About Us
Our Faith
Wellspring's work is done from a secular mental health perspective. However, because many of our clients have left Bible-based psuedo-Christian cults, we also offer the Christian counseling perspective to those who desire it. Some staff members have been trained in pastoral counseling, theology, and other seminary level coursework, and are available for therapy sessions or educational workshops if the client requests their assistance.Over the years, we have had many atheists, agnostics, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Orthodox Jews, Buddhists and Muslims come through our center who were very comfortable here. The key is that we don't proselytize, but we also don't apologize for who we are as individuals -many, though not all, of the staff members are Christians. We believe that the road to recovery from spiritual abuse must include openness about the individual's choice for a spiritual path or lack thereof. Therefore staff members come from a wide range of religious practices and no one doctrine, denomination, or belief system is foisted upon our clients or other staff members.
Our dinner table conversations are often lively as clients share their perspectives about religion, God, and choices of spirituality. We always tell clients that we can't guarantee what the other clients might say to them in regards to religion, but we can guarantee what the staff will say ... "It's your choice!" And that's something most of them haven't heard in a long time - maybe ever!
We feel that by modeling to clients our own individual choices, they will see that it is safe to explore spirituality again. But having said that, spirituality is only one component here. We address vocational problems, cognitive problems, relational problems, sexual problems, psychological problems, etc. Some want a strictly secular approach and others want a pastoral counseling approach. We can provide either approach and tailor it to the individual's desires.
When it comes to exploring or choosing not to explore spiritual directions, our atmosphere is one of acceptance and safety.