Evidence-based therapy that honours your faith instead of working around it. Faith-integrated Christian counselling in Victoria and online across BC, with a counsellor and former pastor who understands the terrain.
A short 15-minute call to discuss your goals, no commitment.
Lived Experience
9 years ministry and counselling
Infantry veteran
Trades business owner
Academic Training
Master's, Counselling Psychology
Master's, Divinity
Diploma, Professional Counselling
Professional Status
Canadian Certified Counsellor
Extended health insurance accepted
CCPA member #11252849
What is Christian counselling, and how is it different from regular therapy?
Christian counselling is therapy that works with your faith instead of around it. You get the same evidence-based care you would find anywhere, plus approaches built for faith. Prayer, Scripture, and lament can be part of the work whenever you want them. Introspectus Counselling offers Christian counselling with Sean Lewis, a Canadian Certified Counsellor and former pastor, in Colwood (Greater Victoria), BC and online across BC.
Who would you be working with?
My name is Sean. I am a Canadian Certified Counsellor, and I got here the long way around: nine years as a pastor before this chair.
I have a master's in counselling psychology and another in divinity. The first keeps this real therapy. The second means that when faith gets hard to hold, we do not change the subject.
Sean's ability to apply any and all acquired therapeutic skills was incomparable.
“”
Dr. David Hart
Ph.D., LPC, NCC, CTMH
He has a warm and engaging interpersonal style that enables clients to feel heard. His ability to hold space for clients and engage in collaborative dialogue is beyond where I would expect... He is also particularly skilled at helping clients go deeper as they work to understand themselves. I believe Sean has excellent clinical skills and is an asset to the field.
“”
Dr. Susan L. Rarick
Ph.D.
What stands out most about Sean's work is his patience, his ability to create a safe and supportive space for clients, and his use of active listening and reflective questioning. Sean's approach with clients seemed to build trust and empower individuals to heal and grow. Sean embodies the ethical and resilient spirit essential for counselling professionals.
“”
Jennifer Ducharme
MC, RCC, CHT
Wondering if your faith belongs in therapy?
It does here. Booking a first session commits you to nothing except an honest conversation about what you are carrying and whether this is the right fit.
Your tradition already built a form for this. Lament speaks to God directly, states the complaint without softening it, and asks for something, all without pretending. It gives grief somewhere to go while you wait for gratitude to be honest again.
02
An injury to conscience, not just to nerves
Something happened in a place I trusted, and I do not know who I am now.
The clinical work
This is not the same as post-traumatic stress. Trauma work addresses fear and the body's alarm; this is an injury to conscience, meaning and trust.
It has a name, moral injury, and where the wound involves God or a church, spiritual injury. A treatment protocol has been built for exactly this, and the theological questions belong in the room rather than being set aside until later [9].
03
A conscience that will not settle
I confess the same thing over and over and it never comes clean.
The clinical work
Checking and re-confessing that brings a few minutes of relief and then returns stronger is a recognised pattern with a name and a treatment.
A tender conscience and religious obsessive-compulsive disorder, sometimes called scrupulosity, are not the same thing, and telling them apart changes what helps. A tender conscience belongs to someone who takes their faith seriously, and reassurance settles it. The other is a loop that borrows your conscience's voice, and reassurance keeps it running rather than quieting it. Knowing which one you are dealing with is itself a relief, and it is knowable [8].
04
Deciding when certainty does not come
I keep waiting to feel sure, and the decision will not wait.
The clinical work
Rather than waiting for certainty that may not arrive, the work looks at what you actually value and what a workable next step would be.
For you the question is rarely only what you want; it is what you are for. Calling, vocation and obedience are part of the material. We work with the shape of the pull itself, and find one faithful step you can take without needing the whole map first.
05
Forgiveness that is not rushed
I was told to forgive, and I cannot get there.
The clinical work
The work separates the decision to stop seeking payback from the much slower change in how you feel about it. You are not failing when the feeling lags behind the decision.
Two separate tracks. The decision can be settled while the feeling is still moving, and reconciling sits apart from both.Read: do you have to forgive to heal?
What faith adds
In church those two often arrive as one instruction, with reconciliation folded in as though it were the same act. It is not. A five-step model tested in randomised trials treats forgiving and reconciling as separate choices, and reconciling stays yours to decline when it would not be safe [6, 7, 10].
06
Two trainings, and neither waits outside
I was not sure whether God belonged in this conversation.
The clinical work
The therapy is ordinary therapy, held to the same standards as anywhere else. Faith is welcome inside that work, and there is published guidance on doing it well [3].
I trained in both. A master of divinity sits beside the counselling degree, so when the conversation turns to God we can stay with it.
References (10)
Captari, L. E., et al. (2018). Integrating clients' religion and spirituality within psychotherapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74(11), 1938-1951. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22681
Koenig, H. G., et al. (2015). Religious vs. conventional cognitive behavioral therapy for major depression in persons with chronic medical illness. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 203(4), 243-251. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000273
Vieten, C., & Lukoff, D. (2022). Spiritual and religious competencies in psychology. American Psychologist, 77(1), 26-38. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000821
Exline, J. J., et al. (2014). The Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale: Development and initial validation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(3), 208-222. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036465
Upenieks, L. (2021). Changes in religious doubt and physical and mental health in emerging adulthood. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 60(2), 332-361. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12712
Worthington, E. L. (2023). REACH forgiveness in couple, group, and individual psychotherapy. In Handbook of spiritually integrated psychotherapies (pp. 365-380). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000338-019
Toussaint, L., Worthington, E. L., Cheadle, A., Marigoudar, S., Kamble, S., & Büssing, A. (2020). Efficacy of the REACH Forgiveness intervention in Indian college students. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00671
Abramowitz, J. S., & Jacoby, R. J. (2014). Scrupulosity: A cognitive-behavioral analysis and implications for treatment. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 3(2), 140-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2013.12.007
Usset, T. J., Butler, M., & Harris, J. I. (2021). Building spiritual strength: A group treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder, moral injury, and spiritual distress. In Addressing moral injury in clinical practice (pp. 223-241). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000204-013
Wade, N. G., Hoyt, W. T., Kidwell, J. E. M., & Worthington, E. L. (2014). Efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to promote forgiveness: A meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(1), 154-170. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035268
Therapist, pastor, or both?
Question 1 / 4
What is pressing hardest right now?
Question 2 / 4
When you picture the help you want, it looks like:
Question 3 / 4
Has this started to affect how you function day to day?
Question 4 / 4
Would a receipt for your insurance matter?
It sounds like a therapist.
What you are describing sits in clinical territory: symptoms, functioning, and a plan for change. That is the work I do as a Canadian Certified Counsellor, and your faith is welcome in it.
What you are describing sounds like spiritual care rather than clinical treatment. A pastor or spiritual director fits that, and most churches offer it at no cost. That is often the right place to start, and you do not need a therapist for every hard season.
You are describing something on the seam. Nine years of pastoral ministry sit behind my MDiv, so the spiritual side of this does not get referred out. What makes it different from a pastor is what it is: psychotherapy, done as structured clinical work, and most extended health plans cover it; coverage varies, so check yours.
A therapist and a pastor compared across purpose, session, accountability, cost, and where Sean sits.
A therapist
A pastor
What it is for
Understanding what keeps repeating, and changing it in ways you can measure.
Being formed, worshipping, and belonging to a people over years.
What an hour looks like
Naming where it hurts, agreeing what to work on, then checking it is shifting.
Prayer, Scripture, a word of counsel, and the rites your tradition keeps.
Accountability
A national certifying body, a code of ethics I answer to, and confidentiality limits set by BC law.
A congregation, a board, or a denomination that knows them.
Cost
A fee, with a receipt many extended health plans accept.
Usually free, offered as part of the life of the church.
Where I sit
This is the chair I sit in now, and the one you book here.
I sat in that chair for nine years, so the questions do not end the conversation.
How do you work, and what is in scope?
Safe, Secure & Local
Your privacy is paramount. I hold to rigorous professional standards so that sessions stay confidential and comfortable. Appointments run in person in the Greater Victoria area at the Colwood office, and by secure video anywhere in British Columbia.
The work is informed by evidence-based and trauma-aware approaches, while staying flexible and responsive to you rather than to a diagnosis. I draw on cognitive, acceptance-based, trauma-informed, mindfulness, and relational frameworks.
I work with adults experiencing stress and burnout, anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, and family-of-origin concerns. Sessions are collaborative, paced, and grounded in safety.
Nothing strange. It is a conversation, and you set the pace.
The first session
Mostly listening. Nothing is decided that day.
You tell me what brought you here
I ask questions, and mostly I listen
We work out together whether this is a fit
Nothing is decided that day
How much faith you bring is up to you
Some people open with Scripture, some never mention it. Both are normal.
Some people open with Scripture
Others never mention it at all
Both are normal, and neither is the right answer
Prayer, if you want it
I will ask once, then follow your lead.
If you want to pray, we can
If you would rather not, nothing changes
I will ask once, then follow your lead
You are not on a disclosure schedule
Hard things get told when you are ready. Going slowly is allowed.
Hard things get told when you are ready
Not because there is time left in the hour
Going slowly is allowed here
What stays private
Confidential, within the limits BC law sets. I name them before we start.
What you say stays between us
Within the limits BC law sets
I name those limits before we start
What might bring you here?
You do not need a crisis of faith to be here. Most people come for something ordinary and hard, and simply do not want to explain or defend their faith while they work on it.
Anxiety
When worry will not stop, and praying about it has not quieted it.
Yes, anywhere Canadian Certified Counsellors are covered.
Extended Health Insurance
Canada Life
Co-operators
Coughlin & Associates
CVAP
Dialogue
Empire Life
Equitable Life
UV Insurance
GMS
Green Shield Canada
iA Financial Group
ICBC
Johnston Group
Manulife
Pacific Blue Cross
Sun Life
TELUS Health
Medavie Blue Cross
People Corporation
ProviderConnect
RWAM
Simply Benefits
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Christian counselling different from regular therapy?
Two ways. Your faith is welcome instead of politely set aside, and there are approaches built for faith that a general therapist will not have. You can pray in session, work with Scripture, or carry grief through lament, alongside the same evidence-based care you would get anywhere.
Does faith-integrated therapy actually work?
Yes, and it is not a lesser or softer option. Reviews of the research find that therapy which integrates a client's faith performs at least as well as standard treatment, and often does more for the spiritual side of what someone is carrying [1]. A randomised trial of religiously integrated cognitive behavioural therapy found it worked comparably to the conventional protocol [2]. Handling faith well in the room is a recognised clinical competency, with training and published guidance behind it [3].
Can I bring prayer and Scripture into sessions?
Yes, whenever they are useful to what you are working on. Some clients pray in session. Others never do. Both are completely normal.
Do you offer sessions online?
Yes. Sessions run in person in Colwood, and by secure video anywhere in British Columbia. A lot of clients mix the two depending on the week.
Will you push your beliefs on me?
No. My job is to help you get clearer on your own faith and values, not to hand you mine. That is not just a preference; protecting your autonomy is part of my code of ethics as a Canadian Certified Counsellor.
What if I am doubting or wrestling with my faith?
Doubt is welcome here. Research finds that doubt handled honestly, with support, tends to steady people, while doubt carried alone and in shame tends to wear them down [5]. The goal is honesty, not a conclusion I have picked for you.
Do I have to be part of a church to come?
No. This is for anyone who wants their Christian faith honoured in the work, whether you are deeply involved in a faith community or working things out on your own right now.
Can Christian counselling help with religious guilt and shame?
Yes. Much of that work is separating a healthy conscience from toxic shame, the kind that tells you that you are the problem rather than that you did something you can put right.
What about church hurt or spiritual harm?
Yes. Spiritual struggle is a real and studied part of mental health [4]. It can be worked through while your faith stays yours to keep, rather than something you have to throw out in order to heal.
What is the difference between Christian counselling and pastoral counselling?
Christian counselling is faith-integrated therapy; the frame is clinical, and your faith is welcome and useful inside it. Pastoral counselling comes from the other direction, as care rooted in ministry and spiritual formation. I offer both, because some seasons call for a therapist and some call for a pastor.
Canada Life
Co-operators
Coughlin & Associates
CVAP
Dialogue
Empire Life
Equitable Life
UV Insurance
GMS
Green Shield Canada
iA Financial Group
ICBC
Johnston Group
Manulife
Pacific Blue Cross
Sun Life
TELUS Health
Medavie Blue Cross
People Corporation
ProviderConnect
RWAM
Simply Benefits
People of Faith
For pastors, ministry leaders, and people whose life is bound up with a church.
Counselling for faith communities →
Spiritual and Existential Exploration
When the questions run past a Christian frame: meaning, mortality, purpose.
Explore meaning and purpose →
Pastoral Counselling
Care that starts from ministry rather than the clinic, rooted in spiritual formation.
Ministry-rooted care →