by Greg E. Gifford, PhD

Every counseling session has a goal. If you’re meeting with a counselee for the first time, you are seeking to gain a trusting relationship, instill hope, and gather data. However, if this is your twelfth time meeting with a counselee, you are looking to assign homework and help them assimilate into life in their local church. All counseling sessions have a structure—or should—and as a biblical counselor we learn this rhythm of managing the structure of our sessions with the Key Elements of Biblical Counseling. In this blog, I’ll give you a few thoughts for managing the structure of your counseling session. 

First of all, you must begin with a working knowledge of the key elements of biblical counseling: build involvement, instill hope, gather data, interpret the problem, instruct biblically, and assign homework. These elements will inform the entirety of your counseling with an individual. If you’re a bit rusty on these, you really do need to pause and give them a refresher in your study. A great resource to help you will be Counseling: How to Counsel Biblically in which Wayne Mack provides a detailed articulation of the key elements in the form of


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