ACC Accord Summer 2021 Issue 111

The beginnings of this journey tie
in with the beginnings of ACC.
Having completed a psychology
degree, I decided to have some
time out with YWAM (Youth With a
Mission) before going on to further
training. Having done the YWAM
Discipleship Training School on the
Anastasis ship with an amazing trip
round the Caribbean and South
America, I went on to the YWAM
Christian counselling school in St
Helens, Merseyside. My planned
short “time out” turned into about
10 years working with YWAM’s
counselling schools and setting up
a project in East London. This work
was with Dr Mike Sheldon, who as
a GP had a vision for developing
whole person health care. Along
with others, we developed an
assessment process that explored
people’s spiritual, psychological and
medical needs to create a more
holistic treatment approach.
It was during this time that I
remember joining Mike at the first
ACC meetings in the early 1990’s,
as he was one of the founder
members. I often find myself at
the beginning of things and I
remember the excitement in the
room of seeing the potential that
ACC could become in making
Christian counselling a credible
and recognised therapy through an
accreditation process.
Fast forwarding this journey
to the beginnings of the new
millennium and I felt an increasing
draw to work in an environment
that would connect me with
people outside of Christian circles.
This led me to train as a clinical
psychologist and moving into the
NHS world of secondary mental
health care which has given me
the opportunity to offer therapy
to those who wouldn’t come near
a church. During my time in the
NHS I have had an ongoing journey
of how to integrate my faith with
my work and to find a way of
offering therapy within a secular
environment which allowed space
for clients to explore spirituality and
faith. A key turning point was when
I was reading Margaret Silf’s book,
Landmarks, and I realised that
every time a client makes progress
in therapy they are moving closer
to being in line with what God
intended for them to be; each step
is a step closer to reaching their
God given purpose and potential.
Looking back I can see that my
own understanding of God had to
broaden and my spiritual journey
deepen from those early YWAM
days to a more contemplative
and inclusive path and over the
years authors such as Margaret
Silf, Richard Rohr and many others
have been instrumental in shaping
this expanding awareness of God. I
now feel more motivated to share
with others about my relationship
with God than I did in my early
evangelical days, knowing that my
own spiritual understanding of God
is an ongoing journey of discovery
and none of us can really fully know
the mystery we name as God.
During my years of working in
adult mental health as a CBT
(cognitive behaviour) therapist and
psychologist I have expanded my
own CBT practice to include more
of people’s contexts including their
social and cultural experiences and
acknowledging socio-economic
and environmental influences. I’ve
also included people’s spiritual
beliefs about God, the demonic
and, when working with Muslim
clients, beliefs about jinn. Over the
years the formulations I developed
with clients became more holistic
and focused more on people’s
strengths and potentials as well as
their problems.
So about 30 years on from my
early discussions with Mike and
others about how to integrate faith
and therapy, I feel I have found
my own personal integration. This
model of therapy has grown into
what I have called Holistic CBT
and is continuing to develop as
I write more about it and share
it with others. My foundational
years of Christian counselling of
fully listening to the client, and
to listen out for glimpses of God
within the conversation, are still
the foundations of what I do. I
have valued learning about CBT
feature
Holistic CBTmy
journey
to weave
together faith
and work
by Hilary Garraway
www.acc-uk.org • www.pastoralcareuk.org accord Summer 2021
11