Living honestly
from within
your own story
Theologically rooted | Psychologically informed | Relationship centered
Care for the people of God and her leaders
whose stories have become complicated, lost, or distorted.
—>> Schedule Counseling
—>> Begin Professional Mentorship
Life, family,
& Christian community
are all complicated.
We recognize the particular complexity of Christian community, regardless of whether you are leading, engaging, or living in proximity.
The Church is a people. It is also a system.
The community of faith is spiritual.
It is also human.
It creates great beauty.
It also causes deep pain.
There is growth and life.
There is also harm and damage.
This complexity can challenge our capacity
to lead, engage,
and share ourselves with others.
The complexity can distort, or even undermine our ability
to live honestly within our own stories.
The stories of who we were designed to be, called to be, and are becoming.
For those who know the weight, uncertainty, or pain this complexity
- wherever you are on your leadership or healing journey -
your story matters.
Counseling
Our Approach: Story-Work
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How honest can I be? We all know this question. Sometimes spoken, often felt. With whom can I be honest? And what are the conditions and limits? Without contexts in which and people with whom we can be honest, it can become difficult to remain honest even with ourselves.
Story-work creates space for permission to be found to become more fully honest with ourselves. About the things that hurt. About the things we love. About the experiences that have shaped us. About the moments and people and places through which we experienced agony, trauma, and wounding into our lives.
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Suffering has a way of disconnecting us not only from others, but from ourselves. We can follow the steps of the script, without having ownership of the story. We become observers of our own experiences, existing on the periphery of our own world. We engage the movements of life absent our own embodiment of it.
Story-work invites us to step more fully into our stories. To live from within them. As we do we come to find that healing really does happen from within. As we do we discovery agency, courage, and imagination to reclaim, revive, and even rewrite our stories. And we do so with brave honesty.
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Not all stories we live are our own. Some of us have lived into stories we were given, without room to evaluate or write our own. Some of us began to create beautiful stories of our own, only to have those scripts stolen, torn up, or tainted.
It can take time to detangle our story from the ones we have been given. It can be difficult to acknowledge the pain that has come as a result of the story we find ourselves in. It is at times unpleasant work to reclaim and make meaning of the parts of our story that were robbed from us.
Story-work is about finding and living into the true story that is - and has always been - ours alone to live and write.
Learning to live honestly from within your own story.
Many individuals arrive in counseling during moments of disruption, transition, or threshold: entering adulthood, navigating intimate relationships, becoming parents, confronting loss, facing leadership responsibilities, etc. These moments of disruption challenge the way we see ourselves and understand & live into our story.
In the absence of acknowledgement and meaningful engagement, emotional pain is easily interpreted as personal failure or defect. People suffer less from what is wrong with them than from the stories that have never been shepherded toward growth.
Through Story-Work we attend to, heal, and reclaim stories that have become complicated, lost, or distorted. As we engage the deep narratives of our lives, relationships and experiences, new meaning is created, healing experienced. We find the capacity to step more fully into our lives with courage and agency.
The aim of counseling is therefore not only symptom relief, but the formation of a life capable of carrying love, power, grief, and responsibility with greater steadiness.
*While each of our counselors is clinically educated and trained, we do not directly treat mental health disorders. Engaging story-work will often resolve many of the mental-health related symptoms we experience resulting from the damage experienced as stories were warped, robbed, and written over. In situations where mental health-related symptoms become amplified, your counselor may recommend an additional layer of care in order to continue the Story-work.
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Pricing & Insurance
$100-175 per session | Out of Network with all major insurances | Reduced rates available pending need
Accessibility
Story-Work Counseling through Church Well Co is provided virtually and is available throughout the United States and internationally.
What to Expect
Phone Consultation: Once we have received your request, we begin with a free 15-minute phone consultation to make sure we set you up with the best fit possible.
Before First Session: Between your consultation and your first session your counselor will work with you to make sure you have received the necessary paperwork and payment process. Paperwork does need to be completed prior to you first session.
Your First Session: Your first session is the opportunity to settle in - to the process, experience, relationship, and exploration of the work. Your counselor will take time to understand what you need in order to develop the trustworthiness with you necessary for growth. If you determine in that first session your counselor is not the right fit, we will work with you to find the right one. No pressure. No expectations. Just bring yourself.
Typical Timeline: Most clients see us weekly or biweekly for 4-8 months, though some stay longer. Due to the relationship-centered approach to the work that we take, we do not have a pre-determined length in mind. Sometimes initial engagement with story opens room for further exploration, engagement, and healing. As long as there is value being received and growth taking place, we will continue to companion you.
Professional Mentorship
There are times where we do not need a counselor, but we do need more than a friend.
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We may need a place where a specific part of ourselves can be engaged intentionally. Or we may need a space for our whole selves and full story to welcomed and seen so that we can make new meaning and to find the keys to unlock the doors before us. Professional Mentorship seeks to bridge that gap.
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Professional mentorship is designed to sit in a deeply relational context with intentionality and focus. Unlike therapy or spiritual direction, where the professional limits the use of themselves or their story, professional mentorship creates room for a type of exchange of relationship to the benefit of the mentee. Professional mentorship can focus on professional or personal areas, each of which create a different feel to the experience:
For some, professional mentorship focuses on specific spaces in life (marriage, ministry, friendship, etc.). This expression can feel more along the lines of coaching or professional consultation.
For others, professional mentorship is a relationship in which to share our stories intentionally and to process our experiences in the presence of care, wisdom, and attentiveness. This form will take the shape of what we more traditionally identify as mentorship.
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Mentors: Professional mentorship through Church Well Co is currently only being offered by BrianJames McMahon.
Cost: $150/session
Frequency: based on need and mentor’s availability
Disclaimer: Professional is not therapy. It does not diagnose or treat mental health disorders nor is it appropriate for working through recent or active trauma. It is mentorship relationship in which to engage personally or professionally for growth.
Our Providers
Counselors & Mentors
Rev. BrianJames McMahon, LMFT
Founder, Mentor, Therapeutic Guide
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BrianJames is licensed as both a pastor and a marriage and family therapist. He works with pastors, therapists, and entrepreneurs to find healing from pain, overcome barriers to connection, unlock potential, and grow into who they are becoming.
He up on the mission field in Southeast Asia and has spent significant seasons of his life in Seattle and Los Angeles where he pastored and church planted prior to relocating to Kansas City where he currently resides with his wife and children.
BrianJames is the founder of Church Well Co providing therapeutic guidance, consulting, and trainings for pastors, leaders, and organizations to develop cultures and environments that are emotionally and relationally safe(r) for their people. At his core he longs to see the Church vibrant and healthy. His experience growing up between cultures and in a variety of contexts has shaped his value of the unique expression of God found in each person.
He holds a BA from Seattle Pacific University in Holistic Education and an MS in Marriage and Family Therapy from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Cost: $175/session
Rev. Kalli Davis, BCCC
Therapeutic Guide
Board Certified Christian Counselor
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Kalli is an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor, holding a B.A. in Biblical Studies and an M.A. in Professional Counseling. She is also an ordained minister and currently serves as a co-lead pastor. She has pastored in multiple capacities in Oklahoma and Los Angeles. Holding a deep conviction that everyone is created in the image of God, inherently worthy and valuable, she understands each client to be the expert of their own story. Therefore, it is an immense privilege and passion of hers to witness and hold space for another.
Having my own difficult experiences with transition, religious trauma, addictive systems, and mental health I understand the complexity, isolation, and devastating impact of these events. While it can feel overwhelming, there is hope and an important story to be written. Through relationship healing, transformation, and purpose can be realized once again.
Cost: $120/session
Rev. Kevin Dolbee, BCCC
Therapeutic Guide
Board Certified Christian Counselor
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Kevin blends nearly thirty years of pastoral leadership with advanced clinical training to help individuals find healing, clarity, and forward movement. As both an ordained pastor and Board Certified Christian Counselor, he offers a space where your full story is seen, your pain is honored, and meaningful change is possible.
Kevin’s own journey began in Santa Fe Springs, CA, where as a high school student in the 1980s, he encountered the grace of Jesus that shaped his calling. After serving in the U.S. Navy, including during Operation Desert Storm, he went on to earn a Bachelor of Theology, a Master of Arts in Strategic Leadership, and a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
Since 1998, Kevin has served within the Foursquare Church as a youth pastor, church planter, senior pastor, and denominational leader, guiding churches and leaders through seasons of transition, renewal, and challenge.
In Therapeutic Guidance, Kevin integrates counseling insight, spiritual direction, and pastoral care to walk with individuals through complex seasons of emotional, relational, and spiritual struggle. He works with those navigating leadership burnout, personal pain, relational challenges, and spiritual questions that do not always have simple answers.
Kevin and his wife, Brenda, have been married for more than 35 years and have raised three adult children. A lifelong Raider fan, he understands well the lessons of patience, resilience, and enduring hope.
Cost: $105/session