“Believing that mental health and spiritual health are inseparable, Stephen Erickson is combining his therapy and his divinity training into a counseling practice on Bainbridge.And while the candles and flute music in his small office and advertisement for spiritual psychotherapy may suggest a New Age approach, Erickson’s orientation is mainline Protestant.God bridges the gap between knowledge and theory, Erickson said. We can know about family-of-origin or relationship issues, but we need to be in a relationship with God for real healing.Erickson believes that the Judeo-Christian tradition and belief structure provides a workable framework for personal therapy.The Christian story is a workable model for how we can live in peace as children of God, he said. It helps us understand the meaning and purpose in life.Erickson is a Seattle native who grew up in what he admits was a privileged environment.After finishing a college degree in social work, he went to Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., for work in pastoral care and counseling. Feeling a call to ministry, he spent two and a half years at Princeton University in New Jersey.Freshly ordained as a Presbyterian minister, he went to western Pennsylvania, where he took over two small congregations.One was in a coal-mining town. The other was in an area of small farms. There was a lot of poverty in both, which was really eye-opening to me, he said.One lasting result of that experience was a renewed appreciation for the advantages he had growing up.There is a rebellion growing up against all that money, and who needs it, he said. But it’s those opportunities that get us where we are.At the end of a year, he shifted courses again, going to Marin County, Calif., where he became a coach and athletic director at a private school. But that persuaded him that his call was to do some sort of healing, so he came back to Seattle and earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Washington.For the past seven years, Erickson has been living in Port Orchard, and working as a social worker at a Veterans Administration home. He has also been serving as a guardian for disabled adults, and teaching sociology at at Chapman University’s outlet in Bangor.That background, Erickson believes, gives him a solid foundation for the kind of practice he wanted.A lot of ministers do counseling, but not a lot of them have the amount of training in counseling that I have, he said.When he decided to try a private practice, he thought Port Orchard would be an unlikely place.Too many people there do not respect my education, he said, so the advantages I can offer are not valued.He believes that Bainbridge Island reflects many of his own values.Education and spirituality need to connect, he said. There is so much of that connection here. People are educated, and we see spirituality being expressed everywhere in the arts and crafts here.On the other hand, he says that highly educated people may be less willing to accept spirituality in their lives.This is a very cynical society, and people have a difficult time seeing God, he said. And people with more knowledge and intelligence sometimes struggle more.Erickson says that his combination of disciplines creates a curiosity factor that may bring some clientele to his office in the Sterling Savings building – people asking how does that work. But his business plan, like his counseling, is based principally on faith.I believe God will support this ministry, he said. He does not believe that his clients need to be religiously inclined, at least not initially.I have faith that God will make a difference even for people who say it’s ridiculous, he said.But he thinks that for the most part, his clientele will be those who are at least open to spirituality.People come to me with hope that God is there, he said. They want to see that. Our time on earth is so short, really. It’s nice to feel connected during that blink of life. “