Before enrolling at RTS, I was hurt and burned out from ministry and desired a graduate degree to make myself more marketable for employment in ministry positions. I felt that I needed more “on paper” legitimacy. When I sat with my first client in the Oviedo Counseling Clinic at RTS Orlando, I realized that thanks to my training and the personal work I had done, I truly had something to offer the client.
Because of the required biblical studies courses, my approach to reading Scripture has changed. I was taught to look deeper than the words on the page and read with a historical, cultural, and spiritual context. The counseling courses not only taught me to counsel others, but to more thoroughly understand myself and my own story, which I can use to help my clients. I now understand not only how to care for others, but also to care for myself to avoid the hurt and burn out that I’d previously experienced.
