From Social Work to Biblical Counseling: My Certification Story

I am excited to announce that I am now a certified Biblical Counselor. This journey started in 2021. Well, maybe well before then when I received my master’s in Social Work. Between 2018 and 2022, I received my Master of Divinity and Pastoral Counseling from Liberty University. I must say that understanding the nature of attaining a counseling license was challenging. I learned the difference between holding a counseling license, mainly where insurance billing was how counselors were paid, depending on the mastery and usage of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) for diagnosis, payment, and certification. This manual is the standard for the classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the United States. This manual is used for secular (not connected with spiritual matters) counseling. So why do I speak on secular counseling in the same paragraph that I announce my attaining Biblical Counseling Certification?

Before I answer this question, as I do not want to demean anyone, let me add another classification of counselor. Many counselors believe in the Heavenly Father, yet their level or range of belief varies depending on their spiritual worldview. Likewise, not all people with mental disorders have a spiritual worldview. They have no conception of the reality that the root of their problem is spiritual in nature, meaning their problem is rooted in sin propagated by them or against them.

There are counselors out there who are believers. Their belief system also falls on an extended spectrum of spiritual worldviews. These are Pentecostal, Methodist, Evangelist, Mormon, Catholic, Protestant, and several others. Their personal counseling style, called Integrative Counseling, is a blend of their spiritual worldview and the DSM. These are Christian Counselors with deep connections with our Heavenly Father. Those with stronger belief systems will incorporate biblical teachings as equally as possible while using psychotherapy methods. Some of these counselors received their training from Christian Counseling schools. This was me.

I came to my crossroad during this time. I am a Sabbath-keeping believer and a follower of the Torah rooted in the Gospel of our Messiah. I believe that the depravity of humankind is rooted in sin. Whether it is sin committed consciously or sin committed against another, a broken heart is usually the result. It could be depression, anger, hurt, rejection, immorality, and a host of other sin-rooted emotions. All these emotions and the behaviors that transpire can be explicitly or implicitly examined in Scripture. Often, a counselee will come with a DSM understanding of their problem. Here, integrative counseling helps in the sense that I can take their level of awareness and apply it according to Scripture to assist them in making spiritual choices for healing.

Our Heavenly Father sent His Son, our Messiah, to heal us and teach us the way of salvation (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1). His Holy Spirit is our teacher and guide. Bible schools, universities, and colleges have this belief system. They believe healing takes place by learning what the Bible teaches about sin and how to receive salvation unto sanctification. I agree.

They produce pastors. I desired to be a counselor. Biblical counselors are servants. We represent another part of the body of Messiah. We help those broken and in pain heal as they receive with the help of the Holy Spirit Divine Wisdom from the Most-High “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3, 1 Corinthians 2:13). Biblical Counselors use the Bible to move the counselee through the stages of conviction, repentance, forgiveness, reformation, restoration, and sanctification. This is the beauty of being able to say that I am a certified Biblical Counselor. As a Biblical Counselor, my joy is offering compassion to those hurting, explaining the why of their hurt, and teaching them how to turn to the Words of Heavenly Father for restoration.

As a certified biblical counselor, I am honored to say I am trained in my field. I earned my certification from the Association of Biblical Counselors in partnership with the Biblical Counseling Coalition.

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