What is … Renovation Lay Counseling?

At some point we’ve all hit a spot where we could use a hand. Maybe we feel stuck in our relationships, or are struggling with mental illness. And this is why Woodland’s Renovation Lay Counseling exists: to provide affordable, accessible counseling to anyone looking to get unstuck or find help for issues like depression, anxiety, addiction, etc.

Rob Kistler, our Care and Spiritual Formation Pastor, gave us a look at this ministry.

Who is lay counseling for?

Lay counseling is for anyone! Especially for people who couldn’t otherwise access or afford counseling. We charge $10 per session, and if you can’t afford that, we slide down from there. (Our counselors are all volunteers, so that $10 actually goes to the church’s general fund.)

While the majority of people are seeking a Christian viewpoint in counseling, and our “regular” approach is from a Christian perspective, you don’t have to be a Christian or even part of Woodland to receive counseling. If your non-believing atheist cousin would benefit from talking to somebody, we’d love to see them and can offer a secular approach to counseling.

Who are the counselors?

Our lay counselors are people with a gift for listening and caring who have taken a nine month course to equip them to provide counseling under professional supervision. They are trained to help with issues like anxiety, depression, boundary struggles, spiritual disconnection and more. These volunteers serve out of love and really want to help you, the client. There’s no other agenda. We hold ourselves to similar standards as professional therapists and confidentiality is critical.

What kind of training do lay counselors receive?

We provide an alphabet of therapy models! Things like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). We also use things like inner child work, listening and empathy skills, and getting to what’s underneath surface behaviors. Lay counselors then use whichever of these tools fit best with their client.

What do people come to counseling for?

Here’s some examples:

• “I have been saying for years that I want to spend time in the morning with the Lord, and I just don’t do it.”
• “I’m feeling stuck because I’m 30 pounds overweight.”
• “I feel like my social anxiety is getting in the way of me growing as a person.”

Our response is, “Well, let’s take a look at that and explore what it’s all about.” We try to be practical, offering tools and trying to help you find solutions.

Why is it called Renovation?

Renovation is the idea of taking something that’s broken-down and restoring it. Out with the old, and in with reconstructed new thoughts, behaviors and actions. This takes time and effort. I’ve heard it said that Jesus doesn’t give people a lot of miraculous character changes. Physical healing, deliverance—sure, we see miraculous answers to prayer there. But usually, character change happens over time. Counseling is more about being transformed by the renewing of your mind over time, and that is a kind of renovation.

I wish we could share all the incredible stories of change and “renovation” we see in the lives of so many people, but obviously we can’t because of confidentiality. Our lay counselors do an amazing job, but the clients they work with are the ones who do the hard work of transforming their lives! It’s an honor to know that our church is able to help with that.

How can I receive counseling?

If you want to sign up to receive lay counseling, just contact our Care Coordinator, Trista at tweber@whchurch.org.