Counselling & Member Care Services
Our Philosophy of Care
Our counsellors offer Christ-centred counselling that is theologically sound and clinically informed. Our counsellors understand the challenges and hardships of mission, and are here to support mission workers on their own personal and spiritual journeys. This may involve processing unresolved past experiences, such as trauma, or cultural misunderstandings, or working through current challenges, such as relational conflicts or ministry-family balance.
Any and all topics are discussed with empathy, non-judgement and respect, and understood through the lens of Scripture. Our clinical methodologies are aligned with and reflect the Christian worldview, and we seek understanding through a scriptural lens.
Individual Counselling
In individual counselling, our therapists provide a safe, supportive space to work through any issues or concerns. Common challenges include dealing with trauma, managing depression and anxiety, working through grief, and facing spiritual struggles.
Individual counselling is available to men and women of all ages.
Marital Counselling
Cross-cultural mission work places unique strains on a marriage. We are here to support couples to face these challenges supportively, lovingly, and as a successful team. Couples counselling can offer outside perspectives and offer space for both parties to feel heard and understood.
Family Counselling
We offer whole family counselling, that seeks to understand and support a family’s dynamics, and help each member feel like a valuable part of the family unit.
Living as a family in a different culture can be a challenging experience. Our counselling focuses on building strength, love and support within the family unit.
Youth Counselling
We offer counselling for children and adolescents of cross-cultural workers, to offer empathetic support for the unique challenges of living cross-culturally, such as coping with feeling like an outsider while developing their own identities, and struggles with adapting to changing environments.
Debriefing
Debriefing services are available for men and women. Debriefing is provided by Red Sea staff with mission experience and wisdom, to assist our members with processing challenging events, changes, and spiritual challenges.
Debriefing is available face-to-face in Cairns, or online through our secure system.
Intensive Counselling
For those travelling to Cairns seeking an intensive program, we can tailor-make plants to suit your travel times and availability. This is especially well-suited to those currently in the field who need to take a self-care break. We work flexibly and adaptively to meet the unique needs of every person we support.
Crisis Response
We are available for face-to-face and online crisis debriefing and crisis support. This is a key aspect of our member services, because our members know they have us here to support them through any crisis.
Skills Building
Counselling sessions may also be skills-focused, to better equip our members for long-term mission success.
In collaboration with their counsellor, members may decide to proactively learn conflict management skills, or develop their self-care toolkit, or focus on laying the foundations of resilience.
Who We Support
We support Christian cross-culture workers living or working in the Asia Pacific region, from all all Christian missions, agencies, and church outreaches. Trauma and culture shock can impact all who serve overseas or in indigenous communities. We help people work through what they have seen and experienced, from a place of deep understanding, non-judgement and unconditional care.
We support Christian cross-cultural workers returning home or retiring. Many people leave the field with unresolved trauma that impacts all facets of their lives and relationships, which can remain a life-long burden. We help our members work through trauma, spiritual issues, relationship challenges, and reverse culture shock – all of which are common experiences for those returning from or leaving extended service.
We support all Christian workers, be they clergy, ministers, church leaders, or church and ministry support workers. The burnout rate among clergy is alarming. More and more, we hear of good, committed pastors and church workers leaving the ministry and not coming back. We are committed to helping prevent this by offering space to debrief, and to work through challenging issues, such as feeling they cannot uphold their own (and others’) incredibly high expectations, or struggling to meet the changing demands of ministry.