Few counseling books are as practical to new counselors and those looking to improve the structure of their counseling plans as A Biblical Counseling Process: Guidance for the Beginning, Middle, and End by Lauren Whitman. Whitman takes her experience as a counselor for the Christian Counseling & Education Facility (CCEF) to show a road map to the counseling process that will improve any counselor’s planning for future sessions. The author covers how to structure each stage of the counseling process, and provides concrete examples as well as tips for each stage.
Although biblical counseling has benefited from a multitude of books on individual counseling topics, there are few books on how to structure the counseling process. With the clear goal in mind that biblical counselors would “work ourselves out of a job,” Whitman guides counselors on how to proceed throughout the various stages of counseling (96). In each stage she provides a summary of the main goals of the stage, as well as how a counselor could structure the individual sessions to meet these goals. Throughout these stages Whitman desires for counselors “to connect the person of Christ to the person we are meeting with” (13). In each section, the author also provides a case study so the structure she has described is clearly demonstrated.
One of Whitman’s helpful contributions comes in the form of questions for counselors to consider themselves at each stage of the counseling process. Whitman describes specifically how incorrect assumptions made by counselors can lead to misdirected counsel. On this she says, “If we aren’t careful, we can begin to speak about our assumptions as if they are facts. We can believe there are problems that don’t really exist” (108). These questions listed in each section would be best used when evaluating counseling with a counseling supervisor, although they are beneficial even for the counselor to consider on their own.
Overall, this book is a quick and helpful read for those evaluating their counseling structure. The contents would be best for a new counselor or a minister who might currently counsel without a clear structure. A Biblical Counseling Process is a great resource to consider in planning out future counseling sessions, and will be revisited by this counselor frequently.
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A Biblical Counseling Process: Guidance for the Beginning, Middle, and End By Lauren Whitman |