Christian Counseling Philosophy
Vision And Mission
Vision: To walk with people in truth toward healthy relationships through teaching, training and counseling that will enable people to experience God’s powerful grace in the transformation of their stories.
Mission: To provide a pathway for people struggling on the journey to find hope for their broken hearts, healing for their wounds, and a hiding place to wrestle with the grace of God
Everyone has a story
of joy and sorrow, love and sadness, wounds and healing. Everyone’s story is sacred and waiting to be discovered. But often we struggle to read our story because of depression, anxiety, past pains, or relational difficulties. We wonder:
- How can God’s love transform my story?
- Can God’s grace transform my family patterns?
- What does it mean to be free from my past pains?
- How does grace really transform my soul’s story and the way I relate to others?
- Would anybody really love me if they knew what I know about me?
If these questions have stirred a longing in you, Steve Benson specializes in walking with people to help them discover God’s story in their story and to help them realize the transforming power of grace.
Core Values and Theory of Counseling
Gospel- Centered: Counseling based upon the principles of creation, fall, and redemption.
Gospel-centered counseling is grounded in the following principles of creation, fall and redemption. First, we are people that have worth, dignity and individuality because we are created in the image of God. We are designed to live in relational harmony with God, others, and ourselves. Secondly, because of the fall, we live self-protected, relational, co-dependent and broken lives. We relate through many dysfunctional patterns and substances in order to find fulfillment. We hide from honesty and vulnerablity in our relationships. Lastly, God is making all things new. He is redeeming everything, not only for one day but also in the here and now by grace through the person and work of Jesus Christ. This gives us hope for the present, perseverance for the future, and a perspective on the past.
Narrative- Driven: An integrative approach that emphasizes the importance of redeeming the person’s whole story.
Counseling is one part of the healing in the redemptive process. As a Christian counselor, I use psychological knowledge and known therapies, such as cognitive behavioral, narrative, and family system theories, filtered through the above-mentioned Christian world view. Furthermore, this approach includes the renewal of emotional patterns and psychological formation in a person’s narrative. Grace is foundational to the transform of the whole person. When one grows in grace in the whole person, they experience inner transformation of their identity as his beloved, a renewal of their narrative, and a newness in their relational patterns. God redeems and renews our stories through new ways of relating. These views are presented most notably by authors Drs. Larry Crabb and Dan Allender.
Relationally-Sacred: Wrestle with truth about God, grace to understand oneself, and courage to grown in healthy relationships with others in a sacred pace.
People are designed to be known and to live in relational harmony with God, ourselves, and with others. Each relationship impacts the other. I desire to form genuine relationships with people to provide a safe place for people to wrestle with their souls. I am a teacher/counselor. I will present concepts so that one can gain awareness of who they are and how they relate to this world. I will give open, and honest feedback to each person/couple but I am seasoned with grace. My prayer is that each person will live in honest truth about oneself, transformed in how they relate to others and to walk in the grace of God.
A counselor can not guarantee change – only individuals can be the choice-makers and engage in the process of change. We can only guarantee that he will walk with people with integrity, honesty, openness, and grace on the healing path of their journeys.
Service-Oriented: to teach and to train others in the grace and mercy of God.
Counseling is just one aspect of Grace Roads Counseling Center. With a background in missions, I desire serve others in the community through teaching, speaking, and writing on the topics of relationships, outreach, and mercy. Grace Roads seeks to encourage people to pursue, experience, and walk on the road of grace.
For in discomfort and pain there is always the silent maneuvering of God’s mercy into the crevices of our souls to allow us to bask in the endless power of his grace.