Well hello there Emmanuel, I am humbled to not only be able to join the team here as an intern but also to begin the intern blog.  Essentially, this is going to function as a space for all of you to be able to get to know the interns and their roles.  On top of that you can catch up on all that is happening with the team and our various ministries.  In my short time being on this team, I have been consistently and pleasantly surprised by all of the talent and resources that we have here.  God has blessed us all with different ways to uniquely impact our church and community, and it is a true gift to collaborate with every one here in our mission of bringing the gospel to our community.

Before going further, I feel the need to introduce myself to those of you who may not know me.  My name is Trevor White and I am about to enter my final year of graduate school in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Seattle Pacific University.  I attended undergraduate at Seattle Pacific as well, and have fallen in love with the northwest in the past five years I have lived here.  Before that I am from Riverside, California (Yes, I do know the Golden State brings up negative feelings with some of you. I experienced this when I told Patricia I am a UCLA fan…)

I have been attending Emmanuel regularly now for about 6 months, and in that time I have felt such warmth and positive regard from the community here that I have yearned to be able to give back myself and get more involved.  In surveying the greater story of Emmanuel, it seems that there is a consistent thread of people being touched in times of brokenness.  Emmanuel’s steady presence through the mountains and valleys of it’s peoples lives is inspiring and motivating.  This has pointed me to using my burgeoning skills as a Marriage and Family Therapy student to reach brokenness in our church and community through counseling services.

There is something profound about being able to share in a journey of healing with people.  I know that in my experience, as a counselor there is nothing more deeply spiritual than being able to be with someone who is in pain and hold that with them.  I want this to be available in our church and community for anyone who needs it.  Luckily, we have quite a few people in our church body that have similar passions.  Tamura Turney and Kristin Spencer are also going to work with clients here at our counseling center.  And acting as clinical supervisor and overseeing the whole shebang is none other than your very own resident superstar Marilyn Moritz. The four of us will make up the counseling staff and begin the process of seeing clients as early as next week.

If you or anyone you know is interested in counseling, the email contact for intake and scheduling purposes is counseling@emmanuelphinneyridge.org.  I know with any type of counseling occurring at a church, there is the question of what type of counseling it will be.  Will it be biblically based or secular?  I have attached the following from our informed consent to demonstrate our beliefs on this:

Everyday issues affect us as individuals in multiple ways: physically, mentally, interpersonally, and spiritually. We are open to discussing any aspect of your life and hope to do so in a respectful and honest way. Although we are affiliated with Emmanuel Bible Church, the Counseling Center does not take a Biblically based stance on therapy. Each therapist is open to exploring areas of spirituality and religion but will only do so at the request and with the permission of the client as it seems helpful to the overall process of therapy.

As you can see, spirituality and religion are not issues we are running away from, but we want to have an open stance so that potential clients in our community will feel comfortable bringing issues to us in therapy.  Obviously if you have any questions or concerns about this please email me, I am also very open to any conversation throughout the week or on Sunday at church.

I think my favorite quote that evokes my own therapeutic style is from my good man Galileo (Promise I’m not a heretic J), “You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it within himself.”  This type of implicit and subtle teaching style is similar to what we have been covering this summer with Jesus’ teachings of the parables. Jesus used stories to inform us about what the righteous life may be like, and taught us to learn from things that happen all around us. In therapy, we use stories to learn about our clients, and to inform them to realities in their lives that they may not have explored.

Please consider friends and/or family members whom you know would be interested in counseling.  We are a place with open arms and ready hearts and we are hopeful of the healing that will come from the Emmanuel Counseling Center.