Psychology or Counselling?

So, today it's my turn to share with you some thoughts.

As an almost qualified psychologist I have been pleasantly surprised over the last two weeks to hear 2 Christians comment about the value of m career. Why pleasantly surprised you ask? Well, as a Christian and a Psychologist I often hear people make comments about how my career choice is not as respectable as Christian Counselling. Now, don't get me wrong, Counselling is an important field and not all Counsellors are bad just as not all Psychologists are good. And, as a Christian, I think Christians in any field of work is fantastic, we need to get out there are show God to the people we work with. However, back to what I was actually talking about, I often find that Christian Counsellors do not fully understand what I, as a psychologist, do.

So you ask, what does a psychologist do, well, many things really. First we must understand that there is not only 1 type of Psychologist, there are actually about 8 broad categories that we classify ourselves under; Clinical (the one everyone seems to think of), Counselling, Sport, Health, Forensic, Occupational/Organisational, Neuropsychology and Development and Educational. I am an Educational Psychologist. To explain what all psychologists do would be huge but basically we counsel, some of us will work in the area of mental illness and to some degree diagnose, some of us work with development disorders or intellectual disabilities, we also run groups and programs as preventative measures and so much more. So as an Educational Psychologist I work across a broad range of activities within a educational settings such as school and universities as well as early intervention settings with preschoolers. So, I do what a counsellor does and more.

So you still ask, why was I pleasantly surprised that Christian's responded positively to my career? Well, all through my study I have heard people suggest that what I do is not Godly because we study evolution and we studied some really anti-God philosophers. Well, I think that as Christians we should get off our high horses and mix with the plebs and critically think about these issues. I bet Jesus would have been at the secular uni's loving philosophy where he would have out debated anyone and people would have really thought about what he said, who knows some might have been converted. I have learnt to critically analyse what I am taught and I tell you what some of my psychology lectures have shown me, God is amazing, he has made us incredibly amazing, did you know the brain can compensate for injury if it occurs young enough? The brain can re-wire and use a different section of the brain to ensure the vital things such as language and motor control are maintained, it's called neural plasticity and it is cool.

So that's my rant, it is time that we all got off our high horses, learnt what each other do and start to pull together rather than apart. Maybe one day I'll find more Christians acknowledging the value of what I do and maybe even the high level of education and training I have. Let's start a discussion to get to understand each other.

youth worker versus youth pastor

having been a youth worker in a church setting and a youth worker in a government setting i have often been told by fellow christians that the role of youth pastor and youth worker are the same.

so i thought that i might put my opinion out there.

a youth workers role is wide and varied depending on what area you work in. that being said your job is basically the same. you are there to empower young people to make good choices for there lives. you are there to refer them on when you don't have the skills. you are there to advocate for young people on every topic to anyone who will listen and some who won't. as a youth worker it is your job to support , encourage, train and develop young people to reach their highest potential emotionally and relationally. and much, much more.

a youth pastor does many of these things as well. however the youth pastors role is suppose to be all about a persons spiritual growth. the youth pastor in general is not an advocate. they are more of a programs person than a secular youth worker and in general they have less training on the person and much more on the bible.

which one is better is not the question here. i believe they are both needed. what do you think.?

Beginning the Journey

In 1904 G. Stanley Hall coined the term adolescence. Chances are that if you are reading this you either are now or once fitted into Hall's classification of an adolescent and most likely you heard people say things like 'young people these days...' Most of us cringe when we hear this but as we get older are we any different or do we fall into the same traps?

It is easy to be critical of those who are finding their place in the world, a world that has very little interest in helping them but is more interested in keeping them down so that they will fit the mould and not rock the boat.

You may have heard some of the terms young people are described as, 'trouble', 'useless', 'bluggers', 'lazy', 'good for nothing' and my personal favourite, 'deliquent'. Startling really that all of us who are 'trouble, useless, bluggers, lazy, good for nothing, deliquents' grow into 'responsible member of society'! How do we do it? Do we give up what makes us individual? Do we give up the uniqueness of our generations perspective? Or do we simply find a way to fit into societies relentless pressure to conform? And even if we do all this can we really escape the labelling until we somehow reach the 'age' that society deems appropriate? Many of us find that society continues to move the 'age' to fit with what society chooses.

Years ago "Youth" was deemed as 12 to 25 years old, these days some writers think that "youth" is 10 to 30! What are we doing now that has led to such a long period of, as Hall would say, 'storm and stress'? What can people who work with young people do to support and advocate for the 'youth'? what do young people themselves think?

All this and more will be discussed over the coming posts! lets dialogue and help these young people so that they will be a light to a generation!