Abuse

Those who’ve been abused may continue to feel its effects even long after they’re out of that difficult situation. It can be difficult to find stability, orient themselves, and feel comfortable in life without chaos.

A history of abuse can trigger many unpleasant feelings and experiences, including mental, emotional, and physical blocks that make it impossible to connect with yourself and others around you. You may experience anxiety, issues with intimacy and trust, and struggle with flashbacks or memories of your traumatic experiences.

While it’s definitely challenging to cope with these problems, you may benefit from the help of a professional Christian counselor.

Each survivor’s trauma is unique to them and dependent on a variety of factors; how close were they to the perpetrator? Did they receive support from their family and friends? Were they dismissed by their support system? Was the abuse acknowledged?

Young children, adolescents, and teens who’ve survived sexual, verbal, psychological, or physical abuse struggle with various problems and challenges that affect different aspects of their lives. From declining academic performance to poor social skills and anxiety, these problems can show up in multiple, complex ways.

Adults who’ve survived abuse may develop conditions like PTSD, depression, and anxiety, leading to complicated interpersonal relationships, social skills, poor communication, and struggles with work. 

Dr. Jamie K. Hicks is also EMDR trained and can offer support to survivors of abuse through this model.

Child (age 5+) & Teen

Children

A person’s childhood is one of the most formative periods of their life—it’s when we are allowed to develop a sense of self, discover healthy attachments and interactions, and grow with nurturing.

Many children, however, are deprived of those experiences and left to deal with incomparable trauma, pain, and dysfunction due to their troubled environment.

This causes them to act out in equally dysfunctional and disruptive ways, including social withdrawal and isolation, bullying and violence, tantrums, and stubbornness, making it difficult for parents to help them.

We aim to help children and their families deal with these difficult phases and experiences through therapy and counseling, providing them with the necessary skills and healthy outlets for emotional regulation. As children struggle to verbalize their challenges and complex emotions, therapy can play a major role in helping them. We use a variety of play-based methods to establish communication. This helps us encourage social, emotional, and behavioral development and positive changes.

We ensure that we create a safe environment and space for children as we work with them on all kinds of emotional or developmental challenges through therapy.

Teens

Teenagers and their families both experience many challenges during this phase, with changing expectations, social and peer pressure, academics, personal development, emotional problems, and more. These issues, along with physiological changes, make it difficult to regulate emotions and behaviors.

We don’t believe in stereotypes about teens, given that adolescents all experience challenges and issues in their own way. What we do believe, however, is that all teens and adolescents are trying to figure out how to deal with the challenges and curveballs life throws their way in ways that are safe and healthy.

They are, by nature, often emotionally charged and rash, which is why therapy can help them express their emotions and discuss their issues in a safe, non-judgmental environment. We use highly personalized approaches to help with self-esteem, rage, rebellion, anxiety, substance abuse, and depression, among other issues.

Through rigorous planning and help, we’re able to empower teens to make better decisions regarding their lives.

Individual

Individual counseling or therapy works to create a safe space where individuals are allowed to express and explore complex feelings, such as anxiety, depression, anger, fear, stress, confusion, etc., regarding different situations. These problems could stem from one’s personal life or certain events and occurrences that impact their relationships, self-esteem and self-worth, and emotional well-being.

These issues hurt not only the individual experiencing them but those around them, affecting their productivity at work or school, social and familial relationships, feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression, as well as physiological changes like a loss of appetite.

Our counselors are trained to challenge and work through negative belief systems, triggering memories and experiences that result in a multitude of mental health challenges such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), conflict within relationships, grief, addictions, and disorders relating to food and substances, and more.

We provide a one-on-one experience where trained and licensed therapists work with clients through their issues and create an empathetic, safe, and conducive environment. It’s a chance for you to explore, confront, and challenge behaviors that no longer work for you, beliefs that hold you back, and feelings that are difficult to dissect and understand.

Our counselors work to lead you to a place of emotional well-being and stability, which allows you to build better relationships and communication skills and be kinder to yourself while appreciating God’s endless love and mercy.

Spiritual

All of us wonder what God’s role is in our lives, what our beliefs are, and how to make certain decisions regarding our futures. It’s difficult finding mentors or learned individuals who can help us through trying times and concerns regarding our spiritual growth.

At A Season for All Counseling, we have biblically trained counselors who have the knowledge, expertise, and empathy to build a stronger relationship with God and build a stronger spiritual belief system.

We’re faced with difficult questions regarding faith and self-growth continually, and if you want to understand the true essence and value of scripture, you can join our biblical training and study sessions along with counseling.

A Season for All works to bring the love the Lord has for us all to you and use His message to carve a path for our lives. We also help individuals identify their particular temperament in relation to the body of Christ, which is incredibly fulfilling, exciting, and rewarding.

Grief/Loss

Grief and loss are part and parcel of the human experience, affecting everyone in different ways. Nobody is immune to these experiences and feelings—and there are countless ways to experience them.

We could lose relationships or loved ones through death, fights, miscommunication, divorce, physical distance, and many other ways. Many losses catch us unaware and occur out of nowhere; other times, these relationships decay over time and die from slow poisoning.

Certain losses aren’t external or related to other people, but rather, ourselves. Professional losses, a loss of health, a failed dream or plan all hurt. Many losses, though simple and painful, remain ignored or downplayed, such as the loss from a miscarriage, the death of a pet, and the loss of physical property. Other times they’re much more complicated, like the loss of an abusive relationship, such as a partner or parent.

At A Season for All Counseling, we’re here to lend you a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and an empathetic counselor who can help you.  

Temperament

 Temperament Therapy is a biblical counseling approach derived from the theory of temperament. According to this theory, everyone possesses certain intellectual and emotional requirements, i.e., “Temperament.”

This is centered on the idea that we are a reflection of God and finding a balance between the body, mind, and the eternal, ever-living spirit.  

Temperament is not something learned but inherent and present since birth, staying with us throughout our lifetime. It looks at who we are, and our uniqueness is a combination of said temperament, cognitive processes and qualities, our individual experiences, social and familial values, and God’s influence.

When we are born, our personality and temperament are one and the same, but change as we go through a series of life experiences, decisions, social relationships, and how committed we are to Christ.  

Temperament Therapy works to identify and understand each person’s individual temperament and how they work to fulfill that. It also looks at the pitfalls of not doing so and how that impacts their self-esteem.

Each of us has a different Temperament that we try to fulfill through either our soul (mind, will & emotions) or from our spirit. Conflict and trouble within the temperament occur due to ineffective decision-making and ways of fulfilling those needs, including:

• Using ungodly ways to fulfill those needs
• A lack of balance or harmony within those needs
• Negative responses to incomplete temperament need

When combined with the challenges of today’s spiritually devoid world, these unmet temperament needs lead to all kinds of mental, emotional, and spiritual challenges alongside physical issues.

Secular researchers and psychologists are unable to understand temperament because these theories don’t account for “intelligent design” and beliefs regarding creation.

The National Christian Counselors Association has spent years developing certain characteristics of temperament, namely Inclusion, Control, Affection = Mind, Will, Emotions, aka the soul.

Inclusion: Social position and role & intellectual engagement.

Control: Self-awareness and acceptance, a sense of responsibility for oneself and others.

Affection: The need for love, affection, connection, intimacy, and closeness.

Every aspect of the temperament has specific needs that can be broadly categorized into two groups:

Expressed Needs: The things we want outwardly

Responsive Needs: The things we really want and need.

It may seem like we’re talking about the same things, but they’re actually quite distinct from one another. For instance, it may seem like someone is happy living alone and living their best life while single, but they crave partnership and love.  Another example is someone who seems to work themselves to the bone for their career, but what they truly want is love, social acceptance, and financial stability. In both instances, true needs remain unnoticed and unfulfilled, which causes them to chase unhealthy, often damaging ways to cope with loneliness.

The world we live in provides more than enough stimulants and alternatives, including drugs, alcohol, pre-marital sex, money, adventure, and more. And each option brings satisfaction for a while before everything comes to a halting crash and mental health issues like depression, stress, unfulfillment, anxiety, and more.

In order to identify and clearly determine these expressed and responsive needs, we encourage all participants to fill out the A.P.S. (Arno Profile System) questionnaire. Based on the results, we learn which of the 5 primary temperament types you fit into.

These 5 types are Melancholy, Choleric, Sanguine, Supine, and Phlegmatic. In very rare cases, a person may possess the same temperament type in each aspect. Most people have combinations of temperaments. Given that there are over 4000 different temperament combinations, it’s easy to see how each human being is different from those around them.

We help individuals understand temperament needs and how they can meet and fulfill them, alongside working to identify the root cause and source of their stress. Once that internal struggle and pressure are removed, most individuals will experience stress relief and stay safe against health problems and emotional challenges resulting from it. It also prepares them to face the challenges of everyday life with more patience, grace, dignity, and strength, feeling at peace with themselves and, in turn, God.

Rather than stressing and adding feelings of discontent, pain, ache, anger, stress, dissatisfaction, and fear, they will be able to enjoy love, peace, happiness, patience, faith, and more positive emotions in general.

Temperament Therapy isn’t a be all, end all solution to all our emotional challenges and struggles, but it does help us understand more about ourselves. It provides us insight into our inborn temperament strengths and weaknesses and helps us understand why we make the decisions that we do.