#3 Myth about Mental Health Coaching – Mental Health Coaching #7 – Purity 1349
Purity 1349 05/11/2024 Purity 1349 Podcast
Purity 1349 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a pair of birds and the setting sun over an idyllic ocean beach scene comes to us from an unknown source and the far reaches of my phone’s photo archives as I captured and saved this scene from someone or somewhere on May 10, 2015.
Well, It’s Saturday and as I often look back into the past to process memories and free myself of any burdens they may caused me to carry into the future, I have been on a continual campaign to free my phones memory banks of photos I saved over the years. In some instances, I know I took them – this could be a vacation photo from Cape Cod, but I don’t think so – the dates are all wrong – but I could have conceivably saved it from another source that was mine on that day, but I doubt it, and iPhone wasn’t saving the source information back in 2015 like it does now. So this could be from a FB friend’s sharing or really anywhere else on the “interweb” circa 2015. In 2015 we didn’t think in terms of giving “photo credit” – those days were wild, lawless, and free – but we have learned better since then so if this photo is yours, let us know and we will update the blog after the fact.
2015 was the year I went into recovery for alcohol, in March, by May 10th, I had already had my first, and as it turns out – only ever, relapse. While I may have had my doubts about whether or not the Celebrate Freedom Christian Recovery program could work for me and my “unique” situation, the Lord was faithful to help me, and I thankfully was faithful enough to trust Him and have followed Him into sobriety and increasing freedom, peace, joy, and victory ever since.
So this Celebrate Freedom program – and the Celebrate Recovery material that formed most of its foundation – must have been AMAZING and undoubtedly has led to leading hundreds or thousands of people to experience their freedom too. While I can’t make those claims about our small local program – Celebrate Freedom has only been around since 2015, with a break from 2021 -2023, and has never been able to boast about high attendance or numerous long-term success stories, once source (https://landmarkrecovery.com/celebrate-recovery-vs-alcoholics-anonymous/#:~:text=They%20want%20to%20reach%20across,have%20gone%20through%20the%20program.) states that Celebrate Recovery has had more than five million people go through their program in 30 years. So obviously, a Chrisitan, Celebrate Recovery based Recovery Program has to be the only way to do recovery!
I’m being facetious of course because there are a host of different options for substance abuse recovery treatments and methodologies that have been successful. To think that there is a one-size-fits-all all solution to human problems doesn’t take into consideration the myriad of diverse variables that may be contributing causes and ignores the possibility of alternative treatments and solutions.
However, that claim is exactly what the third myth about mental health coaching makes. This brings us to our series on Mental Health Coaching where we are currently sharing from Matthew Boone’s 2023 Blog Post’s (https://www.lyrahealth.com/blog/what-is-mental-health-coaching/) section on common misconceptions about this relatively new mental health provider option. Boone writes that the third myth about mental health coaching is:
“Myth #3: Mental health coaches use a one-size-fits-all approach”
Boone writes: “Another misconception is that coaches rely on generic, one-size-fits-all techniques with clients. In reality, emotional health coaches rely on well-established codes of ethics, plus evidence-based techniques, while tailoring their approaches to best serve each client’s unique needs and circumstances.”
Boone’s rebuke of this third myth is short because it is fairly obvious that treatments for human problems have to be tailored to the individual needs and circumstances of each case.
As a Christian Life Coach, I may be unable to defend myself against the accusation that my “one size fits all approach” requires that my clients have faith in Jesus – because as far as I and the word of God are concerned – for the “optimal results” of “eternal life” and a “peace that goes beyond all understanding” it does. However, I could offer treatments and techniques for managing mental health symptoms such as depression, anxiety, or high-stress that could be based on general principles of truth – or God’s common grace – that wouldn’t require faith in Jesus but could be helpful – but I would prefer to provide my clients with the “method” that offers the best possibility for success – one fueled by faith in Jesus Christ and that has access to all the promises and power of God for a new abundant life.
But regardless of whether I offer my clients a gospel-based or generic plan to reach their personal, professional, or mental health treatment goals, no two plans would be “one size fits all”. People are different from one another, and I would develop a plan that would help them accomplish what they want to accomplish and would respect their wishes and preferences for the types of strategies and methods we would use.
With my education and experience, I could suggest spiritual formation -discipleship methods, healing prayer ministry, a spiritual warfare-focused training course and prayerful repentance process, or generic cognitive-behavioral techniques to assist my clients to overcome obstacles that prevent them from flourishing and accomplishing their goals.
So there is no “one size fits all solution” and regardless of whether you enlist the help of a Christian mental health coach or not, mental health coaches will provide care and treatment that will be unique to you.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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Today’s Bible verses come to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Death and Eternal Life
1 Corinthians 15:35-57 (ESV)
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today’s verses fall under the twenty-eighth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Death and Eternal Life.
28. Paul describes the beauty and glory of our imperishable, incorruptible resurrection bodies and declares that death will be swallowed up in victory.
Today’s verses are a great discourse for the hope we have as Christians in eternity. Death where is you sting? Noweher because God gives us the victory over death in Christ! And like Jesus, we will one day experience the wonder of a glorified resurrected body.
Forget about those false images of the afterlife of angels on clouds with harps, that’s a trope of ignorance of God’s word. The Biblical worldview may give us the awe of the throne room of heaven, but it also informs us that Jesus is coming back and when he does, the saints in heaven will go marching on in with new bodies to live with Him!
So rejoice! The word tells us – we live forever and one day will have a body that will know no pain, sorrow, tears, or death. We need not fear death because in Christ we have the victory, and its sting is gone.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own private study and to support his work. This resource is available online for less than $10 at many sites.
MORNING READING: ACTS 20
“I am innocent of the blood of all men.” – Acts 20:26
“I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility” (vv. 18-19).
“I kept back nothing that was helpful” (v. 20).
“I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (v. 27).
“I testify to you … that I am innocent of the blood of all men” (v. 26).
“I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (v. 31).
“I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me” (v. 33-34).
This was Paul’s testimony before the brethren at Ephesus. He was to see their faces no more, but he left “innocent of the blood of all men.” What a standard!
O Lord, give me the grace to aspire to this standard.[1]
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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1] Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).
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