Christian Counseling

For Individuals and Couples

I am a fellow believer in Christ and believe in the power of Christ to work through Christian counseling. I am here to help those who want a professional, clinical, and experienced viewpoint on managing or resolving anxiety and marriage issues from a Christian perspective. Over the years I have earned the trust of pastors and church staff around the Southeast as a trusted referral source. My goal as a Christian counselor is to provide you with a compassionate, biblically-based, and challenging place where you can obtain accurate assessments, meaningful encouragement, and viable techniques to support you as you navigate through the challenges of life. No matter what you’re going through, whether anxiety, temptations, or marriage disconnect, there is hope in Christ. Please feel free to contact me today to discuss your concerns and evaluate who or what may best help you in your situation.

It takes much courage and effort to admit the need for change and even more determination to accomplish the task. I welcome the opportunity to walk with you through your journey sorting out your concerns about parenting anxiety, and marriage.

The following information may help you in your decision to choose me for confidential Christian counseling:

What is Christian Counseling?

Providing Christian Counseling simply means incorporating your Christian belief system into treatment. How we make sense of ourselves, others, and the world is always connected to our values and beliefs, whether we recognize it or not. Incorporating your Christian beliefs into therapy can may use various strategies. Here are a few examples of ways a Christian worldview is incorporated into treatment:

Challenging whether your current beliefs about yourself, others, situation, etc. are congruent with what you believe theologically.
Utilizing and not disparaging your Christian beliefs as a way of identifying and building helpful coping skills.
Identifying potentially false or harmful religious beliefs, which may not be biblical and may actually contribute to further shame/hopelessness.
Working towards making sense of whatever tragedy, difficulty, or life circumstance brought you into counseling in light of your belief system.

What Christian Counseling is NOT:

A therapist telling you to pray more, have more faith or teach that your current mental health struggles are a result of not being a ‘good enough’ Christian.
A therapist forces their own spiritual beliefs on you.
A therapist invaliding one’s experiences by providing ‘Christianese’ answers to life’s difficulties.

Christian Counseling not for you?

That’s okay! I provide both traditional and faith-based counseling. I will never force my beliefs, Christian or not, onto a client of mine. The level of spirituality we incorporate into counseling is up to you.
I look forward to meeting with you soon.

The abridged version:

I engage well with most Christian individuals working on anxiety, parenting, and marriage concerns face to face. I also do phone and video meetings, which can be effective for individual counseling but are not as effective for joint marital counseling.
I use various methods to treat anxiety, parenting, and marriage concerns such as a Biblical version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which is a successfully proven method and based on transformation by renewing the mind (Rom. 12: 1-2).
I connect well with Christian men who want to seriously address their concerns in a clear and direct manner. Being a Christian man, I know well the issues with which we are most concerned and will collaborate with you to quickly develop a workable plan of action from a Biblical perspective and employ other resources to help you.
I work well with Christian women who want a Christian counselor’s perspective on relationships with Christ, spouse, children, grandchildren, and friends.
I relate well with Christian couples who want to identify and resolve conflict areas from a Scriptural perspective. This is most successful in person but may be done via phone or video in certain situations.
I work well with Christian parents who are broken-hearted about wayward children and help the parents develop Godly strategies to use with adult children.

The longer version:

It may be helpful for you to know a number of important things about my calling/ministry with people. First, While I am clinically trained, I counsel from a Christian perspective. This is counseling that is grounded, not as much in the counselor’s technique, but in the counselor’s relationship with God, which produces and maintains the ability to discern and convey Truth. I am cognizant of the Biblical worldview and keep that orientation as the foundation of my therapy. Of course, Biblical interpretation can be debated on some issues, but I am aware of and understand how to help you navigate your own concerns from a Christian point of view.

The second item is that I am clinically trained and experienced, and I specialize in the integration of current clinical dynamics with Christian thought and lifestyle. I specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), my version of which is rooted in Romans 12.2 – the renewing of the mind.

Third, I am directive as a counselor. That is, I am clear and direct in my communication. While I listen to your initial issues, I want to quickly align with you, try to see you from God’s perspective, and move toward Godly resolution or management of your concerns.

Fourth, I use what I call relationship engineering for Christian marriage counseling. This involves helping a person understand a two-fold paradigm, which is a relationship with God (vertical) and a relationship with others (horizontal) through the mirror of other relationships such as a marriage partner, child, parent, coworker, etc. Often, I see the vertical and horizontal relationship so intertwined that one profoundly affects the other. That is, if a relationship with Christ is lacking, so is the marriage or other relationship and vice versa.

Fifth, many Christians need a Christian counselor who aligns with the same Biblical standards as they do to enhance their walk with Christ and not confuse or detract from it. My goal is to hear “well done” one day (Matt. 25:23), and I want you to hear the same. Decide today in thought, word, and deed to hear well done later.

As a final item, you will have the most success by completing the goals we establish. We will modify goals to enhance achievement. I look forward to talking with you by phone to address your questions and then meeting with you at our first appointment.

Prior to our first appointment please feel free to contact me for your free initial 15 – minute consult.

I look forward to meeting with you and take seriously the trust you place in me for Christian counsel. I trust that God will help us both to accurately identify your primary concerns, clarify them, and determine a Godly course of action.

Jim Ciraky, PhD, LPC

✓ Owner of Advent Counseling and Training Services, Inc.
✓ Director of Client Education and Discipleship at AdventHelp.com
✓ Licensed Professional Counselor (Georgia, USA)
✓ National Board-Certified Counselor (NBCC, USA)
✓ American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC)
✓ Online Video and Audio Counseling and Coaching

For more information on this topic, follow these links:

https://adventhelp.com/christian-counseling/

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