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I will start by stating the obvious – the state of the world is alarming.  People are hurting, families are divided, people are often not listening to each other and are often without hope.  There is a lot of suffering, loneliness, and a need to be seen and affirmed.   Depression, anxiety, and suicide numbers are on the rise.   My desired approach to teaching is to keep it “real” as much as possible by applying real world examples and experiences to principles and book material.  Faith and the workings of the spirit are about as real as one can get.  

 

No doubt there will be very heavy burdens on the shoulders of the next generation of counselors and therapists, and it is so very important to prepare them in every way possible to do their job well.  They will need to have a knowledge-based wisdom of their craft which comes from exposure to research both in and out of the classroom, inspired writers, mentors, and good practicums that allow them to use what they have learned.  As a professor, I strive to provide students with curriculum-based knowledge as well as authenticity in my relationship with them as that will encourage them to transform the knowledge into good clinical practice.

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Students will need encouragement in having a faith that seeks a personal daily walk with God, a theology modeled by the professor that accepts God to be capable and “big enough” to have created the world, redeemed it and actively loving us through it all, a worldview that is encouraged through frequent examples of how evidences of God’s creativity and ingenuity continued to be revealed in nature and science.  As they respond to the hurting, they will need God-given discernment in knowing what to pay attention to and what can be kept “on the shelf” which will be taught and discussed first in the classroom, and modeled in part by Jesus during His time on earth and how He spent His time with people.   I want to give encouragement in these things as a professor as well as a clinical supervisor and look for opportunities to apply the material to real life situations that they will likely encounter.

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It will be critical that the next generation of counselors and therapists have a sufficient breadth of understanding into the social, cultural, nonnormative and individual influences that might be contributing to an individual’s beliefs and assumptions about the world collectively and others.  In addition, they need insight into their own attitudes, privileges, biases, feelings, behavior, and choices which can affect how they view others.  I believe the best example of diversity and inclusion is the example of Jesus, what he preached and how he “saw” everyone he met.  He valued and befriended the marginalized, elevated the status of women and slaves and ultimately brought fulfillment to the law by removing all barriers and leveling the playing field in terms of the gospel – jew, gentile, bond, free, male, female, etc.  He was marginalized himself but ended up saving the world.  He shows us how we are to live and how we are to see others. 

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