My Experiences with Counseling, a note from Jessica

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As many of you know I am not a licensed counselor. Though I have had many “counseling like” conversations with kids about bullying, or with single moms about the struggles of parenting; I was not prepared for the stories I would hear weekly from the women at The Well.

To give you a little history, before venturing off to Thailand I thought I would be teaching classes and helping with intake of new women. For those of you who don’t know, The Well it is a ministry that reaches female sex workers in Bangkok, teaches them basic education, life skills and the love of Jesus in the hopes of sending them out as agents of change. Upon arriving I was informed I might be able to help with the casework of some of the women. I was excited. However, due to unexpected staff changes at The Well, I quickly was made a full time counselor. Fourteen women from broken families, a different culture and who spoke a difficult language became my caseload. Though still excited, I was overwhelmed and most days I still am. I often come home, lie on my bed and let out a huge sigh of relief that the day is done. Because of this situation, many questions and thoughts have popped into my mind.

“Should I be doing this, I don’t have the right degree?”

“ I could seriously hurt someone by something I say!”

“I want to do things well, and I don’t know what I am doing.”

I still struggle with these ideas and thoughts as I attempt to move forward as well as lend support to these hurting women. What to do? Well here some of my thoughts.

In one of my earliest sessions a women disclosed a deeply painful experience to me from her childhood and ended the story with “I have never told anyone this before.” At this moment I felt God calling me to listen, smile, look deeply into her eyes and express love with a touch or a prayer. I thought, “Feeling alone in a world of pain is brutal, I could at least help women know they are not alone, I can at least offer love”.  

As I stepped out to offer friendship and love to the women at The Well, Jesus has given me words of wisdom, truth and hope. So though I am far from ready to do what I am doing, God is ready for me to be at The Well and meet each precious woman.

I praise him for that daily. He is the true healer, counselor and friend. Please continue to pray for me as I learn to counsel these women. I am learning new things each day. Some topics that I often deal with are: rape, abandonment, physical abuse, false religion/spirits and curses, relational conflict, marriage and teen parenting.

As I counsel women, pray that God would open our eyes to his truth in these areas. Pray that we will learn together to receive the counsel, comfort and truth of God’s word. Pray that we see him and enjoy our new life in him, casting of the old self and truly living as new creations.

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