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Counseling»Westminster Counseling CenterMeet The Rev. Dr. Leta J. Herrington, LPC
Responding to a powerful experience of Grace, I entered seminary with a felt sense of call to work alongside people as opposed to preaching to them from on high. Ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1983, I served as pastor in two parishes in Texas and Pennsylvania before beginning my doctoral studies in pastoral counseling. I have served as a pastoral counselor for the past 20 years in State College, Pa.; in Lincoln, Ill., where I directed a counseling center; and most recently in Minneapolis at Westminster Counseling Center, working primarily with individuals, couples and groups, and at Fairview Ministerial Health, where I work with clergy and clergy spouses. A native of Nebraska, I have degrees from Nebraska Wesleyan University (B.S. in Psychology), Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (M. Div.), and Lancaster Theological Seminary (D. Min. in Pastoral Counseling). In addition, I completed the residency program at Illinois Pastoral Institute, am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Minnesota, a Fellow with the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and have received Level II training in EMDR. My approach to counseling. It has been my experience that when we find ourselves in a hole, people/friends/advisors generally respond in one of three ways: (1) They stand at the top of the hole and yell down to us, “Why don’t you just…take a walk…get out more…get over it…be more like me.” And then they walk away. (2) They jump down into the hole with us, are willing to listen, hold our hand, agree that it’s awful, and sometimes end up stuck and feeling awful with us. (3) They jump down into the hole with us, are willing to listen, seek to understand what the hole is like for us, how we landed in there, and then help in identifying and taking the steps to get up and out of the hole. My approach is the latter one and is based on a belief that God created and is actively at work in the people I see and the process before us. Making use of Compassion, concepts from developmental and self psychology, Wisdom and Hope, object relations, systems theories and Grace, I work to determine with clients where their Growth has gotten stuck, distorted or shamed, and to clear the path that they are free to function in more satisfying ways. My understanding of healing. I liken an emotional or spiritual wound to a badly scraped knee. If, in the case of the knee, it is cleaned and washed out well, ointments and bandages applied, and is periodically checked and treated through the healing process, generally with time it will heal. If, however, the scraped knee is ignored altogether or is hastily wiped off and a bandage slapped on, if the dirt and gravel are not cleaned out before the wound starts to cover over, most assuredly the knee will become infected, and if still left unattended, the infection will spread. What started out as a fairly simple hurt knee can develop into an entire leg becoming infected and sensitive to touch. If still left unattended the wound and its infection can become life threatening. I believe the same is true of emotional and spiritual wounds. If they’re not adequately responded to and cared for at the time they occur, these wounds most likely will fester and with time will inevitably affect more and more of a person’s perceptions, decisions, relationships and life. The problem with spiritual or emotional hurts is that while they are real and can become quite disabling, they can’t be seen. Unfortunately, it seems that because they can’t be seen, they are often left untreated. Even more unfortunate, a person with an ‘unseen’ struggle is often ridiculed rather than supported. I do not believe that time heals. To suggest to a person with depression, grief, past abuses, hurts, or losses that they should “just get over it” without tending to them is like advising a person with a broken leg to “just get over it” without setting the leg, or like telling a person with blocked arteries that “they should be over it by now” though surgery was never performed. The healing of physical as well as emotional wounds takes both time and proper care.
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I see pastoral counseling as an
experience of two or more gathering in
God’s name, and consequently an
experience of God, Grace, Insight, Wisdom, Power, Possibility,
Freedom, and Hope being there also. Often it is a process that
requires time, care, and tracking an emotional or spiritual
infection back to its original wound so that healing can begin to
take place. It is a relationship and a process that
we’re all likely to benefit from at
some point during our life journey and certainly an honor for me
when I’m invited to work alongside a
person for this part of their journey.