Page 25 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8
P. 25

Christian Psychology as a Challenge



             A. May:  Since  2001,  you  have  certainly  had   his  community  as  the  manager  of  HIV/Aids
             quite a number of students. Can you tell us some   Counselling Centre that he has founded.
             often mentioned motivations and feedbacks to
             studying at the ICP?                              Elize Visser
                                                               Elize Visser has a Master’s degree in Policing but
             N. Joubert: Students enroll with the ICP because   left the South African Police Force a few years
             they are seeking answers to both spiritual and    ago.  She  was  seeking  a  training  institution  to
             psychological challenges. They are looking for    further her studies in counseling and enrolled
             knowledge  from  both  fields  and  a  balance  in   with the ICP in 2014.
             how to integrate input from both fields.
             In order to answer this question thoroughly I     She reports the following:
             am  using  the  feedback  from  various  students   “When I embarked on the quest to finding an
             that studied at the ICP over the 15 years of its   institution of learning that presented Psycholo-
             existence.                                        gy from a Christian perspective I read an article
                                                               about the Institute of Christian Psychology in
             FH Havinga                                        the  Joy  magazine  and  immediately  knew  that
             FH joined the ICP in 2001 as one of the first     this was the kind of approach towards Psycho-
             students. He already had training in Theology     logy that I have been looking for - and I have
             and Christian Lay-counselling and worked as a     not been disappointed! The ICP provided the
             youth pastor in a church. He describes his mo-    perfect  opportunity  to  learn  more  about  the
             tivation to study at the ICP as follows:          unique  scientific  composition  of  the  human
             “I realized that there was an area lacking in my   brain  and  the  behavior  of  mankind.  But  this
             counselling.  Thus,  I  decided  that  in  order  to   was not all. It contributed much towards a dee-
             help people in a more balanced and professional   per understanding and importance of the spiri-
             manner I had to study psychology and did not      tual component in the mental healing process.
             want to study it purely from a secular or huma-   In reflection after two years of study - it was a
             nistic perspective but rather from a Christian    wise choice! “
             worldview as people had a need to include their
             belief system during the counseling process.”     A. May: Nicolene, congratulations for already
                                                               fifteen years of teaching students in Christian
             Estelle Ferreira                                  psychology and many more years of supporting
             Estelle is currently in private practice and also   people by Christian counselling, and thank you
             runs a Live and Learn Centre working specifi-     very much for this interview! Maybe, you would
             cally with children with Autism and other lear-   like to share a last conclusion with the readers
             ning disabilities.                                of “Psychology around the World”?
             She joined the ICP in 2001 and as a student in    N. Joubert: Yes. I encourage every Christian to
             Theology  with  a  great  interest  in  Psychology.   follow  the  path  of  integrating  Christian  faith
             She is a mother of a severely handicapped child   explicitly  with  your  psychological  approach.
             and faces MANY challenges on a psychological      Hone your spiritual ears to be able to hear the
             and spiritual level. She states the following:    gentle voice of the Holy Spirit and you would
             “Christian Psychology helped me to overcome       experience recovery and change in clients that
             emotional challenges, as well as find a balance   will  be  beyond  scientific  explanations.  This
             on a spiritual level.”                            decision  might  bring  new  challenges  but  do
                                                               not fear, because God will never leave you nor
             Pule Pule                                         forsake you.
             Pule  became  aware  of  Christian  Counselling
             in 1996 when he was working at the National       My  decision  to  follow  an  explicit  Holy  Spirit
             Initiative  for  Reconciliation  to  inform  people   led  integration  approach  in  the  face  of  many
             about the Truth and Reconciliation Commissi-      adversaries  was  not  without  challenges  on  a
             on. Despite coming from a disadvantage back-      personal and professional level. I was challenged,
             ground and without money he enrolled at the       ridiculed  and  rejected  by  other  professionals
             ICP and graduated in 2006. He is now serving      because  of  my  stance  that  the  Holy  Spirit
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