The book, The New Christian Counselor: A Fresh and Biblical and Transformational Approach, was authored by Dr. Ron Hawkins and Dr. Tim Clinton. The book is an excellent guide for Christian Counselor 's seeking to integrate the bible and psychology, and to help clients through a Christian transformational approach to counseling.
Summary
There are numerous important concepts in The New Christian Counselor book. The first important concept is the cry of the soul, which is accurately actively listening to the client to ensure hearing "past hurts, present struggles, and future homes" (Hawkins & Clinton, 2015, p. 7). Clients experience brokenness due to sin and listening for the cry …show more content…
Their integrative Christian counseling approach uses research, theology, psychology, and spirituality. The approach focuses on listening to the client which is the cry of the soul. Many times, clients are broken due to sin in their lives. The approach of Hawkins and Clinton has a unique focus for clients that suffer from anxiety. Their approach to dealing with anxiety include prayer, focusing on good, and imitative learning. The new Christian Counselor approach ties together God 's word, the church, and psychology. The approach is holistic which ensures that Christian counselor 's are able to easily adapt to treat clients with many different issues they face in life. The bible tells many stories about struggles and challenges people faced throughout biblical times, and the bible provided solutions to those struggles, God. The approach used by Hawkins and Clinton points to God as the author of all things and therefore, God is the solution to ones …show more content…
Clients are broken and they seek answers, along with healing. As a counselor in secular or faith-based practices, Christian 's in the role of counselor, can offer clients hope. Many clients seek the help of a counselor because they have reached the end of their rope, resulting in feelings of hopelessness. Counselors can offer clients hope by letting them know that by working together as a team, the client will once again find hope. Christian counselors can offer hope to clients that suffer major mental illness, that struggle with not being able to complete daily living activities, or may be facing homelessness. The third concept that counselors can use is the three biblical antidotes to anxiety. The three antidotes for anxiety include prayer, refocusing thoughts on "the things that are good and true and worthy of our focus," and imitative learning (Hawkins & Clinton, 2015, p. 48). Some secular practices are open to faith-based counseling. In this situation, the three biblical antidotes can be used in the secular and faith-based setting. Many times, clients that suffer from anxiety often abuse substances as a means to deal with their problems. The Christian counselor can help these clients find new solutions to