Jensy’s Story

Jensy, please introduce yourself.

I am a professor at Alliance University in the biblical studies department and in the pastoral ministry department. I am also a regional manager through Lead NYC and CarePortal here in New York City.

Has counseling helped you balance your ministry life?

Absolutely yeah. I often tell people that we take care of our spirit through church, we take care of our bodies, through the gym, but we don’t do anything for our souls. I think that counseling is something that should be in the agenda of every person that wants to be healthy. If I’m able to exercise the things of the Spirit at church and I am able to exercise my physical body in a gym, what am I doing to exercise my soul? Having that component of counseling has really helped me to understand where some of the hangups I have in life, some of the things that I am processing, some of the things that I have experienced in life, where they come from. It helps me to mitigate those types of situations in everyday life.

Every pastor, every ministry leader needs to be in counseling. It is a way to remain and stay healthy. It is a way to exercise the soul.

Counseling really does help identify root causes of triggers and what happens in relational schisms or relational drama. It has helped me to understand myself, even things that I experienced that were painful to me. I didn’t hear, “Hey, you know what? What you experienced was terrible. I’m sorry you experienced that.” That affirmation that I’m not crazy for experiencing what I experienced: it’s huge. Being able to speak about it in a safe space helped me understand that these feelings were valid. It also helped me to gain perspective on different things that I have experienced and put them in the right places.

Is there anything else you want to add about your time at Redeemer Counseling?

There was a time when I was in need of Redeemer Counseling's sliding scale. If there is any way that scale can be bolstered, that's great—because there are many people who are in desperate need of Christian counseling that cannot afford it. Even though that’s not where I find myself currently, it’s important for me to be an advocate for people like me that needed counseling at the time but could not afford it. I am really grateful. I think that counseling and the sliding scale are absolutely necessary and I hope that more ministers would sign up for counseling.