Faith is one of the most intimate parts of a person’s life. It can be a wellspring of comfort, meaning, and strength, and it can also be the place where some of our hardest questions and most private struggles live.
Perhaps you are carrying a burden that you’ve tried to pray through but it hasn’t lifted. Maybe you feel a disconnect between what you believe and what you feel. Or perhaps life has delivered something so painful that your faith itself feels shaken.
If you’ve been searching for a therapist in Manassas, VA who truly understands both the clinical and spiritual dimensions of your experience, someone who won’t ask you to leave your faith at the door and won’t substitute prayer for professional treatment, this is exactly the kind of work I am trained to do. There is room here for all of who you are.
Looking for a therapist who takes faith seriously? Call (571) 229-3418 or book your first session.
What is Christian Counseling?
Christian counseling is a form of professional therapy that integrates clinical expertise with sensitivity to a client’s spiritual life and faith. It is not a replacement for evidence-based treatment, and it is not pastoral care or spiritual direction alone. Rather, it is the intentional weaving together of sound psychological practice and Christian faith, when and how the client chooses.
In my practice, Christian counseling means you receive the same quality of clinical care that any client receives, grounded in approaches like Internal Family Systems (IFS) and other evidence-based modalities. The difference is that we also make space for the spiritual dimensions of your experience. For some clients, this means exploring how their relationship with God connects to their emotional patterns. For others, it means addressing spiritual wounds: harmful messages they received in religious contexts, crises of faith, or the loneliness of feeling distant from God during suffering.
What Christian counseling is not, at least in my practice, is a rigid framework where I tell you what to believe or how to interpret your experiences through a particular theological lens. I respect the diversity within the Christian faith and honor each client’s unique relationship with God. My role is to walk alongside you, not to direct your spiritual life.
It is also important to say clearly: you do not need to be a Christian, or hold any faith at all, to work with me. My practice warmly welcomes people of all spiritual backgrounds and none. Spirituality is simply one dimension of human experience that I am equipped to address for those who find it meaningful.
Signs That Christian Counseling May Be Right for You
Christian counseling may be a particularly good fit if you find yourself experiencing:
- A desire to integrate your faith into therapy rather than keeping it separate
- Spiritual struggles or a crisis of faith: questioning, doubting, or feeling distant from God
- Guilt or shame rooted in religious messages you received growing up
- Difficulty reconciling suffering with faith, wondering where God is in your pain
- Anxiety or depression that intersects with spiritual concerns
- Grief or loss where your faith is both a source of comfort and a source of questions
- Relationship challenges where shared or differing faith is a factor
- Life transitions (marriage, parenthood, career changes, retirement) where you want spiritual grounding
- A sense that something is missing in previous therapy experiences that didn’t address the spiritual dimension
- A longing for a therapist who understands the language, culture, and complexity of faith without judgment
If any of this connects, Christian counseling offers a space where your whole self is welcome: your doubts alongside your faith, your questions alongside your beliefs.
How IFS Enhances Christian Counseling
One of the reasons I find Internal Family Systems therapy so naturally compatible with Christian counseling is that IFS, at its core, is about compassion, curiosity, and the belief that every person has an undamaged essence, what IFS calls the “Self.” For many of my Christian clients, this concept connects with their understanding of being made in the image of God: that beneath all the pain, protective patterns, and distorted beliefs, there is something whole and good at the center of who they are.
IFS helps us understand that the internal parts carrying our pain (the anxious part, the self-critical part, the part that feels distant from God) are not enemies to be conquered. They are wounded parts of us that took on burdens they were never meant to carry. In a Christian framework, this aligns with the invitation to bring our whole, honest selves before God rather than performing a version of ourselves we think is more acceptable.
In practice, this means we might work with a part of you that carries shame from messages you received in church, helping that part release the burden it’s been holding. Or we might work with a protective part that has built walls against vulnerability, including vulnerability with God, because intimacy felt dangerous at some point in your life. As these parts find healing, clients often describe a natural deepening of their spiritual life, not because I prescribed it, but because the internal barriers that were blocking connection begin to dissolve.
This approach respects both the clinical and spiritual dimensions of your experience without reducing one to the other. Your faith is not pathologized, and your psychological needs are not spiritualized away. Both are honored as real and important.
My Approach to Spiritually-Integrated Therapy
I come to this work as a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from Towson University and over 19 years of clinical experience. I am a Certified IFS Therapist with Level 2 training, a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and I am trained in IFIO (Intimacy from the Inside Out) for couples work. My clinical credentials ensure that the care you receive is grounded in science and best practices.
I also come to this work as someone who understands that faith is not a footnote in a person’s life. It can be the very framework through which everything else is understood. I approach spirituality with the same respect, curiosity, and care that I bring to every other dimension of a client’s experience.
In our work together, spiritual integration looks different for every client. Some clients want prayer to be part of our sessions. Others simply want to know that their therapist understands their faith background without it being a central focus. Some are working through anger at God or the church and need a safe space to express that without fear of judgment. I follow your lead, always.
What I do not do is use faith as a reason to avoid the hard clinical work of therapy. If you are experiencing depression, we will address it with the same evidence-based rigor I would use with any client. If trauma is part of your story, we will work with it directly. Spiritual sensitivity enhances this work; it does not replace it. You can learn more about my full background and qualifications.
What to Expect in Sessions
When you begin Christian counseling with me, the first session focuses on getting to know each other. I’ll learn about what brings you to therapy, your background, your goals, and (if it’s relevant to you) your spiritual life and how you’d like it to be part of our work. There is no pressure to share anything before you’re ready, and I never assume what role faith plays in your life.
Ongoing sessions blend clinical therapeutic work with spiritual sensitivity in the proportion that fits you. We might spend a session doing deep IFS parts work with no explicit spiritual content, and another session might naturally touch on how a particular wound connects to your relationship with God. The work is organic and responsive to what you need in the moment.
I work with individuals and couples in 50-minute sessions, available both in-person at my Manassas, VA office and via telehealth for clients in Virginia and Florida. My fee is $215 per session, and I accept Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. I offer an initial consultation to ensure we’re a good fit.
What I Bring to This Work
Finding a therapist who genuinely integrates clinical excellence with spiritual depth is not easy. Many therapists are clinically strong but uncomfortable with faith. Others are spiritually oriented but lack rigorous clinical training. I bring both, and I believe that combination matters. Here is what sets my practice apart:
- Dual expertise: I am both a highly trained clinician (Certified IFS Therapist, CCTP, LPC) and someone who approaches faith with genuine understanding and respect. You don’t have to choose between professional quality and spiritual sensitivity.
- 19+ years of experience: I have worked with clients across the spectrum of faith: devout, questioning, deconstructing, returning after years away, and everything in between. Nothing you bring to this work will surprise or unsettle me.
- No faith requirement: My practice is inclusive. Whether you are a person of deep faith, someone exploring spirituality, or someone with no religious framework at all, you are welcome here.
- Evidence-based foundation: Every approach I use (IFS, mindfulness, and others) is supported by clinical research. Faith integration adds to this foundation rather than replacing it.
Ready to find a therapist who honors both your faith and your mental health? Schedule a consultation or call (571) 229-3418.