Professional Counseling Practice
Our Mission
Healing hearts and changing lives by reconciling relational conflict through
the provision of faith-based programs, services, and training.
Bethesda Family Services Foundation is committed to addressing the relational needs of troubled individuals and families throughout our nation.
Our unique strategies and comprehensive two-system approach (Relational Healing and Peer Governance) transform lives and succeed through the combined process of self-governance and emotional healing.
Our powerful healing model has been featured in a number of national television documentaries:
- ABC World News Sunday
- Victory Over Violence, hosted by Walter Cronkite
- Breaking the Cycle of Violence, produced by the National Education Service
- BAD DADS, narrated by George Foreman
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Sticks and Stones, produced by George Rivera Productions
Programs in and of themselves do not change lives; at best, they merely control behavior.
In order to change a life you must change the heart.
At Bethesda Family Services Foundation, we are not satisfied with simply controlling behavior. Our focus is to penetrate the hearts of our participants in order to help them free their emotions from the anger that controls them.
1. Admission and Grieving:
The first step toward victory and healing, after a primary relationship has broken down, is admission and grieving. As pain is poured out, healing begins to pour in.
“The rain of grieving will quench the fire of rage.”
2. Confrontation and Disclosure:
The victim is now ready to confront his/her painful past and the offender(s) who contributed to it. This process begins with a series of assignments which are set forth in letter form by the victim to his/her parent(s) and/or offender(s). When these written memories are applied, the result is truly life-changing for the participant. The final stage of confrontation and disclosure requires the victim to take accountability for his/her offenses of retaliation toward his/her own victim(s). This allows for complete restoration.
3. Forgiveness and Reconciliation:
This third stage requires a purposeful decision on the part of the victim to let go of the bitterness and rage that previously owned him. He is not surrendering to the offender, but rather the bitterness he feels toward the offender. The choice to forgive is always difficult, but only this decision will bring genuine emotional healing to the victim and those around him.
4. Restoration and Healing:
After the victim has progressed through each of the three previous steps to healing, he/she is now at peace with his/her past and able to regulate his/her emotions. He/she must then make a contractual commitment to release his/her offender(s) and move forward toward rebuilding his/her current relationships. This results in emotional and relational healing. Only now he/she is able to develop healthy and lasting relationships.
Meet Our Team
Founder & President
Dominic Herbst, M.S., M.A.
Therapist, author, consultant, and public speaker Dominic Herbst is a nationally renowned figure in the fields of family therapy and troubled youth. He works with a wide variety of people and organizations including professional and college athletes, corporate executives, prison inmates, churches, and people or families in crisis.
He has also made numerous national television appearances, including interviews for a number of documentaries on rage, violence, and troubled youth. Dominic is the creator and steward of “Restoring Relationships,” a ministry dedicated to helping people create a victorious life by walking them through a process of addressing their most difficult challenges.
Whether it’s a shattered heart, a bad habit, a strained relationship, or life circumstances that won’t seem to improve, Dominic’s passion is to help you find the freedom you’ve been searching for. Join him online or at a Live Encounter Event and begin your journey to victory, restoration, and healing.
Executive Director
Joseph Herbst, M.A.
With twelve years of experience in the fields of youth and family intervention including alternative education, residential treatment, and adult corrections, Joseph is passionate about engaging the community in the area of family relationships and restoration. Joseph received his Master’s Degree from Liberty University.
He is an expert in both the Peer Governance and Relational Healing Models as a certified trainer. He assists in broadcasting live interactive webcasts nationwide in our Restoring Relationships Model.
Joseph conducts weekly counseling sessions at the national office and travels with the President to provide large group Restoring Relationship encounters with churches and ministries throughout the country. He oversees our Residential Treatment Center, prison programs and counseling center.
Annette Sprenkel
Restoring Relationships Supervising Coach
Annette is the newest member of our team. She received her Bachelor's of Science in Education from The Pennsylvania State University. She was recruited by the ministry to assist both men and women in finding the freedom their hearts desire. Annette is fully trained and certified to guide and mentor individuals using the relational healing model: Restoring Relationships. Annette's deep understanding of the language of pain has enabled her to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds. Hearing and responding to the cries of the heart is her passion.
Like thousands of others, YOU Can Experience Family Restoration & Personal Healing. If you or a loved one are experiencing:
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Our Counselors are available to help lead you on a journey from relational pain and betrayal to victory, restoration and healing. |
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Two- System Approach:
RELATIONAL HEALING MODEL
The Bethesda Family Services Foundation Relational Healing model was developed to help individuals (children and adults) heal emotional wounds caused by those who rejected them.
Bethesda’s Relationship Sequence is consistent with virtually every therapeutic model used by providers thus far. It is not a replacement for existing models that are successful. It does however, provide a much simpler approach for children and families who are trying to understand and trust the therapeutic process.
In short, Bethesda has “translated” the therapeutic language for the public at large, thereby increasing the trust level between therapists and those who are afflicted. This is simplified in “Four Steps to Emotional Healing,” which provides a therapeutic journey that results in lasting change.
PEER GOVERNANCE
Our Peer Governance and Relational Healing Systems are designed to work together to influence permanent positive change within the intellect, emotion, and will (behavior) of the client. We recognize that in order for an individual to change negative, destructive, and disruptive behavior, the relational issue must be systematically addressed.
This is accomplished by helping clients restore trust and intimacy in broken relationships and helping them establish new ones in a positive manner.
Peer Governance stabilizes their environment and behavior through external constraints and paves the way for Relational Healing to bring internal victory through the application of the system concepts. Once Relational Healing enables positive change to take place by internalizing values and beliefs and establishing an operational level of trust, Peer Governance, through the demonstration of positive social and relational interaction, allows for positive change to be sustained.
