Counselors help their clients manage their behavioral challenges, address their emotional conditions, and improve their mental health. Couples who want to improve their relationships, individuals with depression or anxiety, and families experiencing grief or divorce can all benefit from counseling.
Some counselors incorporate religion into their therapeutic practice. More than 70% of Americans said religion was important to their lives in a 2025 Gallup poll.
Bringing faith into counseling sessions can help some clients. Mental health professionals note that discussing clients’ religious and spiritual beliefs in therapy can help improve their mental health, according to the American Psychological Association.
But when it comes to Christian counseling versus secular counseling, what’s the difference? While the fields share some important characteristics, potential clients and prospective counselors can benefit from learning about how the two are different.
Types of Counselors
Counselors, therapists, and psychologists all offer counseling services. They help their clients with issues that range from managing stress and developing coping skills to modifying unhealthy behaviors.
Many different types of mental health professionals offer counseling and therapy to individuals and groups of people. Types of mental health counselors include:
- Psychologists: Clinical and counseling psychologists provide therapeutic services to their clients. Licensed psychologists who work directly with clients need a doctorate.
- Counselors and therapists: Counselors and therapists of all types typically need a master’s degree to meet licensure requirements. Common licenses include licensed professional counselor (LPC) and licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT).
- Social workers: Some social workers with a master’s degree provide counseling and therapy to their clients. They typically need to be licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) to practice.
- Pastoral counselors: Pastoral counselors are clergy members who have training in pastoral counseling and incorporate their religious beliefs into their practice.
Licensed counselors hold a state-issued license. While the counselor licensure requirements vary by state and license, they typically include a master’s degree, a minimum number of supervised client counseling hours, and passing scores on licensure exams.
Counseling and Mental Health Resources
The following resources can provide further information to people who plan to seek mental health support and those who are interested in pursuing a career in counseling.
- National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health by the Numbers: Explores national data on mental illness, including common warning signs, the impact of mental illness, and access to care
- Mental Health America, “Therapy”: Discusses the benefits of therapy, types of therapy, and how to get the most out of the experience
- Mental Health America, “Types of Mental Health Professionals”: Analyzes the differences among the many types of mental health professionals who can conduct psychological assessments, provide therapy, and prescribe medications
- American Mental Health Counselors Association, AMHCA Career Guide: Describes the phases of professional development for those interested in clinical mental health counseling certification
- American Counseling Association, Counseling Impact: Offers data about behavioral and mental health providers, the state of mental health in the United States, and the impact of counseling
What Is Christian Counseling?
Effective therapy requires counselors to build a safe, trusted relationship with their clients. For some counselors, the techniques they use to strengthen the therapeutic alliance with their clients include religious or spiritual components.
Christian counseling is any counseling that incorporates aspects of Christian faith and beliefs into mental health care. In addition to helping their clients address their mental, behavioral, and emotional challenges, professionals providing Christian counseling can also address their clients’ spiritual challenges.
How do Christian counselors incorporate faith into their counseling process? They may ground their sessions in biblical principles, explore the role of faith in their clients’ personal growth, or draw on Christian principles to help their clients better understand their relationships.
Issues that can be addressed through Christian counseling include:
- Mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety
- Marriage, family, and relationship issues
- Grief and loss
- Substance misuse
- Spiritual well-being
Christian counselors work in a variety of settings, including in clinical mental health practices and in churches.
Some Christian counselors are licensed therapists trained in evidence-based counseling principles, while others are unlicensed. Nonclinical counseling roles that do not require a license include youth pastor and spiritual mentor.
Many Christian counselors identify as Christian, but even those who don’t may actively incorporate faith into their practice. People looking for faith-based counseling can find a number of types of therapists who integrate religious or spiritual principles into their therapeutic services.
Resources on Christian Counseling
Professionals who offer Christian counseling and other faith-based approaches to mental health care bring a spiritual focus to the therapeutic process. Individuals can learn more about Christian counseling in the following resources.
- Grow Therapy, “Christian Counseling: Integrating Faith and Psychology for Holistic Mental Health Healing”: Offers information on the origins of Christian counseling, a description of how it works, and research on its effectiveness
- Psychology Today, “What Is Faith-Based Counseling?”: Investigates the benefits of incorporating spiritual or religious elements into therapeutic practice
- Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, “Helpful and Unhelpful Factors Associated With Secular Psychotherapy Amongst Christians: A Story-Stem Study”: Analyzes the results of a 2025 survey of Christians on secular psychotherapy, while noting that respondents found it unhelpful when their religious beliefs were minimized
- BetterHelp, “Christian Counseling Resources”: Introduces faith-based therapeutic tools and resources for applying the principles of Christianity in therapeutic settings
- CCFAM, Common Issues Addressed in Christian Counseling: Covers mental health issues that may be discussed in faith-based counseling, including depression, marriage conflict, and bereavement
- Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, Resources: Collects a range of resources on biblical counseling, including blog posts, podcasts, and scholarly articles from the Journal of Biblical Counseling
What Is Secular Counseling?
Christian counseling and secular counseling share certain therapeutic approaches, focus areas, and counselor qualifications. In both fields, mental health professionals work as licensed counselors. However, in a comparison of the two, Christian counseling versus secular counseling, it’s clear there are key differences between them.
Secular counseling approaches clients’ challenges without centering on religion and faith. Practitioners draw on evidence-based therapeutic tools to help their clients deal with their mental health conditions, relationship challenges, and other personal problems.
These counselors work in private practices, hospitals, community mental health centers, and schools.
Counselors with a secular approach do not automatically exclude discussions of religion or faith in therapeutic settings. Many counselors who would fall into the broad category of “secular counselors” are able to incorporate religious beliefs or practices into their sessions with their clients if the clients request it.
However, some clients prefer counselors who do not bring spirituality or religion into their sessions. Also known as secular therapists, these counselors avoid recommending prayer or religious approaches in their practice.
Resources on Christian Counseling vs. Secular Counseling
Those researching Christian counseling versus secular counseling will find there are similarities as well as differences between the two approaches. Both can be offered in group therapy sessions, both offer holistic methods of healing, and both provide culturally informed treatment options. The following resources offer further information about different approaches to counseling.
- American Counseling Association, “How to Incorporate Holistic Methods Into Your Practice”: This interview with a licensed professional counselor discusses how to incorporate holistic methods into a counseling practice
- Mental Health America, “Science Behind Therapy”: Explains different types of therapy, different techniques, and the science behind how therapy works
- American Psychological Association, “Group Therapy Is as Effective as Individual Therapy, and More Efficient. Here’s How to Do It Successfully”: Argues that group therapy can help clients by reducing the sense of stigma they believe is associated with their mental health challenges and providing them with a feeling of solidarity
- American Counseling Association, “Incorporating Clients’ Faith in Counseling”: Discusses how counselors can incorporate their clients’ religious beliefs into their sessions with them, with an emphasis on faith as part of a culturally informed practice
- American Psychological Association, “Rebuilding a Full Life After Walking Away From Organized Religion”: Addresses issues of formerly religious people who may prefer therapists who avoid faith-based approaches
Biblical Counseling vs. Christian Counseling vs. Pastoral Counseling
Mental health professionals who draw on Christian principles and values may call themselves Christian counselors, biblical counselors, or pastoral counselors.
While some practitioners use the terms interchangeably, an examination of biblical counseling versus Christian counseling reveals there are some important differences between the two, and between both of them and pastoral counseling.
Christian Counseling: Christian counseling incorporates Christian principles and faith into therapy sessions. Christian counselors are often licensed, trained therapists.
Biblical Counseling: While Christian counseling and biblical counseling overlap, biblical counselors specifically draw on Scripture and the language of the Bible in addressing individuals’ mental health issues, such as depression and relationship challenges.
Pastoral Counseling: Typically provided by pastors and ordained clergy members, pastoral counseling combines therapy and spiritual care. Pastoral counselors discuss individuals’ spiritual struggles with them, their relationship with God, and the role faith plays in their challenges.
Counselors of all types, faith-based, Christian, and secular counselors, use a number of different therapeutic approaches to treat their clients. These approaches include:
- Behavior therapy: Behavior therapy and its offshoots, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, focus on patterns of behavior and the impact of conditioning on behavioral choices.
- Psychoanalysis: Psychoanalysis helps clients change their problematic behavior through investigating their underlying motivations. It can also focus on clients’ thoughts and feelings.
- Cognitive therapy: Cognitive therapy emphasizes clients’ thinking patterns, helping them identify the dysfunctional thinking that drives their problem behaviors or challenging emotions.
- Holistic therapy: Holistic therapy combines approaches to create individualized treatment plans that meet each client’s needs.
Licensed Christian counselors as well as biblical and pastoral counselors incorporate spirituality into these evidence-based practices.
Resources on Faith and Mental Health
Research demonstrates that religious beliefs can help some people through difficult times and assist them in improving their mental health. The following resources explore the connection between religion, spirituality, and mental health.
- Mental Health America, “10 Ways Faith Can Support Mental Health”: Discusses how spiritual and religious practices promote emotional well-being and positively impact people’s mental health
- Psychology Today, “A Safe and Effective Church-Based Lay Counseling Ministry”: Psychiatrist Paul Looney discusses his approach to leading a lay counseling ministry that provides affordable counseling and aligns with the spiritual community’s faith
- Mental Health America, “Take Care of Your Spirit”: Discusses the benefits of focusing on the spirit as part of mental health counseling to help people connect with a sense of purpose through spirituality
- Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, “Exploring the Therapeutic Potential of Religious and Spiritual Practices: A Qualitative Inquiry of Religious/Spiritual Experts”: Presents results from a qualitative study that concluded that religious and spiritual practices may be most beneficial for individuals’ mental health when used within a religious or spiritual tradition
Christian Counseling vs. Secular Counseling: Which Path Is Right for You?
Finding the right counselor is an important first step in the therapeutic process. Prospective clients can consider whether they prefer a Christian or secular approach to counseling. While many counselors can incorporate faith into their practice, some clients prefer one who centers Christian principles in their practice.
Those interested in the mental health field can consider pursuing a career that combines religion and mental health care, such as a counseling role that draws on their faith in their practice.