Updates and News for Faith Based Providers and Christian Leaders

Welcome everyone. So I am live on Instagram, I'm live on Facebook, I'm live on stream, uh, YouTube, and also I'm live on LinkedIn. And so welcome, um, for those of you who cannot stay, I will leave the replay up. Um, as you can see by today's title, it's Attention, I'm Christian Therapist. Uh, life coaches and leaders. And so I actually have 3 different, um, topics today to cover. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to, um, talk about them in like a sequence. And then for those who come back and watch the replay, I'll actually put the time, um, points in there for those of you who only want to, um, hear certain parts of this message. But I do believe that if this is speaking to you even now, you should watch the whole replay. Watch the whole thing if you can, okay? Um, and so before I start, I want to go into a— I'm going to prayer, and then we'll go ahead and get into, um, today's messages and updates. So Holy Spirit, I just thank you right now for today. I thank you, Lord God, for your people. God, I pray, God, that right now they feel strengthened, they feel encouraged. Oh God, for Father, continue to order their steps, God, as I go live today, God, to share what's on your heart and to share the things you have given me, um, to discuss on today. Um, let it fall on ears that needs to hear. Um, Holy Spirit, speak through me. Holy Spirit, have your way. Holy Spirit, I yield myself to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. And so I have not been live on LinkedIn in a while, and so, um, hello to you guys. I am back up here. Um, I didn't think that I would be able to go live today because, to be honest, I wasn't feeling too well the past couple couple of days, but I had to get up, I had to pray over myself, declare over myself, and get going. Okay, um, so first I want to say thank you to everyone who, um, gave me some birthday love on social media, Instagram and Facebook, and my email, uh, list and all that good stuff. I had an amazing day. My birthday was actually on Tuesday, and my family, they kept me busy all day. Okay, so it was great spending time with them. Um, so I just thank God for, um, just the new year, being able to be here, being able to, um, just, just be amongst, be amongst the people. Okay, so thank you again for that. Um, Seize the Season, that will resume, um, on next week. Um, God has definitely been speaking to me about the next topic, but I will go into that on again on next week. Um, the series has been a blessing. For so many thus far, even myself. If you want to go back and hear the replay, it's on my podcast, on my YouTube channel, and so much more. So if you want to go to my podcast, you can put in Shakeeta Torres and I should pop up. Um, so far we have did 5 different episodes, um, and so next week we'll be doing, um, part 6 on Seize the Season. Okay, and so, uh, as I said before, uh, today I have 3 different topics. So the very first thing I want to, um, address today is the mental health crisis, um, what's going on now, what's to come, and my mandate. And so I didn't even say who I was, right? I know I had some new followers up here on Instagram, but my name is Shakeeta Torres. I am first and foremost, I'm God's daughter above whatever else you guys see me doing. I'm confident and in God. Okay, period. That's my foundation. Okay, everything else is just a part of my calling on my life. Okay, I'm also a therapist. Um, I have been for— gosh Lord, I can't even like give you an exact, uh, year for sure, but I have a combined experience of being a therapist, social worker for almost, for almost 20 years, y'all. Who I'm telling my age, right? Telling my age. Um, so I was to work at hospice and so much more. Um, and so I am a fully licensed therapist in North Carolina, and I've been in private practice since 2017. 2017. Um, before that, I worked at different companies, um, in a variety of areas when it comes to mental health. All right, and so I want to say this. So if you don't know, you know, you're going to find out pretty soon.. But the world is truly, um, headed more into a mental health crisis. And during the pandemic— let me go back and share my story a little bit. So when God called me in a private practice, um, things were kind of slow for me. Things was like, you know, slow. I had, you know, clients that I was seeing, but not the amount I actually wanted to be, to be honest. And the Lord began to minister to me and tell me, daughter, I am preparing you and I am equipping you even the more, um, for what's ahead. And I didn't fully knew, you know, know what that had meant for me per se during that time. But I do know this, um, over the years I have met a lot of people who profess to be Christian therapists, okay? But their fruit and the way they treated their clients was not of God at all. And so what do I mean by that? So I have seen Christian therapists who are using the law of attraction, they are using Reiki, they are using, um, a variety of different, um, techniques that is totally against the word of God. Opening up your third eye, doing all these different things, but they're professing to be Christians. That's the problem, right? And so I've definitely met people over the years who don't advertise the things that they do, but whenever they're seeing their clients, their clients end up being exposed to these different practices, not fully knowing that it's against the word of God. So that made me angry, to be honest. And I didn't realize that during that time I was actually carrying a burden for, um, this area because I was praying a lot into it, you know. I was like crying out to God, you know, asking God, God, where are your true authentic Christian therapists at? I'm tired of seeing your people being bamboozled and being, you know, exposed to things that are not of you. And, you know, of course, you know, we're mind, body Body and spirit. We're mind, body, and spirit. And so yes, God wants the whole man to be treated— your spiritual being, right, your mindset, right, your physical body. And so I'm not going to go into a whole teaching today about, you know, mental health and how, how all that works and body chemistry and also how it affects us spiritually and so much more, right? And so God, you know, along with, you know Spending time with him, my own training, um, different things that, you know, I've invested in my time, you know, both clinically and spiritually and biblically, right? Uh, over the, uh, you know, past well over 10, 15 years now, the Lord has trained me and taught me how to meet each person where they are. Each person is different, okay? I've never treated a client the same exact way. So with that being said, in 2021, God told me to start building Empowered Purpose Academy. It's an academy that he put on my heart to create, to create courses, to create training for those who are aspiring Christian therapists, those who are existing Christian therapists who have been afraid to even incorporate their beliefs and their faith into their sessions. And it's so much controversy even today around, okay, well, about insurances and, you know, this and that. It's just a lot. I can't even get into all of it. But what I will be doing over the next, um, you know, few weeks, upcoming weeks, it's like doing like small, like little training videos on things and questions that I've been asked, you know, over the years from different therapists about what's ethical and what's not ethical. Okay, because I get it, we do have to obey, obey the laws of the land, and we have worked really, really hard to obtain our licensure. You know, I'm an LCSW, so that means I had to go get my bachelor's degree. I had to get my master's degree. I had to do my internship. I had to, you know, um, get my hours, right? I had to pass the test. I failed the test multiple times. So it's a whole journey. And so no, no one wants to put their license in jeopardy. But I've never had an issue with anything. I've never had an issue with anything because the people that God has called me to serve were more than willing and so open to receiving both clinical counseling and spiritual counseling. And oftentimes they would just ask me for it. I think even I didn't have to like even introduce that to them. They would ask me for more spiritual and clinical feedback. Okay, so God has, you know, graced me for that. He has graced me for that. And so, um, with that being said, um, you know, I do have a mentorship program that, um, has already been, already been created and started. Um, I closed it for a season too so I can work on some other things God put on, put on my heart to work on, but it will reopen in the fall. And so if you are, you know, aspiring Christian therapist existing Christian therapists who need, you know, help and support and, you know, counseling. I have a lot of clinical education when it comes to treating trauma. I'm a grief specialist, a trauma specialist. I treat, you know, anxiety and so much more. I love to learn. I love to learn. And I also have my biblical and my spiritual training and education where I've, you know, taken courses, been to conferences, received impartation, and so much more. And so I'm more than equipped to be able to help other others to be equipped as well, to be able to walk out what God is calling you to do. There has been a clarion call from God to many of you guys who are up here on social media that I've even seen you commenting on other posts saying, yeah, God called me into, you know, being a therapist or psychiatrist or a different thing when it comes to, you know, mental wellness. And, uh, some of you guys are like in it, you're pushing, you're doing the work already. And then some of you guys are kind of afraid and just nervous because you don't really know where to start or what that looks like. I understand, I get that. And so if you go to my website, it's actually in the profile on Instagram, it's in the link in the bio. Over here on StreamYard, it's some links up here as well in the description box where you can go and you can join the waitlist for that. But I will be creating more content around that soon. And so let me go back to what I was saying about the pandemic, because the other thing that's coming up in the world that it's going to be worse than the pandemic. And I'm not going to get into all that right now. God has definitely been showing me, um, different, um, things that's to come, but I don't have all the language yet and all the pieces yet to be able to share that yet publicly. And so I want to be a good steward over the things that God showed me, um, so I can be able to execute that and explain it to you guys well. Okay, um, and so, uh, with that being said, I remember right before the pandemic, that was in March, and I was like, God, I am so tired. I've been sitting here, you know, plowing. I've been what you asked me to do for the past, you know, few years with the— with, with my, with my practice. I mean, God, what's going on? He already told me he's preparing me, you know. I need to grow. I had bills to pay, okay? And so, um, I honestly had got to a point where I like, God, I'm about to be done with this. Like, I'm, I'm tired. And, um, the Lord checked me. I actually got a spanking. The Lord spanked me real good. He was like, I need you to be in place, you know. And I had to— yeah, I got in trouble with the Lord, y'all. Even my husband was like, I'm scared because I've never seen you in this place before, um, where you was like you just wanted to just completely just be done with it, right? And so with that being said, um, you know, God will begin to deal with my heart and begin to deal with my mindset even the more. And right after that, the pandemic hit. It hit, y'all. And that's when the net broke for me in my business, where I was seeing probably about 25 or 30 clients every single week. Every single week, okay? Um, including, you know, being home. My children will be in homeschool. My husband was still working. Uh, it was just so many different things going on, going on. But you guys, God had graced me and prepared me for a time such as then and also now. And, um, oh my God, I look back, I'm like, God, that was only your hand. Because I know a lot of therapists were burnt out. They were dealing with their own grief. They were dealing with their own different things at home. And so God had graced me to really be, you know, an anchor for his people, um, during that time through therapy, okay? And so that was going on for what, a year, 2 years or so, you know, um, and so after, you know, things kind of died down a little bit, that's when God began to deal with me about creating Empower Purpose Academy. He was like, I have created you and called you to be the solution, to be the solution and to be a help for those who need, um, support in this area. And so, um, since then since before the pandemic. I've done workshops, I've spoken at churches, I've did virtual workshops and so much more. I'm also having a workshop in September for faith-based providers called— what is it called again? I'm going to look at my paper. Cultivating Change Motivational Interviewing to help your clients to change, to see the importance of change. Some of you guys are familiar with that term. Motivational interviewing. If you're not, you can go to Eventbrite. I can't put the link here on Instagram, but it's also in my profile as well, in the bio. So you can check that out. But also up here on StreamYard, the link is up here in the description as well in the comment section. So check it out. It's very inexpensive. You can get continued education credits, or I would say a certificate of attendance. For those who need that for their state licensure. I even have a whole link for that. If you want to check your board to see if it qualifies for that, do that. In North Carolina, we are able to engage in live trainings around our licensure, and it will count towards your 40 hours that you have to have by every other year. So for me, anything that I create and I do live when it comes to training can count towards my own hours. Okay, and so yes, and so I'm just, you know, want to encourage you, um, guys who are already operating in this vein as faith-based providers to keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing. I'm praying for you all. For those of you who need support, and for those of you who are, um, new into this area, right, who's already graduated or in the master's program to become a counselor, my mentorship program is for you. Okay. But that is part 1. Okay, I got my little note cards here. Okay, dokey. So we have, uh, part 2. This is for, you know, uh, my Christian life coaches. Um, for those of you who are already, uh, certified life coaches, this is for you. For those of you who are thinking about, um, being a life coach as well, this is for you. So my program to become a certified Christian life coach opened up last month, you guys, and my students have been absolutely amazing. They are learning so, so much, y'all. They told me, Shakeeta, this is an amazing program. It's done in excellence. Um, it's easy to understand. Um, I have laid it out in such a way where it's easy to digest. And also, um, you know, it's, it's not, it's not hard. It takes— it just takes time, okay, when you're learning new skills. So it's still open if you want to sign up for a a trial, you can go to my website as well, www.proudpurposeacademy.com, to learn more about that program. And so we meet again on Monday evening at 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. So if you want to check it out, go there. Um, for those of you who are already certified but desire to have more training and more education, I also have certification courses. I have one around grief and faith. I have one about anxiety. I have one about forgiveness therapy and one about boundaries. There's more to come that I have around, um, depression, that I have around, um, trauma, and so much more. Okay, and so my— so my style of teaching, as you guys probably already noticed by now, is that I'm very— I'm very good at combining the word of God, scripture, spiritual along with clinical and skills. Okay, and so all my courses that I have, they are centered around that, where I'm teaching you how to give your clients skills around what they, what they need. Okay, and then also the biblical teaching that comes along with it. Okay, so go once again to my website and you'll be able to learn more about that. And so I think 2 of my students are almost done. The material is prerecorded. So when you go and register and you register for the program, you can begin right away. Okay? Right away. Okay? And so then we meet every single month to be able to come together, fellowship, get to know each other. I want to get to know who you are, right? It's more than just a program. It's a community. Okay? And so if you get stuck, we want to help you. So as I said before, 2 of them are getting ready to be done. And ready to like launch out and like do what God's called them to do. Because we need help, y'all. The world gonna need a lot more, um, Christian providers, a lot more. Because we have— we are the anchor. The body of Christ is the anchor, okay? And so people are looking for something different. They're looking for change, okay? Looking for Holy Spirit-led people who truly believe in the word of God and understand the spirit. Okay, so that is for you. All right, so the next thing I have— and this is the last thing, you guys, it's not long at all, not a long live at all— so the next one is for my Christian leaders, um, for those of you who are called into leadership, for those of you who, who are already, um, operating and walking in leadership. Um, I'm very passionate about Christian leaders, uh, whether they, you know, on a huge platform or small platform, no matter where they are. Um, honestly, over the years as a therapist, that's what I've done. I've counseled a lot of leaders, like especially the Fivefold Ministry, like prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors, and so much more, because I understand how hard it is, number one, for them to have a safe place to be able to, um, really share what they're dealing with. And honestly, that's like a big part of my ministry too, you know. I spend a lot of time interceding for a lot of leaders You know, I would never tell anybody who they are or what, what God has shown me because it's between me and the Lord, you know, um, because God needs his leaders to be whole mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and, um, to be equipped to continue to lead God's people. And, you know, I'm a big believer of, you know, healing on purpose, healing on purpose, because I've been in ministries before where I've been hurt by leaders, but this is before I became a therapist, like, full, like, full-time, fully. And, you know, looking back, I'm like, wow, because they didn't heal from their own stuff. They didn't heal from the things they had been through, and so they were unintentionally hurting other people. Okay, so with that being said, um, you guys know that in the fall I had did a leader, uh, Christian leadership series called 10 Stumbling Blocks for Christian Leaders. Okay, so, um, in the spring, like early spring— well, it's summer now, so maybe like around March church. I was like doing a fast and consecration, and the Lord began to minister to me. He was like, I want you to create a workbook out of that series. I said, oh, okay. And so I wrote it down. God didn't give me a date as to when to actually create it. I just kind of put it on my, you know, put it on my to-do list as something that God wanted me to do, because, you know, I had also finished doing the book Unashamed. Okay, so Unashamed, um, is doing really well. It's still available on Amazon and my Lulu store. I thank you guys for those who purchased workbook. It is valuable. It has really helped set people free. So if you're interested in this one as well, you can get this one, okay? It's also in the link and also in my profile on Instagram. But the next thing that I want to tell you guys about— I'm so excited— is I finally got it done, okay? The, the workbook. Before I show it to you, let me show you— let me tell you— tell you all what triggered me to like go ahead and push this thing out. Like, I had it done about 2 weeks, y'all. Like, less than 2 weeks. I was like, okay, I have to get this thing done now. It's a need, it's a dire need. And so I don't know if some of you guys have watched, um, the series on Netflix, um, about Hillsong and what happened with that. I mentioned about it a little bit before, but I didn't go in detail. And I'm not going to go in great, great detail about it today because I don't know the full story, only God does. But I know that it was a lot of things that happened that was not of God for sure. But let me tell you what, what stands out to me the most— once again, because I'm passionate about Christian liturgy— that they didn't have like a, a place, a safe place to heal, for one. For two, also, you know, I see so— okay, I see so many people who are so mesmerized by the gifts of the Spirit, and that is beautiful. The gifts of the Spirit is amazing. It feels great to be used by God. It really does. Okay. But people, you know, leaders who are upper, you know, upper leaders are not— not all of them, take that back— but a lot of leaders are not taking out time to make sure that before they release these people and put them in leadership, that they have allowed God— they've went, went through some type of training when it comes to their character, when it comes to the pitfalls or the things the enemy tries to use to cause Christian leaders, leaders to stumble. And so I saw that a lot in, in the church, in the body of Christ. So many people are gifted, they're naturally gifted, God has gifted them, um, they're operating their gifts, but they had horrible attitudes, um, or some of them had low self-esteem, some of them were dealing with rejection, some of them were dealing with unresolved trauma. I can see it so clearly, you know. And now that, you know, I'm a leader myself, right, and I'm, you know, I'm definitely a lot more, uh, I'm healed from everything I've been through ministry heal from it. You know, God had to do a work in me. And, um, I always tell God, before you call me into leadership, I said, God, do a work in me, do a work in Shakeeta, because I don't want to, um, do to other people what has been done to me. And my God, did God hear my prayer? He sure did. And so he was taking his time with me, okay? And so with that being said, the, the book is done. So officially, this is what it looks like. 10 Stumbling Blocks for Christian Leaders, y'all. I have not announced this yet. I have not done any like pre— what, what, pre-selling or any of that, okay? I haven't had time, y'all. I haven't had time. But I will start sharing more about this book, um, in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully you can see it. Uh, I know sometimes the, the green screen on StreamYard kind of makes it a little blurry, but this is what it looks like, and this is what it looks like at the Instagram. So this is the book, y'all. It's like matte, it's so soft and buttery, like on the front and back. This is the back, that's what the back looks like. Yes, look, I published this book myself, okay? And so each— so this is called 10 Stumbling Blocks for Christian Leaders, um, a transformative workbook designed to equip you with valuable lessons, insightful assessments, um, and empowering audio teachings to steer clear of common pitfalls in ministry. This is what this workbook is about, you guys. And so each, um, each lesson is a lesson in here, but it's an audio teaching in here where you can scan the QR code, and then it's a detailed assessment for each one. And each one is not the same, y'all. It is not the same. As I was writing this book, oh my God, I could just feel the wind of God like, yes, keep pushing, get this thing out, get it out, because it's a need. I encourage anybody who is a leader to get this book. Some of my friends already gotten this book who are leaders. They've already got this book. They've already gotten it because, um, I'm— I'm— people who are called by God who are leaders, for the most part, they're not coming into ministry because they're trying to be deceptive or deceiving, right? They want to do things the right way. But if no one is really teaching them or mentoring them or really showing them the areas where the enemy will try to attack them, then guess what? They don't know. You don't know what you don't know, right? People perish for the lack of knowledge, right? And it's more to ministry than just your gifts and your talents, right? Your character, your mental health, your well-being, all that matters to God. Because whatever you carrying, at some point or another, it's going to come out. It's going to come out in some way, fashion, or form, okay? So I'll go over with you, um, some of the lessons here. Uh, the first one is about being ambitious— is it healthy or unhealthy? Um, setting boundaries, um, combating comparison, uh, developing your character, um, healing from rejection, overcoming perfectionism. I see that's a really big one. Um, healing from unresolved trauma. And let me see, what is the other one? Number 9. Okay, and then 10 is healing from unforgiveness and bitterness. Okay. Oh yeah, and imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome, um, is a big one as well. And so yes, and so I encourage you to get it. It's an easy read, uh, it's about— it's fitting your hand perfectly. My husband said, oh yeah, this is good. He said, this is the good. He always like my person I go to for all this stuff because he's Yeah, he'll let me know. He give me the truth. So, um, yeah, so that's all I have. Once again, um, this workbook is, um, in my profile on Instagram and also in the comment section, the link, um, down here, uh, down here as well. And so let me see if I have anybody who have any questions. Uh, let me know. Let me see. Hello, Tawana Ray. Hello. Hello, hello, hello. Alrighty, so I want to say a quick prayer and guess what, y'all, we'll be done. And so I will, um, put in the timestamps for those who want to look at certain parts of this that pertains to them. Oh yeah, I want to say Christian leaders, right? People think that Christian leadership is only the fivefold ministry or only within the, um, the walls of the church, and, um, that's not, that's not accurate. At all. If you have influence over people, if you are leading anybody in any capacity, whether it's marketplace ministry, whether you're on social media, all that good stuff, guess what? You are a leader. So I'm gonna say a quick prayer, then I will be done for today. So Father, I just thank you right now, uh, for your people. Father, I pray, Lord God, that they are encouraged, they are strengthened. Father, I thank you, God, for everything, everything that you're doing in this season for the body of Christ, for the kingdom, for those who are waiting, for those that, um, God, you are having stretching and you have been, um, imparting into them. You have been preparing them, Lord God, um, for the things and for their ministry. And so, Holy Spirit, I thank you. I ask you, Lord God, to, um, be a hedge of protection around us, Lord, like never before. In Christ's name I pray, amen and amen. So yes, that's all I have. So I'm going to end up here on StreamYard.