A Letter to Mental Health Professionals

For the past six months or so, God has been calling me to greater surrender with my career. Since graduating from grad school in 2017, I've grown accustomed to the fact that there will be many transitions within my career, though the current transition is one that I did not anticipate would happen so soon or that it would be so rocky.

That is to address the culture within the Catholic Counseling sphere. It's easier to stay quiet, after all my livelihood depends on it (or perhaps it ultimately depends on God). Though I've come to a place in my processing where I need to speak.

To mental health professionals: We are not doing anyone any good if we do not address the cycles of sin and use amongst ourselves. We are perpetuating the dysfunction of a family system that has unresolved issues; that is failing to do it's own work. How can we be a light to the world if we fail to have communion amongst ourselves? Like a parental unit split by children or split willingly by a parent seeking favor from their child over another parent. We cannot function as the body of Christ if we are divided amongst ourselves. We cannot with credibility preach Thomistic anthropology if we ourselves do not reflect the love of Christ.

As for myself, I need to take accountability for wanting to leave the Catholic Counseling community even though I've discerned that God still desires me here. No my career is not a marriage nor did I profess any vows, but this is undoubtedly the work God has called me to. So here I am saying to every member involved, I apologize for withholding the grace God has given me to share, I forgive you for the sin and use perpetuated against me, and I love you. I love you in your brokenness and your humanity. I love you in our trials and challenges. I love you as my brother and sister in Christ; precious in the eyes of God and endowed with undeniable human dignity. Made to love and to be loved.

Fractured as we are, we have been given a call to be a light in the mental health sphere. I pray for the day where we may be truly united as the body of Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ sure of how beloved we are in the Father's eyes.

Pax et bonum.