"To teach is to create a space in which the community of truth is practiced."

-Parker Palmer

"When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life, those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair into signs of hope. Through this common search, hospitality becomes community. Hospitality becomes community as it creates a unity based on the shared confession of our basic brokenness and on a shared hope."

-Henri Nouwen

Mission:

Practicing embodied soul care through faithful presence.

 

Vision:

Helping churches become field hospitals for the sick (sin) and the wounded (suffering) through the cure of souls.

 

Core Values:

  • Empowering recovery from sin and suffering as an opportunity to connect more fully with God, self, community and creation.

  • Approaching our role of counselor as a wounded healer.

  • Walking with people seeking to heal and grow in a collaborative process.

  • Communion with the Triune God as the essential catalyst for transformation and wholeness.

  • Helping people form identity and shape purpose rooted in faith, hope and love in Christ.

  • Encouraging meaningful connection through the redemptive community of the church.

  • Advocating for churches throughout the city to cultivate redemptive communities conducive for recovery.

 

Statement of Faith: 

Polis adheres to all three of the catholic creeds — the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian.

 

Counselor Biographies:

Rainer Maria Rilke:“Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, he would never have been able to find these words.”—“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”—“Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.”—“His growth is: to be the deeply defeated by ever greater things.”—“I live my life in widening circle That reach out across the world. I may not ever complete the last one, But I give myself to it. I circle around God, that primordial tower. I have been circling for thousands of years, And I still don't know: am I a falcon, A storm, or a great song?”—

Rainer Maria Rilke:

“Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, he would never have been able to find these words.”

—

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

—

“Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.”

—

“His growth is: to be the deeply defeated by ever greater things.”

—

“I live my life in widening circle
That reach out across the world.
I may not ever complete the last one,
But I give myself to it.
I circle around God, that primordial tower.
I have been circling for thousands of years,
And I still don't know: am I a falcon,
A storm, or a great song?”

—

Chris Ball, executive director

Experience:

  • Polis Recovery Project (Seattle, WA) — Executive Director (2015 – present)

  • Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) — Ordained Ruling Elder (2014-2015 in Raleigh, NC & 2018-2020 in Seattle, WA)

  • Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission (Seattle, WA) — Men’s Recovery Program Counselor (2015-2016)

  • Bridgehaven Counseling Associates (Raleigh, NC) — Executive Director (2014-2015)

  • City of Raleigh’s Substance Abuse Advisory Commission (Raleigh, NC) — Commission Member (2015)

  • Recovery Communities of North Carolina (Raleigh, NC) — Founding Board Member (2012-2015)

  • Converting Hearts Ministries (Raleigh, NC) — VP of Program & Clinical Studies (2011-2013)

Education & Training:

  • B.A. in Psychology & Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte — 2009

  • M.A. in Biblical Counseling, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary — 2011

  • Way of the Heart (contemplative spiritual formation program), Selah Center — 2018

  • Spiritual Direction Program, Christian Formation & Direction Ministries Northwest — 2022

Chris views his vocation as a blend of ‘wounded healer,’ story farmer,’ ‘psychonaut’ and ‘shadow boxer’. He practices the craft of counseling as an applied language arts concentrated in the ‘cure of souls’—melding soul care, contemplative psychology and spiritual direction to help empower clients to cultivate integrated wholeness and align meaningful purpose. His work is focused with individuals in the areas of addiction recovery, trauma recovery, sexuality and mental health issues. His therapeutic approach has been shaped by contemplative spirituality, narrative therapy, existential therapy, depth psychology, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindful self-compassion (MSC), internal family systems (IFS), expressive arts therapy, solution-focused therapy (SFT), transtheoretical model (TTM) stages of change, motivational interviewing (MI) attachment theory and somatic embodiment.

  • office sessions located in West Seattle & virtual sessions through Telehealth

Lisa M. McFarland, M.A. in Counseling, Westminster Theological Seminary

Lisa McFarland holds her Master of Arts in Counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. She has also completed the certificate program offered by the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) School of Biblical Counseling. Lisa incorporates a clinically-informed approach into her counseling, while maintaining a firmly-rooted centrality on the gospel and hope of Jesus Christ. She is trauma-informed and has been trained in and has experience working with anxiety, depression, psychiatric diagnoses, sexual issues, and more. 

A specific area of experience and specialty is abuse in church settings. Lisa has facilitated spiritual abuse support groups and is available for church consultations and speaking engagements. 

Lisa is also the pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church (ECO) in Mesa, AZ, and her care often combines counseling, support, spiritual formation/guidance, discipleship, and evidence-based therapeutic modalities.

Lisa is a native of the Pacific Northwest, and now resides in the Phoenix area. She loves being outdoors and spending time with her husband, children, grandchildren and dogs. She enjoys writing, mining the depths of Scripture, and engaging in deep, thought-provoking conversation. 

  • Online appointments only at this time.

Alicia Gutierrez, M.A. in Counseling, Westminster Theological Seminary

Alicia earned a Master of Arts in Counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. She also holds all three certifications offered by the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation (CCEF) School of Biblical Counseling. As a counselor, Alicia is committed to offering tender, grace-filled counseling that gets to the heart of one’s struggles, while offering hope and change through the gospel. Alicia specializes in counseling children and adolescents using play and talk therapy and has experience counseling young people through familial divorce and separation, trauma, depression, OCD, anxiety, abuse, ADHD, PTSD, and much more

Alicia and her husband served in South America as missionaries for seven years where she developed a heart for counseling ex-pats and missionaries, both on and off the field. As a pastor’s wife, Alicia also cares for women in ministry, and is passionate about counseling people through anxiety, depression, trauma, oppressive relationships, issues of self-worth, anger, marriage counseling, pre-marital counseling, and spiritual needs.

Alicia and her husband have three children and live in Tacoma, WA. In her free time, she loves to read, knit, spend time with her extended family, and grab coffee with friends. 

  • Alicia is currently accepting online appointments and in-person appointments in her Tacoma office.

Board of Directors:

  • Peter Barrett, M.B.A. Georgetown University, Peter works in Finance at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. After a decade in Washington DC, Peter and his wife, Kara, and their children moved to Seattle, where they've lived since 2015.

  • Cliff Ellis, M.A. Westminster Theological Seminary, Cliff Ellis is the founder of Sound Conciliation in Seattle, Washington and provides education, training, coaching and mediation services to couples, families, churches, and organizations. Cliff received his B.A. in English Education from Dana College in 2004. After teaching at a public high school for four years, Cliff pursued an opportunity in full-time ministry, which has allowed him to cultivate his passion for equipping and shepherding people. Cliff recently completed a M.A. in Counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary. Cliff is also a candidate for certification with the Institute for Christian Conciliation, and has worked in the field of conciliation services since 2015. Cliff and his wife, Mackenzie, who are high school sweethearts, have three kids who they adopted through foster care. As a family, they enjoy reading good books, growing delicious food, and exploring new places. 

  • Shane Patrick, ThM. Dallas Theological Seminary, Shane was born and raised in in Rockford, Illinois. After graduating high school Shane attended college at Auburn University where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, and then at University of Texas at Dallas, where he received his Master of Science degree in Management. For almost a decade Shane then worked in various roles within the field of Information Technology, before sensing a calling into full-time ministry. This led Shane to back to graduate school at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he received his Master of Theology degree (graduating with honors). Since graduating from seminary Shane has been active in full-time pastoral ministry, while slowing chipping away at a Doctor of Ministry degree as well. In 2015 Shane became one of the founding pastors of Sound City Bible Church near Seattle Washington, where he and his family currently live. Shane married his beautiful best friend, Stephanie, in the year 2000, and together they have three wonderful and rambunctious boys, Dillon (14), Gibson (11), and Colson (7).

  • Thad Williams, Ph.D. University of Washington, Thad is an educator in the Bellevue School District teaching middle and high school emergent bilingual students and also working with teachers. He is the Secondary Multilingual Curriculum Developer for the Bellevue School District. Additionally, Thad is an adjunct professor at Seattle University in the Teacher Education Program. Thad recently completed his Ph.D. at the University of Washington with an emphasis on teaching immigrant youth and emergent bilinguals, K-12 district policies and teacher learning. Thad lives in Seattle with his wife Lauren and their four children.

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea..." -Antoine de Saint Exupery"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the …

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea..."
-Antoine de Saint Exupery

"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all."

1 Thessalonians 5:14

West Seattle office & Polis' mailing address:

Polis Recovery Project

7551 35th Avenue SW
Seattle, WA 98126

  • based out of Trinity West Seattle Church

  • free parking on Ida Street

  • enter on the Ida St. side of the building through the family entrance through the far right door

Donate to Polis Recovery project

Polis is a 501c3 nonprofit organization financially supported through the charitable giving of individuals, families and churches, who believe in the vitality, wisdom and Kingdom impact of Christian counseling. As a nonprofit organization, we strive to make resources available to all people, so that finances are not a barrier in seeking help. In order to sustain the viability of the ministry, the suggested rate of donation per session is $125. Some give more or less, and others are supported by their family and/or local church. Polis gives away 5% of all donations to support mercy ministries.