Christ-Centered, Trauma-Informed Counseling & Soul Care
A narrative-focused, story-exploring approach to biblical counseling
Biblical Soul Care for the Whole Person
I understand biblical counseling as part of the Church’s larger work of biblical soul care—coming alongside one another with wisdom, compassion, truth, and presence as we learn to live more fully within the story of God.
Scripture forms and grounds my understanding of both people and the work of care. It gives us the truest account of who God is, who we are as His image-bearers, what has gone wrong in the world and within us, and the hope we have through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Within this larger biblical story, we encounter people not as problems to be solved, but as whole persons whose lives have been shaped by relationships, experiences, suffering and sin, embodiment, desire, loss, love, and longing.
For this reason, biblical soul care attends to more than thoughts or behaviors. Together, we become curious about the stories that have shaped you, the relationships through which you learned belonging and connection, the emotions and bodily responses that arise within you, the strategies you developed to protect yourself, the beliefs you have come to hold, and the ways all of these have influenced your experience of yourself, others, and God.
This kind of attention does not move us away from Scripture. I believe it helps us understand more greatly the person Scripture tells us we are: embodied image-bearers created for relationship with God and one another, living within a world marked by both beauty and brokenness, and continually being invited into our belovedness in Christ.
This is why 2 Corinthians 3:18 remains at the heart of my approach: “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Biblical soul care makes room for that transformation to take place within the reality of our actual stories. There is room for truth and tenderness, repentance and lament, suffering and hope, the wisdom of the body and the renewing of the mind. We bring the whole person before Christ, trusting that as we learn to behold Him more truly, the Spirit continues His gracious work of forming us into His likeness.
What Do I Mean by “Biblical”?
When I describe my approach as biblical, I mean more than the simple use of Scripture within a counseling conversation. I mean that the whole story of Scripture shapes how I understand God, what it means to be human, the nature of suffering and sin, our need for relationship and belonging, and the hope of redemption and restoration in Christ.
To be biblical is to take seriously that we are embodied image-bearers, created by God for relationship with Him and with one another. We are people with bodies and stories, desires and emotions, relationships and communities. We bear both dignity and brokenness. We can be wounded by what has been done to us, responsible for the ways we react, respond, and cause harm ourselves, and deeply affected by living in a world where things are not yet as they should be.
This means Scripture is not simply a resource I reach for when a problem needs an answer. It is the larger story within which we seek to understand your story. It gives language for joy and sorrow, sin and suffering, lament and repentance, exile and belonging, death and resurrection, and the long work of becoming more fully who we were created to be.
Being biblical also means resisting the temptation to make simple what Scripture itself treats with complexity. Job’s suffering is not reduced to a formula. The Psalms make room for anguish, protest, fear, and desire. Jesus attends to bodies as well as souls, receives questions, enters grief, confronts oppression and sin, and moves toward those who suffer. Throughout Scripture, transformation unfolds within relationship—with God and with one another—and through the patient work of the Spirit.
So when I speak of biblical counseling and soul care, I am describing care that is rooted in Scripture, centered upon Christ, dependent upon the Spirit, attentive to the whole person, and situated within the larger redemptive story God is writing.
The Bible does not make your story less important. It gives us a larger Story within which yours can be heard, understood, grieved, redeemed, and ultimately held in hope.
What Do I Mean by “Story-Exploring”?
To be story-exploring is to approach your life with curiosity about how your experiences have shaped the way you understand yourself, relate to others, respond to the world around you, and experience God.
None of us comes into the present moment without a story. We have been formed within families, relationships, communities, churches, cultures, joys, losses, wounds, and experiences of belonging and disconnection. Along the way, we learn what seems safe and what does not, what earns connection, what threatens it, what parts of ourselves are welcome, and what we may need to hide, manage, or protect. Some of these ways of responding have served us well; others may continue long after the circumstances that first required them have changed.
Story-exploring care invites us to become curious about these connections without reducing every present struggle to the past. We may notice recurring themes, relational patterns, bodily responses, emotions, beliefs, longings, or protective strategies and gently ask, Where might this have been learned? What has it been trying to accomplish? What does it reveal about what you have needed, feared, loved, or lost? What is Jesus inviting me to?
Exploring our stories also creates room for lament. There are experiences that need to be named truthfully, losses that deserve to be grieved, harm that should never have happened, and places where our own choices need honest acknowledgment and repentance. We do not revisit the past simply for the sake of revisiting it, but because what remains unnamed or unattended can continue to shape the present.
Within Christian soul care, this exploration ultimately takes place in the presence of Christ. As we bring our stories into His light and love, we can begin to see more clearly what has shaped us, honor the ways we learned to survive, grieve what was lost, take responsibility where it belongs, and become increasingly free to live from the truer story of who we are in Him.
What Do I Mean by “Clinically Informed”?
To describe my work as clinically informed means that, alongside my theological and biblical training, I take seriously what careful study and clinical practice have taught us about trauma, attachment, human development, relationships, the nervous system, and the ways people adapt to suffering.
This knowledge can give us helpful language for experiences that are sometimes difficult to understand. It can help explain why the body responds before the thinking mind has caught up, why certain relational patterns repeat themselves, why protective responses can remain long after danger has passed, or why knowing something to be true does not always mean we are yet able to experience it as true.
My training includes Narrative-Focused Trauma Care, Christian Trauma Care™, Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), Confessional Communities™, and specialized training related to destructive relationships and domestic abuse. I also draw thoughtfully from attachment theory, interpersonal neurobiology, parts-informed approaches (IFS), story work, and trauma-informed principles.
Being clinically informed does not mean that I treat every struggle as a diagnosis (while diagnoses offer important information about what a person is experiencing, they are not the primary factor when it comes to whole-person care), nor does it mean that clinical theories replace Scripture as the framework through which I understand what it means to be human. Rather, I engage these resources with discernment, receiving what helps us attend more carefully and compassionately to the complexity of the person before us.
At their best, these insights help us ask better questions, recognize patterns we might otherwise miss, understand the wisdom of responses that can initially seem confusing, and create conditions in which meaningful exploration can occur. They become tools in service of care—not the story that ultimately defines you.
What This Looks Like in Our Work Together
Our work together is collaborative, curious, and attentive to your particular story. We will begin with what brings you into care while remaining open to the relationships, experiences, patterns, and longings that may be connected to what you are experiencing now.
At times, our work may involve slowing down to notice what is happening in your body or emotions, exploring a particular story or relationship, becoming curious about a protective response, grieving what has been lost, or considering the beliefs you have come to hold about yourself, others, or God. At other times, you may simply need a place to speak honestly about what is happening in your life and receive wise, compassionate counsel.
Scripture, prayer, reflection, and other spiritual practices may become part of our work as they serve you and what we are exploring together. I may also offer practices or reflection between our meetings to help you continue noticing what is emerging in the ordinary rhythms of your life.
There is no predetermined formula for this work. We will listen together for what needs attention, move at a pace that honors your capacity, and remain attentive to the ongoing work of God within your story.
Is This Approach Right for You?
This approach may resonate with you if you desire care that takes Scripture seriously while also making room for the complexity of your story; if you want to understand not only what you are experiencing but what may be happening beneath it; or if you are looking for a place where faith, story, relationships, emotions, and embodied experience can be explored together.
You do not need to arrive with your story figured out, the right words for what you are experiencing, or certainty about what needs to change. We can begin with where you are.
Ways to Work with Me
Individual Counseling & Soul Care
Ongoing individual care offers a consistent place to tend to your story, relationships, emotional and spiritual life, and the circumstances you are navigating. Our work is Christ-centered, story-exploring, trauma-informed, and clinically informed, with space to move at a pace that allows trust, awareness, and meaningful change to develop over time.
Individual counseling and soul care are offered primarily online, allowing us to meet regularly without the limitations of location or travel.
Story + Soul Care Retreats
Sometimes a particular part of your story needs more room than a traditional counseling hour can provide. Story + Soul Care Retreats offer extended, focused time to slow down, listen carefully, and give sustained attention to a story, wound, relationship, loss, pattern, or season that feels ready for deeper exploration.
Retreats are available in person in the greater Houston area as well as online. Each retreat includes intentional preparation and integration so that our time together is held within a larger rhythm of reflection, prayer, rest, and continued care.
Story + Soul Groups
There are parts of our stories that are difficult to heal or understand in isolation. Groups create space to practice being known, listen to the stories of others, and experience the kind of connection that can deepen both personal healing and spiritual formation.
My groups vary in focus and may include story work, contemplative spiritual formation, relational connection, or exploration of a particular theme. Most groups are offered online, making it possible to gather with others across locations while developing a consistent and intentional community.
Ready to offer yourself the gift of Story + Soul care?
Connect with me to see what might be the best fit for you.