At the biblical counseling center in Charleston, crisis counseling is a common issue we help people face with hope. When people suffer loss of relationship, health, job, retirement, marriage, child, position, reputation it can lead to depression, anxiety, anger, guilt, escape of responsibilities, or an inordinate pursuit of pleasure (i.e. reckless spending, substance abusing, or foolish relationship rebounding). These four sessions will powerfully persuade and practically direct you or those you counsel away from these things through the perspectives of the Bible. There is a hope that heals and wisdom that leads. Don't waste sorrow and loss, redeem it. Things will work out in the end for better, but only by following Truth. Come learn the truth about crises. This training includes a manual filled with principles and assignments ready-to-use to apply what you will learn.
My mother died of cancer at 40, I was 19. Her death left behind the care of my younger siblings and my Dad. This forced me into a very difficult emotional as well as practical crisis. Though our hearts were numb with shock and grief, we had to meet the demands that her absence left in our home. Those where dark days that changed me forever - as all crises do. But would the change lead to growth or defeat? Three years later I began having unexplainable weight loss and fatigue. With this came a depression and anxiety that controlled me. I had never felt so hopeless. I would spend the next few years overwhelmed, avoiding social gatherings, seeking medical care and crying out to the Lord, "Why?" I did finally discover the "why" - at least enough of it to move forward with hope and purpose. Much of the crisis counselor training is the fruit of what God's Spirit and Word has taught me in the eye of these storms. I have used it repeatedly in counseling to revive the heart of hurting people in peril to experience the comfort of God that they may discover the "why" of their storm.
If you are in a crisis you must not hide from God what you are tempted to believe and feel regarding what is going on. Yet, as you share this with God, you must interrupt your pain with faith-affirmations about His love and wisdom proven on the cross of Jesus Christ. Learn not to shut off the pain but learn to instead counter-balance the pain by remembering specific promises, personal experiences, and future pictures of His coming reign that prove His love for you. Without this you will have no anchor in the crisis and will spiral down into a pain and suffering never intended. But there is hope when our eyes look to God for help even as our hearts pour out to Him our sorrow. See Psalm 22 as a grand Messianic example of doing just this. Don't go it alone, invite God and someone who knows Him into your pain, your honesty, and even your doubting.
I pray this teaching is helpful to you and those you seek to help.
Tim Bryant, Driector