The Spiritual Handbook for Counseling Students, Counselors and the Clients They Counsel

DURING A CRISIS The second reason you need to talk to your clients about their relationship with God is that most people, at some time in their lives, will experience a crisis. Very often, the crisis will result in feelings your clients have never before coped with. Clients tend to reach out to God during such times. Throughout the years as I worked as a Licensed Professional Counselor, I also worked as a “crisis counselor.” It is during a crisis that you will often see clients diligently searching and seeking God. However, I had never seen such desperation to connect with God as I did when I worked as a crisis counselor during the April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech Tragedy. ...One of the most helpful impacts I personally have seen from crises has been their ability to show people that they cannot always rely on their own strength to see them through. They have to rely on God’s strength. When we see a person getting physically and emotionally weak, very often this is when we see clients’ relying on spiritual strength. "Twelve Years Old" (Poem Written by the author) He came to see me, At twelve years old. If only he had done, What he was told. His daddy was dead, And he was to blame. He couldn’t get past, The guilt and the shame. He wouldn’t speak, At all to me. He was mad at himself, And that’s the way it would be. When a boy blames himself, When his daddy dies, It’s only anger, You see in those eyes. You would think when his daddy, Suddenly died, All he would do, Was sit and cry. Not when he thought, It was his fault, And if only he had done, What his daddy had taught. It’s a terrible burden, On a little one, To know he was so scared, He couldn’t even run. That all he could do, Was freeze and stare, Before going for help, Somewhere, anywhere. Do you think it was power, The boy thought he had, To control the timing, Of the death of his dad? No, not power, Not strength at all, Only weakness of a kid, Four feet tall. You ask what he has, To be angry about, It wasn’t his fault, Without a doubt. Does he know the Bible, Tells those who blame, To always forgive, In Jesus’ Name? But what if it’s himself, Who he can’t forgive? What kind of life, Will he live? It’s a life of pain, That pierces my core. It’s a type of pain, I’d never seen before. A life full of anger, That will not move, Until he stops blaming, And trying to prove; To everyone else, It wasn’t his fault. Something they know, At least they ought. To know a child, Of eleven or twelve, Should not have burdens, On which to dwell. When God takes a dad, From a little boy, He expects others, To renew his joy. But what if the “others,” In their grief and pain, Forget to tell him, He’s not to blame? To say he was there, Not to save, And that little boys, Can’t always behave. For they know not what they do, As Jesus once said, And He forgave them, As He nodded His head. Please give that boy joy, In his precious little heart, That deserved only love, From the very start. And please let him know, That he’s loved more each day, So he can love himself well, Oh God, this I pray.