spiritual mission to provide therapy or counseling to people who couldn’t otherwise afford it by offering it for free or for very low cost. 

The important thing to understand about them is that getting faith-based therapy or counseling is not a requirement if you go to one. This is especially true for large faith-based organizations that receive government funding alongside charitable donations.

Proselytizing to you would go against the community service mission of these programs. It would also put them at risk of losing their licenses and their government funding. The professional and ethical standards they follow as licensed therapy providers allow them to have a religious mission, but they’re not allowed to force that mission on you.

This is important to understand because mental health programs run by these organizations are often on the front lines in places where affordable mental health care is otherwise hard to find. Many faith-based organizations step up to fill in the gaps when public mental health programs lose funding and have to close some of their locations.

You can find many of these programs listed in our affordable counseling database and in the listings for your state’s public mental health system. If you’re open to going to one, but not sure it’s the right match, you can usually get a free phone consultation or in-person assessment, so don’t hesitate to call one to learn more.

Faith-based counseling is a great option when you want to address spiritual issues in therapy. It can be extremely affordable, even free—especially if you go to a faith-based counseling center or get pastoral counseling from a leader in your faith community.

Faith-based therapy and pastoral counseling can be great options when you’re struggling with spiritual questions or issues that are affecting your mental health. They’re natural choices when you’re a spiritual or religious person. But they can be valid options even if you’re not religious.

Not only will most faith-based counselors follow your lead as to whether you even talk about religion or spirituality, but they also’re well-equipped to help you find your own answers to the spiritual questions you may find yourself asking.

So, if you’ve found a faith-based counseling option that’s affordable and close to you, consider it. A phone call or free interview visit will help you figure out if it’s a good fit. You never know—hope, solace, and healing might be just a call or click away.