Faith, Hope, and Therapy

As a parish minister and a chartered counseling psychologist, author Dr. Roger Grainger works in the secular world every day. His clients don't come to him for religious advice, so, despite his background as a Christian priest, he must talk to them in everyday language. Even so, many of the points he makes are relevant in both secular and faith-based contexts.

Faith, Hope, and Therapy: Counseling with St. Paul is based upon his work with a number of his clients. Among them are Andrea, a woman who is deeply unhappy because she doesn't know who she is; Dale, who feels he has no purpose in life; Mrs. Ingram, unable to handle bereavement; and Daniel, unable to live up to his father's expectations. Each client has a unique story and the need for therapy to discover their true paths in life.

Grainger demonstrates how his faith was both informed and illuminated by these encounters. Even when his clients take him by surprise, he learns from them because he recognizes that only by acting as a real human being, with his own faults and foibles, and not as an impeccable professional clothed in a mantle of objectivity, can he truly be a professional. Through these stories, he seeks to offer models to anyone seeking to change his or her way of doing things.