Ep29 - Is Counselling Actually Biblical?

Last episode we heard from Lara d’Entremont, who was taught—rather unhelpfully—that secular psychology and counselling practises are completely at odds with the Christian faith.

But, having studied counselling herself, Lara started to notice that the tools and approaches her non-Christian psychiatrist was using seemed to echo much of what she knew from the Bible. In short; her secular therapist was unwittingly using the truths of God’s Word in her counselling sessions.

So that’s what we’re exploring today: how do different approaches to counselling and psychology line up with what we’re taught in the Bible? To do that, we’re chatting with Noni Potter, the Head of Undergraduate Counselling at Tabor, a Christian college in Australia.

Not only is Noni a lecturer in counselling, but she’s also practised privately and has been involved in church ministry for many years. She’s passionate about combining her faith with evidence-based psychological methods which, she believes, echo God’s truths.

Through our chat with Noni, we’ll learn about some of the common approaches to therapy, such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), ACT (acceptance-commitment therapy), EFT (emotion-focused therapy), and SFBT (solution-focused brief therapy), and hear how many of these are “rediscoveries” of what God has already shown us through His Word.

Noni has written a book called ‘Living Your Best Life: Keys to Freedom and Wholeness’, which integrates the restorative power of a relationship with God with evidence-based psychological tools. You can find her book here.