SPIRITUAL INTEGRATION IN THERAPY IN ORANGE COUNTY, LONG BEACH & ONLINE IN CALIFORNIA
Your faith is important to you.
We know how healing it can be to integrate it in therapy.
Integrating your spiritual journey with your personal growth can help you heal from the past and discover new possibilities.
Whether you want to integrate your spiritual life because it’s already an important resource for you, or you need to unpack damaging teaching or painful experiences in faith communities, we will join you right where you are.
We respect your journey, whether you consider yourself:
a non-denominational Christian.
somewhere in the post-evangelical landscape.
mainline.
Orthodox or Catholic.
ex-Christian.
a person of another faith.
an amalgamation of various spiritual principles.
A therapist trained in spiritual integration
will create a safe place for you.
You want a therapist who both has the skills to address the struggles that bring you to therapy, and who understands your spirituality and faith.
But you don’t want a therapist who uses religious platitudes, makes assumptions about how you should think or believe, or imposes their version of faith. You don’t need a therapist who is going to try to convert you to anything, or add guilt, shame or unsolicited opinions. You’ve had enough of that. You need someone who can journey through areas of disillusionment, deconstruction and reconstruction. We understand the nuances of faith and our goal is to attune to your needs, spiritual and otherwise.
Whatever your spirituality looks like, please tell us all about it. We can help you integrate it in your healing and growth!
Relating to God
When we talk about the healing of relationships, that can include your relationship with God.
Perhaps you are angry at God or disappointed. Bring it all. We can handle it (and so can God). Perhaps the faith you have isn’t sufficient for the ways you’re struggling. You thought God would answer a prayer or help in some way. We’ll walk with you through your questions. We value the process of these struggles and we are comfortable with uncertainty. We don’t need you to arrive at any certain conclusion. We trust your process.
The healing process can help you have a deeper relationship with God.
God can be that secure relationship that helps you trust again.
The Scriptures and the Spirit can anchor your identity in love and value. He can be the One who comforts you when no one else can. You can also learn to express all of your feelings and thoughts to Him. Sometimes no one else can handle our anger, rage and sadness. God can. Always. We can look at projections of a painful relationship with a parent onto your view of God. Perhaps instead of avoiding God because unknowingly you actually see God as an unpredictable or distant parent, you can understand that your view is actually that of your parent. You can start to develop a different, more helpful view of God, as the loving, good Shepherd or whatever image speaks to you.
What isn’t helpful to your therapy is using God or spiritual principles to avoid difficult feelings or realities.
Pithy sayings can do this, such as, “God’s got this.” or “Everything has a purpose.”
Or we can focus on the spiritual in order to avoid difficult human realities and relationships. Or we can avoid making choices because “God hasn’t spoken.” Sometimes that’s called spiritual-bypassing or over-spiritualizing. As your therapist we definitely don’t have all the answers and we can’t speak for God(!), but we want to help you steer clear of over-spiritualizing.
We want to support your healing with nuanced, attuned, spiritual integration.
Is this your time to heal and grow?
If so, let’s connect!
Find your therapist.
Schedule a free consultation.
Begin a new healing journey.