Why I Switched Careers from Psychologist to Biblical Counselor

I’ve worked in the field of psychology for over a decade now. I’ve done private practice and taught in a graduate psychology program. I loved my work, my clients, my students, and my colleagues. I was respected in my community as a professor and psychologist. But I left my job in psychology to start and lead a biblical counselling ministry at a church across the country. Why?

When I talk to people about biblical counselling, it brings up varied thoughts and emotions. Some people are unfamiliar with it. But to others, biblical counselling connotes misquoted Bible verses, uncompassionate calls for repentance, and an overly reductionist view of mental health struggles. They’ve experienced (or know people who’ve experienced) counselling from well-meaning pastors and ministry leaders that made them feel utterly misunderstood, with their suffering and pain reduced only to a trial that must be embraced with joy. My heart grieves when I hear those stories.

And yet, here I am—a psychologist turned biblical counsellor. I used to be someone who assumed biblical counsellors didn’t know what they were talking about. When my pastor talked about the value of biblical counselling, I’d condescend—It’s cute that you think you can understand mental health struggles with the Bible. I didn’t judge harshly, I just thought biblical counselling was ignorant.

But 10 years later, I think I was the ignorant one.

What I Missed

In my training as a psychologist, I somehow missed secular psychology’s deep roots in philosophy. There’s a great deal of research in psychology that’s helpful for us to understand. But much of modern psychology is founded upon theoretical work—interpretations of data—and those theories and interpretations are built on naturalistic and humanistic premises. They’re constructs and models for helping people, built on a world where God doesn’t exist, people (self and others) are our best hope, and personal happiness is the highest good.

More than eight years into my career I started to see tensions between what I believed as a psychologist and what I believed as a Christian. Are self-direction and self-fulfilment really the goals I should help people toward? Is the pursuit of “feeling better” about self and life really what God calls us to? For years I wrestled with these questions (and many more). It’s true that helping decrease another person’s distress is a good thing. I believed it then, and I still believe it. But is it the primary thing?

More than many fields, psychology is answering the same questions as religion: Who are we? What’s wrong with us? What will help us? How do we get there?

Disentangling humanistic and naturalistic philosophies from the practice of psychology was much more difficult than I imagined. Secular psychology presents itself as neutral. It doesn’t assume there should be any conflict with religion or Christianity. But the study of the soul isn’t philosophically neutral. More than many fields, psychology is answering the same questions as religion: Who are we? What’s wrong with us? What will help us? How do we get there?

Once I saw that I couldn’t unsee it. And my faith ultimately changed the way I wanted to practice.

What Is Biblical Counseling?

It’s true that biblical counselling can mean different things to different people. What I mean by the term is counselling that’s rooted in a biblical worldview. It relies on Scripture as our foundational and primary source of counselling wisdom. The biblical narrative tells us who we are, why we’re here, how we exist in a relationship to God, and how to understand the many hardships we experience in this life. It places our struggles and pain in the context of biblical truth and hope.

Then from a robust theology of suffering, biblical counselling helps us understand God’s purposes for us in pain—including the fears, despair, trauma, and other difficulties that often require support from a well-trained counsellor. Perhaps most importantly, biblical counselling helps us connect the implications of the gospel to the details of our lives. That’s what we all need most—to see how the gospel applies to us, offers hope, and transforms us to look more like Christ when life is hard.

Accurate biblical counselling also acknowledges human complexity. The Bible doesn’t ignore the social, physiological, and spiritual influences in our lives. Our experiences affect us. Our bodies influence our emotions and thoughts—and vice versa. Rightly understanding the image of God means we’re not afraid of the beautifully complex way God has designed us. And yet, biblical counselling recognizes there’s a spiritual component to every part of our lives. There’s a degree to which our struggles always confront us with a choice: Will we pursue the Lord amid our suffering or trials? Or will we look for help without reference to God?

Good but Limited

It’s possible to go to a secular therapist and grow spiritually. And there are applications of modern psychology that are less worldview laden—like a psychoeducational assessment for learning disabilities and developmental disabilities. My goal isn’t for people to assume everything from the field of psychology is in conflict with the Christian worldview.

My goal isn’t for people to assume everything from the field of psychology is in conflict with the Christian worldview.

However, in suffering, most of us need help thinking through our pain in our relationship to God. On one hand, it’s helpful to learn how to decrease distress in whatever form that help may come (assuming it’s not contradictory to Scripture). On the other hand, suffering already drives us to pursue relief, tempts us toward self-reliance, and compels us to look inward. What we need—more than relief, more than self, more than insight—is to know who God is in the details of our suffering and to work out the implications of the grace and hope we have in Christ.

That’s why I have the best job in the world as a biblical counsellor. My work as a psychologist was good but limited. Limited to this life and what we can gain from ourselves or the people around us. Counselling rooted in the gospel offers us vast resources of hope, as we learn to depend on Christ our Redeemer and look toward our true home, still to come.

Beth Claes