Intradisciplinary Integration Case Study

Suffering
Unfortunately, suffering is a part of many people lives. Therefore, as a Christian counselor I will encounter people who are dealing with tough times in their lives. Furthermore, I was recently helping my church out with counseling individuals, and I had the privilege of counseling a client name Jamie. Jamie has been going through some arduous times in her life. I have been counseling her on multiple occasion, however, she feels as though these sessions are not helping her. Although, see feels this way I believe that these sessions are productive.
In counseling Jamie, I have taken a strategic plan that involves an intradisciplinary integration. According to McMinn (2011), “Christian counselors doing intradisciplinary integration, two areas of competence are necessary and sufficient: psychology and theology” (p. 9). In addition, there are some concepts that I have taken. The first question that I asked myself was how could I get Jamie back on track to a healthy productive life. In our first session, I did an assessment to figure out the problems that she was

dealing with.

During this time, I asked her about her worldview. In knowing her worldview, it assisted me with targeting her issues from a Biblical perspective. According to Brewer and Peters (n.d.), the seven earmarks of integrative counseling are as follows: “All truth is God’s truth, be intentional about bridging and unity, have a holistic view of the client’s well-being, have a redemptive worldview, it demands the counselor self-awareness and humility, it requires multi-taking in the counseling process, and integration is intra personal: a way of life” (Week 1, Slide 3). I attempt to build a rapport with Jamie, to build trust in our sessions. Moreover, with listening and understanding her problems, it is evident that unforgiveness is

rooted down in her and is causing her all sorts of pain. If the unforgiveness is not addressed properly, it will hinder her from dealing with the other issues in her life. One of the main reasons she is not feeling that she is progressing is, because the unforgiveness is still present. For the Bible declares, “And whatever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25, ESV). It is imperative for her to forgive herself, and to forgive the people that are involved in hurting her.
Moreover, I also looked at her mental stability. Since there is a lot of pain and hurt that Jamie is dealing with, it is causing her to be weak cognitively. According to Brewer (n.d.), “Counseling focuses on helping client become aware of habits of thought and the connection between self-deception, faulty thinking, and sin” (p. 2). Jamie is suffering from faulty thinking. A concept that I used here, is starting each session off with prayer. During this prayer, an invitation of the Holy Spirit is always welcome (Hawkins & Clinton, 2015). In addition, it is imperative that Jamie develops a relationship with God. By establishing a relationship with God, it will help promoted her to healthy living. I had to help her shift her mindset. In helping her with this, I would challenge her to pray regular, and read scriptures that will induce healing. With encouraging and reinforcement, I am very confident that Jamie with overcome the problems that she is dealing with.