Dr. Laura Hart
Phone: 615-429-8119
Email: drlahart@aol.com
Dr. Laura Hart is the founder of Feed My Sheep Christian Counseling Ministry serving Hermitage, Old Hickory and Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, as well as the Nashville, TN surrounding areas. She is an NCCA Licensed Minister of Counseling-Advanced Certified with national board certification in Integrated Marriage and Family Therapy, Group Therapy, Crisis and Abuse Therapy, as well as Domestic Violence and Intervention Therapy. Laura was ordained as a Minister of Pastoral Counseling in 1995 by the National Conservative Christian Church, an evangelical ministerial fellowship. She’s been in the counseling ministry since 1994.
In 1996 she served on staff as Chaplain for the Women’s Ministries at the Nashville Union Rescue Mission. The two divisions she served under included The Hope Center, a drug and alcohol recovery center, and The Family Life Center, a homeless shelter for women and their children. Her ministry duties were to help women solve relationship problems, emotional disorders, parental training needs, and alcohol and drug addiction. She has also served in various volunteer ministry positions in the surrounding counties of Nashville, Tennessee.
Laura earned a Bachelors degree in Christian Education and a Masters degree in Christian Counseling from Freedom University. She later went on to earn her PhD in Clinical Christian Psychology from Cornerstone University and most recently earned Life Coaching Certification with Sarasota Academy of Christian Counselors.
Laura firmly believes in the principle of accountability. She is held to strict academic, ethical, and moral standards by the licensing board of examiners with the National Christian Counselors Association. She is an Associate member and a Certified Clinical Supervisor for the National Board of Christian Clinical Therapists, a Certified Pastoral member of the Sarasota Academy of Christian Counseling and is one of the academy’s International Representatives and a member of the Nashville Area Association of Christian Counselors. She is also an active member of a local church in her community of residence.
A Message from Laura
It is important that I share some information about myself and the services I provide so a fully informed decision can be made about using my services.
First and foremost, I am a Christian counselor. I understand that if I hide my beliefs or try to do value-free counseling that it is both unwise and deceptive, so I want it to be known what my values and beliefs are.
Like most counselors, I recognize that personal problems may come about because of physiology, social-environmental influences, and daily life pressures. On the other hand, I also acknowledge that many problems may be spiritual in nature, resulting from either not understanding spiritual truths or from one’s own personal transgressions. I believe we are all created in God’s image and we can only feel complete and fulfilled when properly engaged in a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. Thus, Christian counseling will differ from other kinds of counseling in that it is very concerned with the spiritual as well as the emotional and physical needs of clients. The main goal of Christian counseling, like the goal of Christian living, will be to enable clients to move toward greater emotional and spiritual health through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Most people who seek Christian counseling desire to work with a counselor who respects and understands their faith and belief system. Christian counseling is not limited to certain techniques or to human effort. Because God is the real authority in counseling He gives us the resources to change. Struggles with anger, depression, or substance abuse often have implications for a person’s faith and their perceptions of God and His grace. Fully addressing these issues should allow a person to explore their level of understanding in an environment that will be open and nonjudgmental. Christian counseling should involve praying for the client’s difficulties and looking to God for guidance. The client can find forgiveness for the past; strength, comfort and encouragement for the present; and hope for the future by trusting God to daily meet needs and heal emotional wounds. While I do not try to force religion on my clients, I do urge them to develop a relationship with the only true Healer of body, soul, and spirit, Jesus Christ. In this way, I seek to encourage clients to build a dependency on God.
Feed My Sheep is a faith-based ministry center with a desire to help heal the hearts and restore the lives of hurting people by assisting them in recognizing and fulfilling their emotional and spiritual needs.