🚨 Are You a Christian Therapist Seeking to Integrate Faith & Clinical Practice? 🚨(Part 1) My Journey

Hello, my name is Shakeeta Torres and welcome back to my YouTube channel. As you can see by today's title, it is called Christian Therapist Series: My Journey to Becoming a Christian Therapist. And so you guys, I'm very laid back, I'm very transparent, and so I will be looking at some of my notes as I share with you all today, um, pieces of my journey. There is no way that I will be able to share every single detail, so I encourage you to, um, go to my website to learn more about michaquetatorres.com, or you can purchase the book that I just written called Holy Spirit-Led Counseling Sessions for Christian Therapists. This series is for those of you who are emerging therapists or those of you who are seasoned therapists who desire to incorporate God and the Holy Spirit into your work. And so I'm going to do a series where I'm going to be answering the those frequently asked questions I've been asked over the years, and also things that God himself has given me to address and answer for you all. Um, also you can apply for my mentorship program for emerging and existing therapists who desire to incorporate their values, the Holy Spirit, their gifts, and all that good stuff. Okay, so bear with me as I share with you just a little bit of my story, and then we'll be done. And so So for me, um, I always knew as a little girl that I wanted to help people in some way or some capacity, okay? Uh, when I was asked, you know, when you grow up, what do you want to be? I would say social worker, and I have my reasons for saying that, okay? And, um, fast forward, you know, into my adulthood, you know, I already have my own history of trauma, my own history of pain and all that, and God has healed me from so much, okay? And so in '06, I received my BSW degree. That stands for Bachelor of Social Work. And then I went back to, um, graduate school in 2009. In '09. And so in '08, I had wholeheartedly given my life to the Lord. That was like the pivotal moment for me where my life had changed forever. That's whenever I embarked on, um, this journey with God, understanding who he is, understanding his voice, understanding what I was seeing what I was feeling, and so much more. And so in '08, you know, I already was a part of a ministry that was operating in what they call the Fivefold Ministry. And in this ministry, you know, we're learning how to hear God's voice, we're witnessing miracles, signs and wonders, healing, and so much more. So my faith was very high in that area, very, very high. And so I began school in '09. So I'm in school from '09 to about 2011. 20, I think 2011, after I finished school, I ended up moving to a different state, me and my newborn baby and my husband, because he was in the military. And so my very first job after finishing graduate school was actually in hospice. I love hospice. I love it so much. I just love it. I just— it gave me so much joy to be able to be there for families who were in transition. And God used me in those areas greatly. So I wasn't providing therapy quite yet. I was working on getting my hours, my licensure, and all that good stuff. That's a whole story all by itself for another day. And so we moved back to, um, North Carolina. That was in, um, 2013. All right, so you got to think, from 2008 to 2013, you know, I already have a solid foundation with God, a solid foundation with the Holy Spirit. Of course you're still growing. Of course, you know, you know, you go from glory to glory and from faith to faith, right? And so I ended up working at a company in mental health, and I was there for maybe about almost 5 years. So within that period, I had a variety of jobs that I worked in, such as OPT, what they call outpatient therapy. I worked with families in their homes. I worked with what they call community support team for individuals who experience a lot of crisis medically and mentally. I had a variety of jobs that I worked in, okay, while I was there, all right. I was still learning and understanding how to incorporate what I was feeling and hearing into my sessions, okay. But I was also very limited because that was not my company. But the good thing about it was God would literally send people, you know, my way to counsel them with the Holy Spirit and me being able to speak about what I was seeing and what I was hearing, um, without having restrictions. So in a nutshell, God was sending them to me and it was actually asking for it because I couldn't market myself. Um, but I'll go over in future videos if you are working with people who are non-believers, if you are not in a place where you can actually speak freely about God and the Holy Spirit. I'll do a video later on that particular topic because my goal is to, um, create like videos within 10 minutes or less, uh, for you to be able to take in the information and learn, um, and not be overwhelmed with so much content. Okay, um, and so with that being said, um, the Lord began to minister to me and he started to tell me, this place is too small for you. And I knew what he meant. He meant I was outgrowing where I was at and I was growing into being more comfortable, um, with incorporating him and talking about him freely with some of my clients. And so in 2016 God began to minister to me about me being an entrepreneur. Now mind you, you guys, I had no desire to be an entrepreneur at all whatsoever. I was very comfortable with going to work every day, doing my work, and coming home to be with my family. I had no idea that God was calling me to be an entrepreneur. And so, um, my boss at that time, the CEO of the company I worked for, you know, they were very well aware of me transitioning into that, and it was very supportive, and they were actually very excited for me, which I was completely shocked. And I began to hear people say, oh, you would be a great entrepreneur, you'll be a great leader because you have so much in you, and you have also, you know, contributed so much to our company. And I was just like, what? I was so shocked. And people that I work with there, the company as well, I had trained a lot of them of how to do, you know, clinical work, um, how to do their notes, how to do, you know, um, combine— even some of them who were believers, how to really hear God as well. So I was already doing some of the work and not really realizing I was doing it. I was just doing it just because I just love doing it. Okay, so fast forward, um, in 2017, I opened up my private practice. I asked God, okay, God, who am I called to? Like, what is my purpose for me going into entrepreneurship and going into my own private practice? And he began to tell me, I'm calling you to my lost sheep. Okay. And I said, oh, okay. So I had to go and look it up and research that in scripture and really get an understanding of that. I do have a previous video I did, um, a while back called, um, God's Lost Sheep, um, a message for Christian Christian leaders, also on my YouTube channel. And so, um, the Lord began to minister to me about that, and I've always had a heart for, um, Christian leaders. So Christian leaders can be people who are emerging leaders, or these can be people who are already in leadership and they are broken, um, their soul needs to be restored. And initially, when I went into private practice, I didn't really advertise myself as a Christian therapist. I just put that, you know, I do offer Christian counseling. So I would receive clients from different, um, areas, different backgrounds, different denominations, um, and all that good stuff, which I was fine with that. But it came a point where the Lord was like, okay, I need for you to really hone in and niche down who I called you to. So I'm a little correction, because initially I didn't want to leave anybody out. I didn't want people to feel like, you know, I can't counsel other people who are not believers. But that's my specific assignment, right? Not every person who's a therapist is going to be called to just that. That. I understand that some of us are in different jobs, different sectors, where we're working with a variety of different people. And like I said before, we'll go over that in another, um, video that I'll do later. And so for me, um, when I was there, you know, I was already becoming confident with really sharing what God was showing me, um, but I wasn't quite there yet, if that makes sense. God was still working on me. And so, um, I remember asking him, God, I need a trainer. Who's going to teach me how to do it? Because I don't have anybody to really teach me in this area. And during this time, I wasn't on social media like that. I was on maybe Facebook, but it was for personal use. I really didn't see or have a blueprint for how that looks or what it's supposed to look like. And God never opened up a door for me to receive any kind of mentorship in that particular area. Now, when it comes to clinical training and how to train I'm how to counsel people. Definitely I have to go through this training in order to have my license, right? And so I have training in trauma, trauma, anxiety, depression, boundaries, ADHD. Oh my gosh, so much. So I have all this clinical training and clinical knowledge, but I also have over here, you know, my spiritual side, the spiritual component. And even on that, on that particular spectrum, I had to study the word of God. I fasted, you know, I sought out training.— forth, like taking courses at universities. I went to a school and took some Bible courses as well. You know, I enrolled in, you know, ministries that, um, who had academies that taught you, um, how to do, you know, how to hear God and different things of that nature. And I was in community, right? So ultimately, God taught me how to combine the two together. And so over the years, my confidence has increased significantly in this area. And so I'm now in a place where I'm able to teach other people how to do the same thing. How cool is that? It's an honor and a privilege. So back to my private practice. So while I had my private practice, God definitely used me greatly for a lot of people. And I'm just so honored and I love it. I love what I'm doing and I love what God is doing in my life even now to be able to help others. Now, during my time, you know, in private practice, I noticed that I had a lot of people come to me who had seen other therapists before who said they were Christian therapists, but they told me, Shakeeta Torres Torres Torres, but it wasn't because they was imposing other beliefs and other things on me that were not biblical, like New Age practices. I had one client tell me before that, you know, she was going to see a counselor because she was struggling with her husband's pornography addiction. And so the therapist told her to go watch it with him. And so I was just really just burdened And my heart was like, God, like, what is going on? Why are, you know, Christian therapists who are calling themselves that counseling people who do— who desire Christian therapy that way? And so of course, once again, you know, as a Christian therapist, and then a person come looking for that, they're looking for something very specific. They're looking for you guys to share the same values. They're looking for you to be able to, you know, have the word of God and put the Holy Spirit to be in the midst, not any of this New Age activities. And then we have some people who were ignorant, who didn't understand or know what this therapist was doing, and opened up the door for them to receive, um, different, um, practices that were actually New Age practices, okay, into their lives. And so my goal in this series is to actually answer some of your questions, um, bring clarity, bring understanding, and help you, um, to gain confidence and faith and knowing that you can counsel God's people his way, ethically, without imposing your beliefs on them, without being spooky and scary and all these different things, okay? And so that's all I have for you today. Once again, thank you so much for watching. Please join me in this series that I share little tidbits here and there over the next few days. Um, and also, once again, if you're interested, go purchase my new book I just written called Holy Spirit I'm Led Counseling for Christian Therapist. And in that book, I go in greater detail as to what I just pretty much told you, and, and then some. Um, and also, if you're interested in mentorship, I have a mentorship program. Um, you can go to the website www.empoweredpurposeacademy.com, and you'll be able to look at what I have to offer on that particular site. So I will see you and I will talk to you next time.