At its core, therapy is the practice of hope and understanding, says Deacon Jack Roland, a professional Catholic therapist for the past 25 years, who is the founder and clinical director of the Catholic Counseling Agency in Fair Oaks. Its mission is to serve the faithful through a Catholic prism and to train Catholic therapists to do the same.
Clients come to us “hurting, confused or often hopeless,” says Deacon Jack, who was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 2018 and serves St. Mel Parish in Fair Oaks. “Many are running low on hope. We are a people of faith, hope and love, so we ask, what is your relationship with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit? What is it that they may have to say about your life?”
He suggests that perhaps St. John the Baptist might be the patron saint of therapists. “Make straight the way of the Lord. And that making straight is understanding your relationship with Christ…Christ helps clients rediscover themselves in the process of therapy. We treat clients though a Catholic prism, and that allows for the Holy Spirit to not only work through us but to work in the client.
“One of the most difficult things for people to do often is to have that self-compassion to allow God inside you to offer compassion, because for some reason you don’t feel you deserve it or want to let go of something. Maybe it’s an addiction or maybe it’s anger with a loved one. So as people of faith believing in God’s mercy, we say let’s take a look and dare to hope.”
Deacon Jack says he aims for a warm and direct approach to therapy, while helping people heal persistent emotional and behavioral problems. He strives to build a friendly atmosphere, encouraging a sense of security and hope, evaluating each person’s unique experience in a confidential and nonjudgmental way.
He facilitates psychological and emotional well-being in the Catholic faith community by providing clinically appropriate and effective counseling and case management services for adults, children, teenagers, couples and family therapy. He also provides pre-marital couple and marriage counseling.
He treats clients, Catholic and non-Catholic, for a broad range of issues and disorders, from depression, anxiety and other psychosis. He also has expertise in therapy for addictions, grief, trauma, and life transitions.
Regarding issues particularly sensitive to the Catholic faith, he deals with post-abortion trauma, pornography and sexual addictions, issues with scrupulosity and other obsessive-compulsive disorders.
“My goal is to foster a sincere relationship based on trust and compassion, which helps a client to overcome the anxiety of sharing their deepest thoughts, feelings and experiences,” he notes. “This redeeming process enables a person to understand and overcome emotional adversity, resulting in a sense of relief, accomplishment and growth.”
He holds a master’s degree in clinical social work and research from Fordham University in New York City and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, rhetoric and communications from UC Davis. His wife, Christine, is an emergency medicine physician in Sacramento. They have been married 41 years, with two adult daughters and two grandchildren.
By the time he was 12 years old he wanted to be a therapist. “My mom was Catholic and very spiritual, and always had a great respect for psychologists,” he recalls. “I saw how they could help people in encouraging them to feel better about themselves and God. I’ve always thought the greatest connection you can make with someone is for them to tell you the story of their life and what’s important to them.”
While studying at Fordham, he worked in housing projects in Brooklyn, treating people with mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse, as well as its impact on their families. At UC Davis he worked with family conflicts and domestic violence. “Sometimes those are grouped together, and you often find conflict in a family where there is some sort of addiction or compulsion there,” he says. “Later that expanded into my treatment of obsessive-compulsive behaviors, same-sex attraction and sexual addiction.”
He has long been connected with 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous. “It’s easy to recognize the 12 steps as a Catholic manifesto,” he notes. Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, who developed the 12-step strategy to deal with alcoholism, “found throughout their lives the mercy of Catholic physicians and priests who were chaplains. Wilson and Smith had spiritual directors who were priests. In our faith, I encourage people to the different forms of 12 step as they are truly spiritual programs for recovery in addition to practicing their faith.”
Deacon Jack’s own faith life and commitment strengthen his effectiveness with clients who seek a Catholic approach to counseling. The majority of his clients are Catholic, so they “already have a pretty good idea of what they are looking for,” he notes. “There’s anxiety for them about being treated by someone who is not Catholic, because some of my secular colleagues in the field have very different ideas that are at odds with our faith. It’s one thing for us to struggle to live our faith and we do, but it’s another thing to say that because I am struggling with life, the faith must be wrong.”
Faith and psychology have a natural relationship. “If anything, that is the great truth of what we do in our work,” he contends. “Ours is a very different approach to treatment. It grows from our Catholic faith. We are part of the new evangelization as we live through the Gospel. We live our lives in the world and in our practice.”
In the time of COVID-19, isolation is tough for many people, he says. Addiction, depression, anxiety, and suicide are on the increase. There is a great need to provide hope and help always. “Isolation is the worst thing for people struggling with emotional challenges and addiction as they don’t have the support of others. If all these things were challenges before, they are major problems now. Isolation has helped to accelerate the stress cracks that were already in our culture into chasms. Suicide rates among young people had already been on the increase. The therapists at our agency are treating cases of increased severity in domestic strife and psychological problems in children and teens.”
Regarding isolation, “there’s an old saying that proves out clinically – the addict alone is dead,” Deacon Jack notes. “I would transfer that to the Catholic who believes that he or she is alone is in deep spiritual trouble. Isolation serves to intensify that misconception. This dynamic feeds depression, anxiety and it increases compulsive behaviors and addictions in an attempt to fill the void. In Christ, we are never alone. So, it is with a combination practice of faith and psychological support that this misconception is illuminated and the illness resolved in grace.”
Deacon Jack affirms that Lent — with its traditional practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving — serves as a perfect time to journey with others. “For all of us — even those who may be in a difficult place — no matter where we are, those things will always sustain us. People can give to others what they can. It makes somebody feel so much better when they can lend a helping hand, even if it is a phone call, card or letter. It’s good for the soul and it reorients us and reminds us that we rely on God and the Holy Spirit. There’s comfort that comes from giving and relying on Christ. It’s really healing and brings a wonderful degree of peace and joy into a person’s life.
Catholic Herald Issue