CCC 28-4_LR

FROM THE PRESIDENT

and Professor Emeritus at Liberty Uni versity. Dr. Clinton is president of Light Counseling, a national clinical coun seling organization that provides Christ-centered behavioral healthcare for individuals, families, and American heroes. For seven years, Dr. Clinton extended his ministry as co-host of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, heard on more than 1,400 radio outlets daily, and now hosts a weekend television program, “Sunday the Road Forward,” seen on Real America’s Voice News streaming service and numerous plat forms. Licensed as a professional counselor and a marriage and family therapist, Dr. Clinton is recognized as a world leader on mental health and rela tionship issues. He spends much of his time working with Christian leaders and professional athletes. Together, Dr. Clinton and his son, Dr. Zach Clinton, host a new radio broadcast and podcast titled “Life, Love, Faith, & Family,” focusing on mental health and relation ships. Dr. Clinton has authored or edited more than 30 books.

dependable referral relationships, it can become a power ful source of encouragement. The conversations with Drs. Koenig and VanderWeele also remind us that care cannot be reduced to symptom management. Human beings need meaning, belonging, close relationships, purpose, and hope. Dr. VanderWeele’s Global Flourishing Study, involving more than 200,000 people across 22 countries, has drawn renewed attention to the relationship between religious participation, com munity life, close relationships, meaning, and flourishing.⁵ Dr. Koenig’s decades of research on faith and health point in the same direction. Religious belief and involve ment can shape how people respond to illness, grief, trauma, loss, and emotional distress. Faith can provide meaning when life feels senseless, sustain hope when circumstances have not changed, and connect people to a community that notices when they begin to struggle. This is why faith-based coaching and peer support deserve a clear place within the continuum of care. Prayer, Scripture, worship, forgiveness, service, and Christian community can help people make sense of suffering, rebuild hope, and remain connected while receiving appropriate professional care. This understanding is central to AACC’s new rela tionship with Celebrate Recovery and the Addiction and Mental Health Recovery Coach training program. When recovery experience is strengthened by training in mental health, addiction, ethics, boundaries, crisis response, and referral, leaders are better prepared to walk with people while staying within the limits of their roles. Our mental health professionals should and will remain indispensable, but they should not be expected to provide every form of support a person needs. Well trained coaches, chaplains, recovery leaders, and peer specialists can help people seek care sooner, remain con nected longer, and continue applying what they are learn ing. I guess the question is, “What will the Church do with the opportunity before her?” It is time for the Church to be the Church. ; Tim Clinton, Ed.D., LPC, LMFT, BCPCC,

Endnotes 1 Stanford, M.S. (2026). The value of paraprofessional and peer-delivered mental health care [Unpublished research brief and personal communi cation]. 2 Grant, A.M., & Cavanagh, M.J. (2007). Evidence-based coaching: Flourishing or languishing? Australian Psychologist, 42 (4), 239-254. 3 Topping, K.J. (2022). Peer-led interventions in health and well-being: A review of effectiveness. Clinical Psychiatry, 8 (6), 146. 4 Neuhaus, M., Young, T., Ferris, L.J., Grimmel, C.L.M., & Reid, N. (2022). A narrative review of peer-led positive psychology interventions: Current evidence, potential, and future directions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (13), 8065. 5 VanderWeele, T.J., Johnson, B.R., Bialowolski, P.T., Bonhag, R., Bradshaw, M., Breedlove, T., Case, B., Chen, Y., Chen, Z.J., Counted, V., Cowden, R.G., de la Rosa, P.A., Felton, C., Fogleman, A., Gibson, C., Gundersen, C., Jang, S.J., Jitender, K.A., Koga, H.K., … Yancey, G. (2025). The Global Flourishing Study: Study profile and initial results on flour ishing. Nature Mental Health, 3 (6), 636-653.

is president of the American Associa tion of Christian Counselors (AACC), the world’s largest and most diverse Christian counseling association. He also serves as Executive Director of the Global Center for Human Flourishing

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