Welcome!

You are probably reading this because you are suffering from a problem with depression, anxiety, anger -- or possibly a marital or relational conflict  -- and you believe that God is leading you to a Christian counselor. If so, then I would consider it an honor and a privilege to minister to you! Christian counseling is my calling, passion, and profession. I have over 20 years of professional Christian counseling experience to offer in ministering to your needs, and serve a clinically and culturally diverse clientele.

 

Selecting your counselor can be one of the most important decisions of your life, and counseling requires a significant commitment of time and resources -- both yours and mine. So please make sure that my services are well-matched with what you are looking for in your counselor. This website is designed to provide you with all you need to know about by services, my style, and my counseling approach.  Take your time as you read the following and explore this website. Then, when you are ready, feel free to call my office (815/229-8750) to set your first appointment.

 

If you have any questions not answered here, then please feel free to call my office. The best time to call and talk to me directly, if you wish, is 9AM-11:30PM Monday-Friday CST.

 

May God bless you on your journey!

 

Scott Lownsdale, Ed.D., LCPC ("Dr. Scott")

The 7 Characteristics of Christian Counseling Worthy of That Name

I believe that professional Christian counseling worthy of that name invites Jesus Christ into the center of the problem and seeks the Holy Spirit's help -- through the human instrument of a qualified, well-trained counselor who has knowledge of both the Bible and clinical psychology -- to identify and remove all obstacles to the abundant life of love, joy, and peace. Therefore, professional Christian counseling worthy of that name, in my opinion, is marked by the following seven characteristics, which I strive for in each session:

• Christ-centered

• Scripture-based

• Spirit-led

• Heart-healing

• Obstacle-removing

• Mind-renewing

• Fruit-yielding

What Your First Session Will be Like

In our first session (typically 80 minutes), we'll have an opportunity to become better acquainted. After you help me get a clear picture of the problem or problems that you are struggling with, we will establish clear goals for your counseling experience, and then, by the end of the session, form a workable plan for achieving those goals. Most people who come to see me want to grow closer to God through their counseling experience. If you are one of those people, we would invite God to help us identify and work through whatever obstacles there might be to you experiencing more of His presence in your life, and the abundant life (John 10:10) of love, joy, and peace (Galatians 5:22).

In my experience, the best and most cost-effective treatment plan is to start therapy off with frequent visits (1-3 times per week), followed by less frequent visits until you are meeting your goals and feeling a lot better. Then, after a several maintenance sessions of once or twice a month, a closure session would be appropriate.

What Takes Place Over the Course of Counseling

In the course of your counseling, I will assist you in finding the connection between your "triggers," the "negative emotions" you experience, your hidden, underlying "schemas," and the "escape routes" you take from the discomfort caused by those schemas. Let me first explain these terms:

• Triggers are those people, places, things or events that stir up your negative emotions. As Al Siebert writes, in his book The Resiliency Advantage (Berrett-Koehler, 2005), "The key to making your life better is to stop blaming others for triggering reactions in you that you don't like. The problem isn't what others do, it's your reaction to what they do."

• Negative emotions are those distressing feelings that you keep experiencing such as depression, anxiety, and anger. We all experience sadness, fear, and anger or irritability from time to time, but when these feelings are both intense and prolonged, we need to investigate their relationship with underlying schemas.

• Schemas (Lies) are deeply held, negative rigid beliefs about ourselves and the world that cause us distress and often interfere our marital or relational functioning and personal growth.  

  • Schemas usually are defined by their theme, such as "I am worthless," or "All men are dangerous." Although invisible to the naked eye, schemas have actually been studied and measured by cognitive psychologists such as Aaron Beck, Jeff Young, David Burns, and Arthur Freeman. Schemas, in my view, are thinking patterns we have that , unexposed to, and unvisited by by God's light.

  • Although schemas are often thought of by psychologists as constructs existing "in the head," I believe that they more deeply imbedded in the heart and soul, which helps explains why they have such strong negative emotions associated with them and determine so much of our behavior.

  •  Many psychologists believe that schemas originate in negative childhood experience and traumas. Although negative childhood events can certainly trigger schemas, I believe that they are ultimately rooted in our "spiritual DNA" that was warped in the Fall of humankind described in Genesis 3.

  • Although psychological interventions can be helpful in relieving the depression, anxiety, and anger associated with schemas, I have found that only God's light --through experiencing Jesus Christ and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit -- bring about the love, joy, and peace, which the Bible calls the "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22).

• Escape routes are those quick, short-term solutions we have found for escaping, numbing or distracting ourselves from those painful negative emotions we experience. Escape routes are often determined by our biology, environment, and how we coped with negative emotions as we grew up. Obvious examples are alcoholism and substance abuse. Less obvious examples include  "workaholism," rage behavior (anger addiction), food addictions, thrill-seeking behaviors (adrenalin addictions), sexual addictions, obsessive-compulsive behavior, phobias (avoidance of anxiety-arousing stimuli), anorexia and bulimia, and many others which are described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Copyright 2007, Scott Lownsdale. The material of this website may not be quoted without a clear reference the author and this website. No part of this website may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the author.