Dr. Josh Williams is a Licensed Clinical Pastoral Counselor with Advanced Certification through the National Christian Counselors Association. He graduated with a degree in Pastoral Ministry from Family of Faith College in Shawnee, Oklahoma before going on to obtain a Masters in Biblical Counseling and eventually a Doctorate in Christian Education from Andersonville Theological Seminary. He is also a Certified Temperament Counselor through N.C.C.A. Josh has over thirty years of experience in ministry, education, and relationships. He's served as a teacher, middle and high school principal, worship leader, pastor, and counselor.
At age thirty-six, I hit bottom.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Son of a pastor. Graduate of both a Christian high school and Bible college. My three older brothers were all lead pastors. I’d been in ministry myself for over two decades as a worship minister, youth leader, and various stints as a professional chair-stacker (code for church “intern”). At the time, I was the middle school principal of a large and highly respected Christian school in Texas and had been married for more than ten years with two beautiful daughters. I’d never “strayed” from the faith since I knelt by a tree on our 40-acre farm when I was barely six years old.
Why wasn’t I on the mountain top?
Because there was something else going on below the surface. My mind would not shut off. EVER. I’d been “coping” with it (unsuccessfully) as far back as I can remember. Thankfully, a strong, moral upbringing kept me from some of the more dangerous, self-soothing mechanisms: drugs, alcohol, risky behavior. Instead, I resorted to the more socially acceptable vices. Why eat one piece when you could have the whole chocolate cake? And why not wash that deliciousness down with twenty glasses of soda? And this was only a supplement to my daily portions of coffee and sweet tea while binge-watching the latest TV action series.
I was nearing the tipping point. If one desires a stress-free career, middle school principal is far from the top of the list. The internal conflict was overwhelming. My wife would look out the window and watch me as I mowed the lawn.
Embarrassingly enough, she’d notice my internal chaos spilling out into conversations and body gestures to someone not there. No doubt, I was rehashing a painful conversation for the millionth time with no relief, failing to contain the monster inside its cage. Why was I different from everyone else? No one prayed more than I did. No one read the Bible more than I did. In fact, my college buddies nicknamed me “The Walking Concordance”. What more could I do?
The saddest part? No one else knew the answer either. Through great embarrassment, I’d talk to family, friends, and pastors I trusted. Among the more common pieces of advice were things like “Read and pray more” or “Cast your cares on the Lord” (as though worries are heavy books I could simply remove from my mental backpack). “Rebuke the devil, Josh!” Yep. Tried that a time or two. Zero relief. Not to say that any of these words of wisdom were of no value. Quite the contrary.
However, I was running into one of the largest crises in the Church today: ignorance surrounding emotional health. The conventional wisdom: treat emotional pain as a spiritual problem. Even further, within my early Christian circles, it was implied (if not flat-out stated) that emotions need to be crucified with the old nature.
One fateful day, my wife Tammy and I attended the wedding of a dear friend, and she strategically sat us next to her therapist. Kate was not like any therapist we’d ever imagined. Young. Vibrant. Shockingly, she looked nothing like Sigmund Freud. And she was a believer! This widened our previously limited perspective. Counseling was seen as shameful in our families of origin. It wasn’t overtly preached as such. However, if one needed counseling, he was seen as a 3rd grader being pulled from regular class because he couldn’t read. I remember being so relieved in elementary that I wasn’t the poor bloke on that walk of shame to the remedial room. “Those kids should know better” was the resounding phrase in our wagging heads.
As Tammy and I drove from the wedding venue, she whispered softly, “I think I’d like to go see Kate.” I nearly wrecked the car.
“Sure, babe.” That was the beginning. A month after Tammy had her first session, I sat my barely-functioning self on the couch of Kate Goodell. Thus began the healing journey. I found out my upbringing, while spiritually strong, did not promote the best emotional health. “Old school” parenting can be devastating for a person of my temperament. As we uncovered old beliefs I didn’t even realize I held to and healed painful experiences, anxiety faded away. I didn't really even have to white-knuckle addictive behavior. It simply disappeared. A minister once told me, “If you get your mind renewed to who you are in Christ, you don’t have to quit bad habits, they’ll quit you.” This was certainly proven to be true.
Kate taught me about OCD, which was hard for my Word of Faith background to swallow. We’re not supposed to claim those kinds of labels. Yet I moved from “name it, claim it” to “name it, tame it”. I found out OCD, rather the trait that spins out of control and becomes OCD, is a superpower and something God made for our good. If given the proper self-care and healing, the gift of thinking ahead can calm from racing at 9000 rpm to idle and work for me at a gentle 1000 rpm.
I never imagined how much my life would change. Not only was I walking in a peace I never knew possible, but others were hungry to hear more about my journey of healing from anxiety. I lost count of how many Nicodemus’s found me “under the cover of night,” evading public notice. They, too, had debilitating anxiety, a socially unacceptable admission in many church circles.
A few years later, I connected with the NCCA.
“Where has this been all my life?” I whispered it over and over as I completed the first few courses. I can’t say enough about Temperament and the Arno Profiling System. It is the single greatest resource for counseling and personal emotional health. In the fall of 2021, I received my license as a Pastoral Counselor with Advanced Certification.
In January of 2022, I founded Joshua Williams Counseling in Norman, Oklahoma. Since then, I’ve unpacked almost 500 temperaments and held over 3,200 counseling sessions. Last summer, I became a Certified Academic Institution and presently have several students enrolled. When asked if I like what I do, I reply, “I have the greatest job in the world: I get a front row-seat to watch Jesus heal people.”
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