Hanbit Lee, Intern, will be the first to tell you she was once skeptical of counseling—at least until the Lord intervened through a seemingly out-of-the-blue interaction with her driving instructor who told her about counseling, and opened the door for good.
While many things in life are not always so certain, one thing Hanbit is sure of is her calling to the field of counseling. Having spent many years in ministry, Hanbit sensed the heaviness, burdens and struggles that many pastors and ministry leaders bear, and in response, has prayed and sought the Lord about her role; the answer for her life is to be part of lightening the burdens of people in ministry through counseling.
Hanbit’s personal philosophy of care is to practice as an image bearer and to help restore God’s image in people—for clients to rediscover the image of God and find purpose in their lives by making a deeper connection with the Lord and learning more about who He is. She wants clients to actually experience God as the counselor who longs for healing and longs to restore them, and to see his children come nearer to him and to receive his healing through counseling.
During this current and formative season in her professional career studying at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Hanbit chose to intern at Steeple because she saw that Steeple doesn’t just care about mental health, but spiritual health as well—Steeple Counseling is a place which cares about the kingdom of God.
For her internship, Hanbit is very passionate about working with pastors and anyone in ministry; she is focused on treating depression, anxiety and trauma because these areas are in high need, and she sees many people actually do struggle with all three. In addition to caring for church leaders, Hanbit has a strong desire to work with Asians because she feels they’re in a very unique society and that as minorities, she wants to provide a space for Asians to freely process and rediscover their identity in Christ.
Hanbit also loves to work with young adults, grad students and undergrad students, and she has so much joy working with young adults and with those in emerging adulthood, as people are forming their identity as young professionals or figuring out what they want to do. Hanbit would like to help young adults figure out long-term life goals and what they would like to see in the future.
All in all, Hanbit prays to see the Holy Spirit at work powerfully in each session as he knows best, and that he would lead each session. She also wants to be able to personally experience his work—that she would rely on his power and direction instead of having to work all of those things on her own. Hanbit knows the reality is that God is the healer and the provider, and she wants to be faithful to the Lord and deepen her relationship with him so that she can testify to his goodness.
Hanbit attends church at New Life Covenant Church of Palatine, a congregation of primarily Korean-Americans, and also has ministry experience in working as a children’s ministry leader at her former church.