In this episode of the "Pain, Passion, and Purpose" podcast, host Shakeea Torres (also referred to as Speaker B) explores the intersection of mental health and Christian faith. The episode opens with a promotional segment for Empowered Purpose Academy, a Christian‑focused online training and mentorship platform, and an invitation to join the paid podcast community for additional resources. Torres shares her personal journey from a bachelor's degree in social work (2008) through a Master’s in Social Work, describing how God led her to become a therapist and how her own healing process informed her calling to help others. She emphasizes that seeking professional counseling, medication, and deliverance are not opposed to faith, but complementary tools God can use. The biblical teaching centers on Matthew 13’s Parable of the Sower, interpreting the four soil types as heart conditions that affect how believers receive God’s word and how mental‑health work can cultivate “good soil.” Torres critiques New‑Age practices (e.g., Reiki, chakra work) as inconsistent with biblical truth, while affirming that medication, when appropriate, is a legitimate medical aid. She stresses the need for Christian therapists who avoid such practices and announces plans for a mentorship program to train faith‑based counselors. Throughout, she interweaves prayer, personal testimony, scriptural exposition, and calls to action—encouraging listeners to pray, seek therapy, join the community, and support the ministry financially.
Chapters
Welcome to Pain, Passion, and Purpose. I am your host, Shakeeta Torres, where I share mental health education, biblical teachings, and tips to help you to heal on purpose so you can walk boldly in your God-given purpose. This podcast is sponsored by Empowered Purpose Academy, a certified online Christian academy where where we provide services such as certification for Christian life coaches, mentorship for master's level aspiring and existing Christian therapists, mentorship for Christians, and continued education courses for the body of Christ. You can visit www.empoweredpurposeacademy.com to learn more and to download your free guide. If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave us a raving review so that others can tap into the knowledge and wisdom that will be shared on this podcast.
Thank you so much for being here.
Hey, so before I get started on today's episode, if you have not subscribed to the paid membership of my podcast community, please do. It is going to bless your life. Listen, my episodes are already like therapy slash coaching sessions where I give you strategy and insight and all that good stuff. But the community, you're going to get a lot more. You're going to get more resources, more tools, and be able to ask more questions where I can create episodes around your questions. And you will be able to get discounts on some of my, my products and my events. So what are you waiting for? The price is very affordable. This is for those who are not quite ready to invest in one-on-one coaching with me or into the Pain, Passion, and Purpose mentorship program, which is also low, by the way, but that one is a lot more in-depth. You get access to courses, you get access to the Facebook community, and all that good stuff. But this is for those who just need to just listen and just gain some tools along the way. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, subscribe. You won't regret it. It'll bless your life. We'll have topics around mental health and faith, biblical teachings, prayer, um, boundaries, communication, anxiety, depression, purpose, and so much more. I have had experience in mental health since actually about 2008 when I first finished my bachelor's program, and then from that point all the way up today and moving forward, I have gained so much knowledge, so much experience, so much wisdom, and I am anointed for it. So go ahead, hit that button, and I hope to see you in the community.
Hello everyone, welcome back to my podcast. Today's episode is going to be about mental health and faith, and let me tell you, I'm so excited. I've had to just really just sit down and just pray and just read this word and just really think about my journey and think about the things that God has done for me, um, concerning mental health and faith and what that looks like and all of that. So today's episode is dedicated to those who don't truly understand how mental health and faith goes together. And so before I start, let me just go into a prayer. So Father, I just bless your name. God, I give you all the honor, all the glory, all the praise, Lord. God, I pray that today's episode, Lord, would just bless your people.
Give them understanding, give them knowledge, give them wisdom, Lord God.
God, bring about healing, oh Lord God. Cause them to open up their eyes to see their own pain, their own hurts, and areas that they needed to heal from, Lord God. And help them to understand that there isn't anything wrong with seeking, uh, mental health and seeking wise counsel to help them in their journey of healing, discovery, and gaining the tools they need to help them be equipped even the more to get through this thing called life. So God, I thank you and I love you with all my heart. In Christ's name I pray, amen. And so let me start off with myself. So I was definitely one of those people who did not understand that mental health would be so effective— mental health counseling so effective for a believer, okay? I went to a ministry when I first got saved and it wasn't talked about. They didn't, you know, go over, you know, how effective counseling could be. You know, everyone was expected to go to the pastor for help and things like that. Now mind you, this is before I went to grad school. Um, at this time I just had my bachelor's degree, um, in social work. And then, you know, God led me to, you know, go to grad school, um, to get my Master's of Social Work. And so, um, for me, when I gave my life to Christ, you know, 15, almost 15 years ago, for the, for the final last time, I fully surrendered my life to him. God began to deal with me instantly. He began to uncover the areas of my heart that were painful instantly. And now that, you know, I'm older, I'm more mature, looking back, I can definitely see why, and I can see how, because he truly wanted me to heal and to process my own stuff. So that I can be equipped to be able to help others to go through their own healing journey. And so that's why you'll hear people say, you know, every therapist needs a therapist, every therapist needs to heal first. Absolutely. And if you follow me on Instagram or read any of my blogs, I talk about, you know, um, why it's important to heal before you lead. And therapists, we are leaders, we have influence. Whenever we see a client and they're in our chair and they're coming to us for help, we are leading them on a journey to healing. And I will tell you that every therapist is different, everyone is different, but I want to talk about today about myself and about how God uses me to help other people to heal. And so as I was saying before, you know, I had to go to God myself and, you know, seek counsel myself, go therapy myself for me to get what I needed. So this morning I was having a, um, talk with my husband. I said, yeah, I think my next podcast is going to be about mental health and faith. And I just begin to tell him, I said, you know, um, many people are against therapy because they feel like that therapy is going to replace God, or therapy is going to like deem them crazy, or they don't have faith. I said, but that's not true. I said, here's the thing. So for me, I had no problem with being vulnerable with God, being honest with him, letting him spank my butt, letting him deal with my issues of my heart. Has it been easy?
No.
But what I do know is that a lot of believers are not open to that. Um, every, every believer is different. Every believer has their, you know, own way of thinking when it comes to God. And, you know, I'll get into that in a different podcast. Um, but I want to, um, share with you a scripture that Holy Spirit gave me revelation on. And this is— oh my God, I, I really hope and pray that it really gives you clarity.
And so I'm going to go over to Matthew chapter 13, and this one is about the parable of the sower. But I'm going to start at verse 3 because that's where it begins to talk about, you know, sowing.
And in this chapter, in this book, you know, Matthew, you know, was a coin collector.
You know, Matthew is one of the, one of the people who wrote the four gospels. And he wrote about, you know, Christ's, you know, miracles, signs, and wonders and things that God did, that Christ did.
And so I'm gonna start reading.
So verse 3, it says that he told them many things in parables, saying, a farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Verse 5, some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil, and It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow, but when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they withered because they had no root. Verse 7: Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Verse 8: Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop, a hundred, some a hundred, some 60 or 30 times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
And so here, you know, Christ is using the farmer, you know, being a sower in the ground as a parable because these people in this time were mostly, mostly people who had crops and they were farmers. So he had to explain things to them in a language where they can understand it and they can visualize what he was saying in order to get the word, right? And so I know you're saying like, what does that mean?
So if you move on, uh, in Matthew chapter 13, verse 18, Christ tells us exactly what he's trying to say. And so he says, when anyone hears this message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed down—
seed sown along the path.
The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, but since they have no roots they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the— of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. In verse 23, but the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what was sown. So what is Christ saying?
So the soil, y'all, is our heart, okay? He is talking about 4 different types of heart. You have the heart that's good ground, that's ready to receive, that's ready to hear what God is saying, it's ready to hear, you know, the word. You have another heart that is rock and it's hard and it's callous and it's stubborn and it don't want to move and it don't want to receive, you know, what God is saying. You have, you know, the heart, you know, where it's like full of thorns and weeds, and then it's being—
and then whatever is sown in it is choking it out.
You guys, this, this—
go back and read it again, Matthew chapter 13. And I'm also going to put a link to a YouTube video in my—
in the bio of this podcast that talks about what I'm saying to you right now. That's more in depth. And so how God uses me is when I have clients that God himself sends to me, you know, he is showing me exactly what's going on in their hearts, okay? The issues of their heart. The more a person talks to me, a more a person shares with me, I'm able to see more and more Holy Spirit is showing me and telling me exactly where to go, right? So I will say that the clients I have, if they want what God is saying to them through me, you know, through therapy, through coaching, they will make progress. Their heart will become good soil so that whenever God begins to sow more seed into them, they will reap a harvest— some 30, some 60, some 90, some 100, some 1,000-fold— because they're receiving they're healing, they're receiving what God wants to do to them. And so sometimes, you know, along the journey, we, you know, we get hurt, we get blindsided, we get, you know, knocked down through grief, through, you know, unresolved trauma, through rejection, you know, through all the low self-esteem, through fear, anxiety, depression. All these things knock us down, and so we don't have the strength sometimes to get up and keep going. And so God uses His therapist, you know, his coaches to help his people to heal and get back up, right? And so, you know, it's this misconception that therapists are trying to like replace God. And what God told me specifically, he said, remember, daughter, he was like, some man, you know, sow seeds, some men water the seed, and then God is the one that brings the increase. So he told me, he said, daughter, you'll have clients that'll come and you'll walk with them for a very long time, you know, many months, sometimes a couple of years to help them to get where they are. He said, but then you have some who you might have, you know, a session with them, one or two sessions with them, and, and, you know, they'll get what they need. I have seen God work miracles, y'all. I've seen God, you know, deliver people from so much pain and give them clarity and insight and send them back out into the field so they can do what God's called them to do. And, you know, I have clients who I have 4 sessions with, and God will expedite that process. He will expedite what it is that they need and what they need healing at, right? But every person is different depending on the posture of their heart, depending on how their heart wants to receive. You know, I've had some clients before in the past who I was seeing for many, many, many months, y'all, and it came a point where I'm like, okay God, like, this person is not making progress. You know, I don't know what else you want me to do. And there's times when God will say, okay, you did your part, you know, you did your part, you did what I asked you to do. Now it's up to them to take and do, you know, pretty much like obey the instructions that I give them. Because, you know, I'm— I've been in school for a long time, so I'm very trained and very gifted, you know, and anointed to do what I do. And I'm not saying that to, you know, be, you know, to be big-headed or be overly confident. My confidence lies and God. Because even in my education, even in my training, even in everything that I do, my schooling, all of that, I still need Holy Spirit to help me. I still need Holy Spirit to endow my mind. I still need God's anointing for me to be able to do what he's called me to do. I cannot do it in my own strength. I cannot. I'm not going to sit here and like I know it all because I do not know it all, okay? And so, you know, this message is for, you know, people who are believers of Christ Jesus. And I've been many, many, um, Facebook groups where, you know, I see people post, oh, I don't need a therapist, I got God. Yeah, but guess what? Even Christ had people who lifted him up, who covered him, who prayed for him, who interceded for him, who had his back. And so who are we to say that we don't need the same thing, right? So the issue comes in sometimes where I see some people therapists who claim to be Christian therapists, but they're dibbling and dabbling in a whole bunch of New Age stuff that is not of God. When I say New Age, I'm talking about Reiki, I'm talking about the chakra stuff, I'm talking about, you know, trying all these techniques that is definitely against the word of God. And all you really need is Christ Jesus. You don't have to have all this stuff and do all Like, it's like you ain't gotta turn a thousand flips or, you know, flip over backwards for you to get what you need from the Lord. And I know some cultures do certain things that, you know, they feel like they have to do in order to be healed. But y'all, that's what Christ is for. That's what he came on earth to do, was to fulfill the law. He came here for us, to die for our sins, to die for our pain and our struggles, so we don't have to you know, go get a lamb and kill it and take it to Christ, take it to God. Christ is the Lamb now. He is the Lamb. And so, um, then, you know, I have people who, you know, who are on— who stay on medication, you know. Shakeeta Torres, you know, what are your thoughts about that? And I'm like, there's nothing wrong with medication either. Just like a person go to the doctor to get medication, um, depression, or medication for high blood pressure, medication for when you had surgery, when you need— when you in pain, you take Ibuprofen, you know, you take all these different things for everything else, but then when it comes to your mental health with depression and anxiety, y'all think it's the devil, and it's not. It is not the devil. Now, of course, everybody's system is different. In my years of being a therapist, I've definitely seen where some clients take medication and it just— oh my God— change their whole entire life. It gives them like— it makes them feel so much better. Then I have some clients who, you know, they're like, I'm taking it but it's not working. They try all the medication, and I'll be honest with you. When I see a person that's trying all this stuff and they're not getting better, they need deliverance. They need healing. And another thing, deliverance does not look like what we think it should look like. You know, I come from, you know, a Pentecostal background, and you know, I love my Pentecostal church, but the only thing about that is they think deliverance looks like you on the ground hooping and hollering and shouting and rolling on the floor and turning a thousand and one flips. No, that's not what deliverance looks like. Deliverance can just be you and the Lord talking, and he's talking to you, he began to work on your heart. Um, going to therapy and like being able to get education about trauma, education about anxiety, depression, and being able to process your past pains is powerful. And Holy Spirit is in the midst. I have not had a client that do all that. Okay, they get deliverance, you know, they begin to work with me through the Holy Spirit, through the anointing of God, not by Shakeeta Torres Torres Torres, but by God alone. And they don't do all that.
They'll be screaming and yelling and hollering, you know.
And you know, I just— oh God, I just see it so much, especially with the older generation, you know. They make, you know, the church in the, you know, the millennials and Generation Xs and all that feel bad for going to seek therapy. And guess what, y'all? The people who say that are the ones that need to be in therapy themselves. They need to be in therapy themselves. I want you to remember that we are spiritual beings living inside an earthly body. And so what that means, this body gonna break down, this body gonna go through stuff, this body gonna like hold on the trauma, hold on the memories, you know. And our spirit and our flesh is always fighting each other. Always battling with each other. And one of the things I've learned too is that some things are only reserved for God. And so when I say that, I am not anybody's God, and I make that very clear whenever I see my clients. Listen, God gonna deal with your heart. I'm just exposing, you know, what is going on in your heart, giving you education about trauma, giving you education about all the things you've been through, giving you language to your pain. So you know how to pray, you know how, you know, I give you coping skills, how to cope with life, cope with, you know, anxiety and depression and grief and all that. Like, you guys, like, I'm so thankful. I, I'm very humble at, you know, the things that God has done in my life and the things that God has done through me. And oh my God, my life is a walk— I'm a walking miracle. My life is a whole entire miracle all by itself because people who know me from my past, know where I've come from, and they see me now are in total shock. They're like, are you the same girl that, you know, that wasn't done with—
your mama was named Shirley and her mom, she died in the fire?
Yeah, that's me. Shut up. I'm like, yeah, that's me. Or they'll say, are you the same girl that was like sexually abused by like your mom? Yep, that's me. That's me. They— and so I wanted just to give you guys a little education today. I know I went off on a rampage Sorry if I talked too fast, I got excited. But if you get a chance, please, please go back and read Matthew chapter 13 and allow it to like, you know, minister to your heart. Ask God to give you revelation because he gave it to me, you know. And like, and like how God gave it to me was he said, many of my people, you know, are coming to church, going to the altar, and they're praying, God heal me, God, God healed me. Right, but they're not dealing with the issues of their heart. They're, they're bypassing the healing process. It's a process, y'all. Everything we go through is a process. Some are short, some are long, some are like semi-medium, you know. So everything we go through, y'all, is a process. And so whenever we neglect that and we want God just to do a miracle over and over and over again and we haven't dealt with the issues of our heart, we're going to keep reverting back to old behavior. Old thinking, old ways of doing things. Oh, you know, y'all, and the list goes on. I can go on and on about this topic because I'm very passionate about this thing, okay? Very passionate about it. And you know, uh, you guys, listen, y'all pray for me and keep me covered in Jesus' name. Y'all pray for your girl because I really, I'm really passionate about this, um, and I, you know, when I first started doing mental health And especially when I went into my own private practice in 2017, it was difficult to try to like reach the believers because God told me, he said, I'm calling you to, you know, work with my lost sheep. Lost sheep are people who are in the church, who are praising God, worshiping, preaching and teaching, and going home to the mess, going home to their pain, going home to vicious cycles. I'm calling you to help those people. Right? And we all have a mandate. All of us have specific things that God's called us to. And I know specific people over the years who have done this. They on the stage, they preaching and teaching and acting like everything is all right, but then they go home and their whole life is a disaster. And they use church and the pulpit and God to cover up their pain and to cover up how they really feel. But God does not want you to do that. God is constantly right now in this very hour raising up more therapists who are about God's business. There's women of God that I've been mentoring and counseling with who I know God is calling them to be a, to be a faith-based counselor. And one of the things that I will be doing is, you know, creating a mentorship program for these women and these men who they know God has called them to be a faith-based Christian counselor and not be, you know, dibbling and dabbling in New Age stuff or witchcraft or whatever it is that everybody be doing these days. No, y'all, that ain't God, and I'm not ashamed to say that. It is not the Lord. That is deteriorating you. That is pulling you away from a relationship with God. Anything that's trying to replace, you know, your time with God or replace the power of Christ and what he did for us on the cross is not of the Lord. And I digress. So you guys have a happy, happy Friday. Have an awesome weekend. I will talk to you next time.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. Our prayer is that this podcast episode has blessed you. Don't forget to go and subscribe and leave us a raving review. If you would like to sow into this ministry or to this podcast, Pain, Passion, and Purpose, you can do so at anchor.fm/painpassionandpurpose or Cash App, $shakeetatorres. Thank you so much, and I will talk to you next time.
