Judith Turian

About me:

My first book entitled God: A Relationship Guide is being published by Hazelden Publishing, and it will be released on April 6, 2009. It is the culmination of my personal and professional life experience, and I believe it will help many people become more trusting and intimate with God or perhaps establish a relationship with Him for the first time.

For the past 17 years, I have worked as a clinical psychologist in private practice in Southern California. What I most love about my work is helping each person who comes to me for help to develop, deepen, or repair a relationship with God.

I work with people from all walks of life and from a wide variety of ethnic, cultural and religious/spiritual backgrounds. I enjoy helping my patients become more faithful to the path that they grew up in or have been led to as adults. Some have wandered from their faith because they have become disappointed in God or feel betrayed by their faith communities. I assist in healing these divisions so that individuals can find their way back to God or to the spiritual community of their choice. Often, people who come to me for help have no faith or only vague ideas about God. They are encouraged to find a God of their own understanding.

For several years after graduating with my Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from St. John’s University, I worked as a psychologist on active duty in the U.S.Navy. Often, my navy and marine corps clients received orders to go overseas or out to sea for months at a time after completing very few counseling sessions. I discovered that those who had faith could be taught ways to turn to God in times of stress and discouragement when they couldn’t come for counseling. I became the Clinical Director of the Alcohol Rehabilitation Service at the Naval Hospital in Long Beach, CA. I was introduced to the power of the 12-Step program concepts of surrendering to God as the individual understands God, never dictating what is the correct spiritual path for any one individual. Because this approach leads to powerful mental and spiritual healing, I incorporate it into my practice of psychology.

I am a Spiritual Director, certified through The Spiritual Growth Center at Mount Saint Mary’s College in Los Angeles. Spiritual Direction originated in the first four centuries after the birth of Christ. The early Christian ascetics lived as hermits in the desert, devoting their lives to prayer. Men and women monastics and other spiritual seekers sought out these hermits for spiritual guidance as they were widely known to be wise and deeply contemplative. As a spiritual director, I try to help people understand how God is communicating with them in their daily lives. I enjoy enjoy working with both individuals and groups as they talk about their relationship with God, blocks they are experiencing in their prayer lives and making faith-based decisions.

I was raised in a secular Jewish family. My first spiritual experience came at the age of five, and I have been a seeker of God ever since. I learned about God at the summer camp I attended each year as I grew up, and I also attended Jewish Sunday School. But from the age of 8 or 9, I became interested in Christianity. As a teenager and young adult, I loved visiting churches and cathedrals, especially when I traveled in Europe. I was inspired by Medieval and Renaissance Christian art.

I also led a life on the edge for many years, challenging God and living as if He didn’t exist. When I finally came to my senses, I was inspired to turn my will and life over to the care of God. It was then that I took the plunge and became Christian. It seems totally natural to me as Jesus was a Jew, and Christianity has its roots in Judaism. I think of myself as a completed Jew.

I do believe, however, that God draws each of us to Him in a way that is right for us. I believe that He is more interested in our love and faithfulness than in the name of the path on which we walk.