HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR
COUNSELLING
By Eliza Huie and Kyle Johnston
10Publishing. 39 pages £2.99
ISBN 978 1 914 966 330
My guess is that most people seeking the help of a professional counsellor just want help. This short book encourages us to think how can I make that help most helpful?
It begins by asking the question ‘Should I seek counselling?’ and then helps us to think through what might we look for in a counsellor and what might be expected from them.
There is much to commend here, including a realistic and healthy expectation that the Christian life will be hard but that we can, with the Lord’s help, persevere joyfully. There seems to me to be a very wise section on the time it takes for counselling to make a difference. The sections on the importance of prayer and the local church will gladden the heart of any believer. The chapter on understanding the role of the Bible in counselling helpfully points out that how the Bible is used is as important as whether it is used.
Most encouragingly, I think, there is a clear understanding that while good counselling will help, even the most experienced Biblical counsellor will be limited.
‘Ultimately, though, as much as we want counselling to be helpful, our hope is not in counselling … Our hope is in our living Lord, who will one day make all the sad things come untrue’ (p.39).
It is not a workbook as such, but in many of the short chapters there are bits to reflect on and fill in. At £3 each I think it is worth everyone having a copy (or two) on their shelf and being ready to pass it on to others.
