Type "Christian counselor near me" anywhere between Lansdale and Conshohocken and you get two pages of results, half of them directories. Every profile says something warm. Most of them use the word "faith." Very few tell you what you need to know before you hand someone the hardest parts of your life.
This is the short list: what to check, what to ask, and what the first hour is like. It comes from inside a licensed Christian counseling practice in Blue Bell, and the checks work for any counselor in the county, including the ones who aren't us.
Three things "Christian counselor" can mean
The phrase gets used for three different kinds of help, and the difference matters more than the name.
The first is pastoral care. A pastor or ministry leader meets with you, prays with you, and brings Scripture and wisdom to what you're facing. It's usually free and it comes with a community. It isn't licensed clinical treatment, and most good pastors will tell you so themselves.
The second is biblical counseling, a specific movement with its own training, built on the conviction that Scripture alone is sufficient for the problems of the soul. Its counselors may or may not hold a state license.
The third is a licensed Christian counselor: a professional counselor, social worker, marriage and family therapist or psychologist who is a Christian and brings that faith into clinically sound treatment. That is what we do, and it's what most people in Montgomery County mean when they search the phrase. The longer explanation is in What Is Christian Counseling?
If you're grieving, discouraged or wrestling with a decision, your pastor may be exactly the right person. If you're having panic attacks, if your marriage is in real trouble, if something from the past keeps surfacing, or if you've been low for weeks and it isn't lifting, you want someone with clinical training who also shares your faith.
Check the license first
Pennsylvania licenses counselors through the State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors. Anyone can call themselves a counselor or a coach. Only a licensed person has met the state's education, supervised-hours and exam requirements, is bound by legal confidentiality, and answers to a board if something goes wrong.
The letters you'll see after a name in Pennsylvania:
LPC. Licensed Professional Counselor. A master's degree in counseling, thousands of supervised clinical hours, and a national exam.
LAPC. Licensed Associate Professional Counselor. A state license for a fully trained counselor who is completing post-degree hours under a licensed supervisor. Real clinical care, with a second set of eyes on it.
LCSW. Licensed Clinical Social Worker. The same level of clinical practice, trained through social work.
LMFT. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Trained with couples and families as the main focus.
PsyD or PhD. A licensed psychologist, who can also do formal testing and evaluation.
You can look any of these up in about a minute at the state's license site, pals.pa.gov. Search the name, check that the license is active, and check that no disciplinary action is listed. A counselor worth seeing won't mind that you looked.
At Growth Counseling, Adam Hoover holds the Pennsylvania LPC and a Behavioral Specialist license, and Dan Moyer holds the Pennsylvania LAPC and is a National Certified Counselor. Both license numbers are in the footer of every page on this site, on purpose.
What faith integration looks like in the room
Plenty of therapist profiles list "Christian" under specialties the way they list "stress." What you want to know is what happens when your faith comes up.
A counselor who integrates faith will pray with you when the moment calls for it, and won't when it doesn't. They can open Scripture as an anchor without using it as a weapon. They have a working category for the difference between shame and real conviction, which is some of the most delicate work in counseling. And they won't spend your hour quietly working around your convictions about marriage, forgiveness or obedience as if those were obstacles.
A counselor who is simply "faith-friendly" will respect your beliefs, which every licensing board requires anyway. That's good, and it's the minimum.
Ask directly. "If I wanted to pray at the start of a session, would you?" "What do you do when a client's faith and a clinical recommendation seem to pull in different directions?" The answer tells you quickly which kind of counselor you're talking to.
It works the other way too. If you're not a Christian, or you're not sure what you believe, a good Christian counselor will meet you there without an agenda. You decide how much faith is in the room.
Eight questions to ask on the phone
Most practices, including ours, offer a short free call before you commit. Use it.
Are you licensed in Pennsylvania, and what is the license? Then check it.
What do you work with most? You want someone who sees your kind of problem every week, whether that's anxiety, marriage, trauma or depression. "Everything" isn't an answer.
What approaches do you use? Listen for named, evidence-based methods such as CBT, EMDR, emotionally focused therapy or ACT. A counselor should be able to say in plain words how they would apply to you.
How does faith come into your work? Listen for specifics, not warmth.
Do you see people in person, online or both? Both is ideal in a county where a ten-minute drive can turn into thirty at five o'clock.
What does it cost, and do you take insurance? Most Christian counselors in the area are out-of-network. Ask about superbills, reduced rates and HSA/FSA cards. The practice answers this every day, so there's nothing awkward about asking. We wrote a whole page on it: Does Insurance Cover Christian Counseling in Pennsylvania?
How soon can I start? If you're struggling today, that's worth knowing before you get attached to a profile.
What happens if we're not a good fit? A good answer sounds like "I'll tell you, and I'll help you find someone who is."
What a first session is actually like
The paperwork is done online before you arrive, so the first hour isn't spent on forms.
In person, there's no front desk. Our office is inside the Be Well Private Practice suite at 910 Lenmar Dr, in the building signed 900 Lenmar Drive. You park in the Be Well spaces out front, come in the Be Well door a few minutes early, and your counselor meets you. Online, a secure video link arrives before the appointment and you click it from wherever you have privacy.
The session is fifty minutes. Your counselor asks what brought you in, what it has been costing you, what you've already tried, and what you'd want to be different in three months. You can bring your faith into that first hour or leave it out; nobody will push it either way. Near the end, you talk through a plan: roughly how often to meet, what the work will look like, and how you'll both know it's helping.
Then you go home and decide. Nothing about the first session commits you to a second. Most people know by the end of it whether this is someone they can be honest with, and that's the only thing the first session has to settle.
Where to look
Three places turn up most of the good counselors in Montgomery County.
Ask your pastor, or a friend from church who has been in counseling. A referral from someone who knows both you and the counselor is still the best lead there is.
Search Psychology Today's directory with the Christian filter and your zip code, then run every name through pals.pa.gov. The directory doesn't verify licenses; the state does.
And if you're within reach of Blue Bell, we'd be glad to be on your list. We see people in person at 910 Lenmar Dr, just off Skippack Pike, and online anywhere in Pennsylvania.
Common questions
Do I have to be a Christian to see a Christian counselor? No. Faith comes into the work as much as you want it to. Plenty of people who come to us aren't sure what they believe, and that's a fine place to start.
Is a counselor who is a Christian the same as a Christian counselor? Not necessarily. Many believing therapists keep faith out of the room entirely, by conviction or by workplace policy. Ask how faith comes into the work, not whether the counselor goes to church.
Does Christian counseling use the same methods as regular therapy? Yes. The clinical tools are the same ones used across the field. The difference is the view of the person, where the work is headed, and what's allowed in the room.
What if my spouse won't come? Come alone. One person changing changes a marriage more often than people expect.
How much does it cost? Sessions at Growth Counseling are $165 for fifty minutes, with reduced rates available during afternoon hours (10am to 3pm) for those who need them. We accept HSA/FSA cards. We're out-of-network and provide superbills you can submit to your insurer for possible reimbursement, and your care stays private.
Talk to us
If you recognized yourself somewhere on this page, you don't have to sort it out alone. Our licensed Christian counselors see people in person in Blue Bell and online anywhere in Pennsylvania, and here's what your first visit looks like.
Book a free 15-minute consultation · Back to the Growth Counseling home page
