
The Counseling Relationship
The staff of Paradigm affirm and promote the following
View of the Counseling Relationship: Our Help and Convictions
A Trinitarian view of Relationships
We encourage our clients toward communal harmony and cooperation that builds, creates, and celebrates individual/group faithfulness and love toward God and Neighbor. Relational strife exists when competing agendas and kingdoms make war in an effort to serve self. We promote active involvement into biblical community that is gospel shaping and produces Christian service.
A Complementarian view of Marriage and Family
We encourage our clients toward a biblical view of male headship that is leading, loving, and sacrificial and that which promotes flourishing of their wives as they serve God and their family together.
A High view of Scripture
We rely on the truth: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,” as our roadmap to personal change (2 Peter 1:3). Moreover, “all things” and “through the knowledge of him” explicitly relates to the comprehensive nature of Scripture as it is applied to a person’s life in every area. We thereby approve that Scripture is “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
A Biblical view of Man and Woman
We understand the issue of gender identity and sexual orientation is weighty and can be difficult, but nonetheless important. We support a biblical understanding of Creator assigned gender before birth. This view is in support of the Genesis narrative in which God declares humanity made permanently as either male or female according to His image. Our high view of Scripture necessarily warrants a monogamous and heterosexual orientation as prescribed repeatedly and explicitly within the New Testament Scriptures. Furthermore, as counselors we are bound by the ethics of unconditional positive regard toward the client. We strive to journey with the client to encounter the love and wisdom of God as he reveals the underlying issue.
A Varied Approach to Counseling Models
We employ a wide range of therapeutic models and strategies as they buttress the imperatives and priorities of Scripture. We recognize the limitations of non-biblical therapeutic models. We affirm that God blesses a wide range of counseling strategies that have at their heart Christ as Hope as they assist us in maneuvering through the various issues presented to us. Only those models and strategies that adapt to or can be incorporated into the gospel of Jesus Christ are utilized. Accordingly, we understand the good of prescription medications as they support the therapeutic process.
An Ambassadorial view of the Counselor
We are convinced that Christ is the better counselor as he is named “Wonderful Counselor” in Isaiah 9:6. As such, we serve as ambassador for the desires of God and the change that comes only through Christ. We understand our position as only temporary mediation between the client and God. We serve to invite God into session and promote his presence as we maneuver the issues presented. We know that a nearness to God elicits a desire and motivation for real change that only God can work. God delights in having the counselors introduce this kingdom kind of work.
A Loving View of the Seeker
We believe that at some point, the counselor has been confronted with personal tragedy, difficult change, and confusion. The result of which caused us to existentially reflect and seek answers. We ultimately found recourse in the life of Jesus Christ and the Hope of the gospel. Our desire is to patiently and faithfully walk with the client through the voids that God brings so that he may fill them and meet the client’s greatest need. We believe that God’s heart is to provide those answers through the adoption of the client into God’s family.