#4 Myth about Mental Health Coaching – Mental Health Coaching #8 - Purity 1350

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a stand of trees in a green field under a cumulus cloud-filled pleasant blue sky comes to us from yours truly, as I decided to capture the scene of simple beauty somewhere between Lower Post Road and Gregory Road on County Route 20 in Ghent, New York, on way back on May 22nd, 2015. I've come to learn that we find joy in life when we stop to smell the roses, but I marvel over the fact that I seem to have some sort of grasp on this truth so long ago, knowing how many hurdles I have had to overcome to find my rest in the freedom and victory I have now. Well, it's Monday, and this look back to days gone by just goes to show you that even if you are a work in progress, with many trials and miles to go before you sleep, you can still find peace. You can still find joy right here and right now. Although I can get a sense of peace looking at this old memory, I don't experience the peace in the past. The piece is with me right now. Thank goodness I have the photo because this random moment of peace would easily have been forgotten. In fact, I can't say I really recall what I was doing on May 22nd, 2015 to put me there on County Route 20, but I can see why I took this photo. Pretty! Um, let's say, let's say I get inspired and want to re-experience this magic moment and put time aside tomorrow afternoon to drive over there to see if I can find this place. Although I can experience some joy or peace anticipating making the trip, I don't experience the peace in the future. I can experience some joy right now in the anticipation of the trip, and if I actually go, I could possibly find a moment of peace or joy by being there, but it wouldn't be in the future. It would be in the present moment. So, peace and joy can't be experienced in the past or in the future. They can only be experienced right now, if you follow what I'm saying. But the problem is we may have trouble finding it. We could be overcome with thoughts of the past, present, or in anticipation of the future that don't give us peace. We could be filled with anxiety, depression, anger, or any mix of emotions triggered by our thoughts. That steal away any sense of joy or peace. So what do we do? We retrain our minds to redirect our thoughts to bring us to moments of peace and joy. But we might need help with that, and that's okay. One of the roles of a mental health coach is to help you see things in a new perspective. They can help you to train yourself to see what triggers your negative emotions and mind states to help you manage symptoms of anxiety, stress, or depression. With practice, they can assist you in changing the quality of your life. But there are skeptics out there who sneer at the title "mental health coach" and who would say that symptoms of mental health conditions should only be addressed by licensed counselors. Which brings us to our current series on mental health coaching and our addressing the fourth and final myth about mental health coaches as presented by Matthew Boone's 2023 blog post where Boone's last myth listed was Myth #4: Seeing a therapist is always the best option. Boone writes, Mental health occurs on a spectrum, and psychotherapy may be— not be the best option for your specific needs and challenges. Or maybe you met with a therapist previously to better understand the effects of past experiences on your life and are now in a better position to focus on personal and professional development. While therapy can be a great fit for many people, for others, there are several indicators that mental health coaching may be a better match. These include: the mental and emotional health challenges you're dealing with are on the mild end of the spectrum; you prefer a short-term approach to personal growth and development; you want to improve your stress management or work-life balance; You want help in clarifying your values, goals, and purpose. You're interested in learning practical, actionable ways to address your personal and professional challenges. You're willing to try self-assessments, reading, journaling, or other homework to help overcome personal challenges. Boone torpedoes the myth that seeing a therapist is always the best option for dealing with mental health symptoms. He points out several situations where mental health coaching may be better suited than therapy. This presentation also destroys the equally damaging belief that only professionals— licensed, accredited professionals, doctors, or licensed counselors— can help those with mental problems. That's actually a bias that honestly doesn't have any basis in reality, as the mental health industry employs legions of qualified and effective direct caregivers who don't hold graduate degrees and state licenses to practice counseling. I myself, uh, was employed as a residential counselor for the psychiatrically disabled and as a psychiatric technician for mobile crisis without a doctorate or a license with the state. And I would like to think that the people I assisted in developing service plans to improve their daily living skills, better manage their mental health symptoms, or help them out of a crisis didn't really care about my credentials. They cared about me, my being present and offering them whatever advice and support that I could, could to help them. And with that said, I will admit that in some cases a therapist is required. The clients I was able to help most effectively had the potential to help themselves. They could take an active role in developing plans to move themselves forward and could recognize the patterns in their behaviors or thinking that needed to change. As Boone points out, there can be many instances in which a coach is better suited to help than a therapist. And with the guidance and assistance of someone to steer them in the right direction, or to coach them, people in these situations may be able to reduce or eliminate their need for a therapist altogether. I believe this because personally I have been able to leave my addictions and negative mind states—anger, depression, and anxiety— behind, and I did it all without the help of a therapist. Although for a short time I did utilize the treatments prescribed by my doctor to help with the depression I suffered after the loss of my son in 2002. The medication helped me stabilize when my world had been turned upside down by grief. Thankfully, I came to a place, like Boone mentions, where I wanted to develop practicable actionable ways to address my challenges. My journey testifies to the efficacy of those practical, actionable ways to be successful. So keep your mind open to the possibilities of utilizing the help of a mental health coach. There are instances that their help is better— is a better option than therapy. And when you follow your coach's advice, you can experience the joy of overcoming your challenges and increase your peace along the way, right here and right now. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on death and eternal life. Today's verse is Revelation 2, verse 11. And the Word of God says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death." Today's verse is the first of 5 passages of Scripture that fall under the 29th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource on death and eternal life. And that 29th point is Jesus gives some wonderful promises To all who overcome, who conquer, who fight against sin and in their love for Christ persevere. Today's verse simultaneously assures us of our safety in Christ and tells us the stance we have— we are to— we are to take, or we are to have as Christians. We are more than conquerors, says Romans 8:37, and that nothing and that nothing can separate us from God's love. Um, our deaths will not destroy us. Persecution, uh, will not destroy us because God is with us. And all we have to do to be safe is to stay with him. The passages in Revelation, uh, to the churches tell us that those who endure in their faith are the ones who overcome. So don't lose your faith and walk away from the Lord. He protects us and will ensure us— ensure we live. We just have to keep on walking and talking with him. As always, I invite all, all to go to mtforchrist.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word. Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Allford. And in today's passage, he prompts us to read Acts chapter 21. And from Acts chapter 21, he shares portions from verse 5 and 6, which say, we knelt down on the shore and prayed. When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship and they returned home. Stephen Alford writes, "How quick Paul is to publicly witness for God! It is true that the prayer and the bidding of farewell in this verse concern the disciples who came to the beach with him, but nevertheless there were undoubtedly many of the ship's crew and strangers around who witnessed this impressive scene. Notice also that women and children had left the city together with their husbands to bring Paul and the disciples on their way." What love and loyalty! What fellowship and interest! And together they knelt down to pray before bidding each other farewell. How beautiful. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, oh, that there might be more of this spirit among your people today, Lord. Amen. Amen. Yeah, don't be ashamed of your faith and Pray for one another in public. You know, this is just a simple scene from the book of Acts where they gathered to pray as they bid people, you know, saying farewell to one another. And it's a mighty witness in public to show people that there are Christians alive and well today that pray for one another. So don't be afraid to speak out in faith, and you don't have to get on a box and preach a message necessarily to do it. You can just pray for your friends and family and loved ones, or pray for your meal to do so. People need to see that faith still exists, and praying for one another is a great way to do it. Anyway, it is Monday. We're back to work and back to reality, back to our day jobs. And, um, we'll see what the day holds. Uh, I don't think I have a lot to say, uh, today, so we'll just, we'll just pray. Um, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We, we thank you for all that you do for us. We thank you for a good Mother's Day yesterday, spent with my mom, spent with my wife, and, um, thank you for, for that. A good weekend behind us, Lord. So we just We thank you for that, but we pray for you to be with us today as we enter the work week. Uh, we want you to go before us and show us the way, Lord. We pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you'd bless them in their walk of faith and their prayer requests. Lord, there's a lot of situations going right now that we're praying for, praying for healings, for opportunities, for changes of heart. Changes of mind, and we're praying for you to walk in those things. You know what our heart is talking about right now, so we're, we're just lifting these people up in prayer that need the healing and need the opportunities and needs to change your mind, change your life. That's on our heart right now. And, um, show them the way they need to go, Lord. And while you're at it, uh, we would love for you to go before us today. Lord, just open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is, um, represent you and your kingdom here on the earth, and we need your help. So we're praying for that today too, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.