Religion & Faith: What We Believe About Its Role in Counseling

At Dynamic Counseling, we believe that you deserve care that sees you fully. That includes your culture, your life experiences, your values, and yes, your faith.

The Right Fit Matters

For some people, finding a counselor who shares their faith background can be an essential part of feeling safe and understood. Faith can play a powerful role in how we make sense of suffering, find meaning, and move forward. If you're Christian, you might want someone who understands the importance of Jesus or the Christian story of redemption. If you're Muslim, perhaps it's important that your counselor understands Islamic values or the rhythm of your spiritual life and prayer. Catholics may value someone who is familiar with natural family planning. If you're a secular humanist, you may want to explore your challenges from a philosophical or science-based framework that aligns with your beliefs. Those who are Buddhist or enjoy its integration with yoga and mindfulness may value a therapist who integrates breath work and meditation.

We support your right to choose a counselor who aligns with your values because you should feel at home in your healing space. We also value academic research that shows that integration of a client's religious beliefs or practices can improve therapeutic outcomes.

Healthy Integration

Most importantly, we want to avoid generalizations, cliches, and easy answers. We believe that counseling that integrates an individual's faith doesn't proof text with a verse from the Bible or the Quran as an answer to your suffering or dilemma. Life isn't that simple, and anyone who provides a quick solution from a historical text is probably just uncomfortable with suffering, grief, or difficult emotions.

We Don't Believe in Skipping the Hard Stuff: A Note on Spiritual Bypassing

At our practice, we also hold space for a deeper truth: spirituality can be both a source of profound healing and—sometimes, unintentionally—a way to avoid emotional pain. This phenomenon is called spiritual bypassing—and it’s something we work hard to be mindful of in the counseling process.

Spiritual bypassing happens when we use spiritual ideas, practices, or language to sidestep hard emotions instead of facing them. It’s when someone says things like:

• “Everything happens for a reason.”

• “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

• “Just focus on gratitude.”

• “Let go and let God.”

• “Pray more and you’ll feel better.”

• "Don't be anxious in anything! But by prayer..."

Sometimes, these beliefs are genuinely comforting—and they can be part of a person’s inner strength. But sometimes, they can become a kind of shortcut around grief, anger, fear, confusion, or trauma. Even well-intentioned messages like these can cause someone to feel ashamed for struggling, guilty for being human, or pressured to move on before they're ready.

Here’s the truth: faith doesn’t mean you always feel okay. Prayer doesn’t cancel out pain. And hope doesn’t mean you have to hide your hurt.

Counselors, especially those who share a client’s spiritual tradition, can sometimes fall into this trap, too. We might want so badly to offer encouragement that we rush past your sorrow. We might unknowingly reinforce the idea that “being strong in faith” means not being depressed, not questioning, not feeling anxious or overwhelmed. Unfortunately, this message only increases our shame, which in turn exacerbates mental health symptoms. (And there will be many more blog posts to come on shame...)

We don’t want to do that here.

Instead, our approach is to create space where you can feel what you feel. That might include doubt, sadness, rage, numbness, or deep grief—even toward God or the spiritual community. We believe these emotions aren’t threats to your spirituality. In fact, they might be the very places where healing begins.

We don’t want to hand you a quick answer or a spiritual band-aid.

We want to sit with you.

We want to hold your pain, not fix it. We want to walk with you through your questions, not rush you to answers. We want to explore how your faith can be a source of resilience—but also how it may have been misused or misunderstood in ways that hurt you.

Whether you bring prayer into the room or simply need a space free from platitudes, we are here to meet you in the real, raw places of life. That’s where authentic healing happens—and we believe it’s sacred ground.

Clinicians Who Are Grounded and Open

While we honor the importance of having counselors who can walk alongside clients from a shared background, we also hold this to be equally true: our counselors are committed to supporting individuals of all faith backgrounds—or none at all—with respect, compassion, and cultural humility.

That means a Christian counselor should be able to help a Muslim client feel safe and understood. A secular counselor should be able to support a devout client with reverence. And a Muslim counselor should be just as skilled at working with someone who isn’t religious.

Faith literacy and spiritual sensitivity are essential skills, not optional extras. We don’t see them as in conflict with professionalism—they’re part of what makes care human.

What You Can Expect From Us

• Respect for your worldview. We won’t try to change your beliefs, push an agenda, or invalidate your spiritual experience.

• Clinicians from diverse backgrounds. We aim to reflect the richness of our community in the diversity of our team.

• Flexibility. Some clients want faith-integrated therapy. Others want therapy free from spiritual framing. We’ll meet you where you are, and we would never try to push you toward one or the other.

• Ongoing learning. We commit to continual training around spiritual diversity and cultural humility so we can serve you well.

In short: You don’t have to separate your faith (or your lack of it) from your mental health journey. You can bring your whole self. Whether faith is your anchor, your question, or not part of your life at all—there’s space for you here. We let the client lead in what beliefs and values they want to integrate into their therapy sessions.

If you’re looking for someone who understands where you’re coming from—and who can support you with skill and respect—we’d be honored to walk with you.