I currently approach my work by incorporating a framework that includes the following:

Spiritual Direction services for those who are facing a moral, ethical or spiritual dilemma, or who are seeking personal growth and/or guidance.

Pastoral Counseling services for those who are experiencing career, grief /loss, relational, behavioral, and/or stress related issues.

Psychospiritual Psychotherapy services for those who are seeking a deeper therapeutic process, or who suffer from a thought, mood, anxiety, adjustment, or personality disorder.

Each approach is delivered in an atmosphere that is highly supportive and patient focused. Therapist and patient work together as they co-journey into the sacred ground of the individual, with the understanding that there are few experiences on earth as important and rewarding as the gift of therapy.

Spiritual Direction focuses upon an indivdual's relationship with Deity.

This process is recommended for those who are experiencing difficulty with an issue that is of a moral, ethical, or spiritual nature, or who are seeking guidance and direction for their life journey.

The essence of this process is the opportunity it provides for interaction with a professional who is trained to assist in the practice of discernment and the application of wisdom. Many clients report that just having someone to process ideas with makes the process worthwile, but that the additional gifts that manifest in this kind of a relationship render it priceless.

It is important to note that spiritual direction is not therapy, nor does it replace therapy. Sometimes during the course of direction, a deeper issue is encountered that is better served by the treatment modalities of counseling or therapy. Should this be the case, a gentle transition into those modalities is recommended.

This situation can also occur in the opposite, and it is not uncommon for those who have successfully completed counseling or therapy to continue on with a long term spiritual direction relationship.

Pastoral Counseling focuses upon an individual’s relationships with others and the multifarious situations and issues that can arise in human interactions.

Clients usually enter counseling when something occurs in life that becomes difficult to manage. This might include, but is not limited to problems with relationships, career challenges, loss and bereavement, and difficulties adjusting to major life changes.

Therefore, counseling tends to be more problem and solution focused than mentoring or psychotherapy. It is also often more brief than an open-ended therapy, or an ongoing process of coaching.

Psychotherapy focuses upon an individual’s relationship with self, specifically, the "inner self."

The word psychotherapy implies a level of work that seeks to affect changes via the analysis and eventual integration of the complex systems of the human mind. This usually implies a fair amount of focus upon deeper unconscious material, which can often encourage meaningful and lasting change.

Therefore, therapy tends to be a longer term process and the work is often challenging, but also highly rewarding. There are few experiences on earth that can promote the level of self awareness and personal intimacy that this apporach can foster.

This form of treatment is prescribed for those who are on the "Quest for Self," and who are seeking personal meaning and authentic happiness. This approach can also be appropriate for those experiencing mood, anxiety, personality and thought disorders.

However, one need not be diagnosed with one or more of the aformentioned disorders in order to benefit from the process of therapy, and many people have, and continue to embark upon this journey for the purpose of transforming their lives from ordinary to exceptional.

http://www.cathcounsel.com/ The official website for the Institute for Catholic Counseling & Psychotherapy

http://www.counseling.org/ The American Counseling Association.

http://www.integrative therapy.com/ Institute for Integrative Psychotherapy.

http://www.loyola.edu/pastoralcounseling/ No other program like it, in the WORLD!