Discipleship Counseling
Where Grace Abounds offers discipleship counseling free of charge to anybody who has completed the Foundations series of classes and the required reading at WGA. The counseling is usually conducted by a male/female team. Since a majority of the members of WGA are dealing with relational issues, which many times includes a sexual component, it is important to have both a male and female perspective available to the counselee. Discipleship counseling is available for one time appointments or a series of appointments. A 6-12 week series of discipleship counseling is required before a group member can participate in a WGA Focus Group.
Discipleship counseling is useful to group members in several ways.
- If a Thursday night speaker or a member's small group time raises an issue the member is not comfortable sharing even in a small group, discipleship counseling gives them a safe and confidential place to process and talk about the issue.
- If a member is involved in professional counseling, our discipleship counseling can be used as an encouraging, less formal supplement to the professional counseling. Where Grace Abounds seeks to work in cooperation with professional counselors.
- If a member has always had a hard time being comfortable or relating in social settings, discipleship counseling can be very beneficial. The discipleship counselors not only see the participant in the counseling sessions, but they also observe how they interact and relate to people in social settings. Because of this, the discipleship counselor can offer observations which can be very beneficial to the member.
- As discipleship counselors we are able to share more personally about ourselves than a professional counselor. Since it is a "give and take" the counselee may feel more at ease than in a professional setting. Many times discipleship counseling is a predecessor to professional counseling. Where Grace Abounds has a list of professional counselors who are familiar with the issues which affect our members.