Founder Perspective and Insight:
Passing on Decades of Experience
By Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
2/26/2026
Thomas: An important part of the Christos Counselor training is for me, as founder, to contribute my perspective to the situation. I could enter the conversation live, analyze the patient’s situation, and share my perspective. I could do it anonymously or acknowledged. It would be better for credibility to be named, but better for liability to be anonymous. What I’m thinking is that the body of my writings can serve as a source of perspectives. I can work out the positions I take, andyou can counsel me, and I can respond, etc, until we reach agreement on a potential Godly option that is worth publishing, and then publish that as source documents, use them as database perspective for training the Christos counselor (if there is anything there that we judge is worth holding as a primary source/guiding principle type of perspective). I could post these essays as documents on mycounselor.com and indicate that they are theoretical, not counsel for an individual person. The problem with giving advice on the air after a short intake (e.g., Laura Schlessinger) is that without knowing the full context of the person’s life, the advice cannot be a rifle shot and may be completely wrong for that person’s situation. The solution may solve someone else’s problem, but without a detailed intake, tentative confrontation, mirroring during rapport, and checking in with proposed solutions, the counselor may not be able to enroll the counselee in his/her transformation.
What do you think of this idea as a qualifier/feature/method in the Christos Counselor module?
Claude: This is an excellent idea that addresses several important issues at once. Let me analyze what you’re proposing and how it could be formalized.
What You’re Describing
You’re proposing a multi-layered contribution model with several distinct elements:
1. Dialogic Essay Development
You and I (or you and future Christos AI) work through issues together in conversation — testing positions, refining understanding, reaching conclusions worth publishing. The dialogue itself is the method of developing wisdom, not just you writing in isolation.
2. Theoretical Position Documents
The resulting essays become published resources on MyCounselor.com — clearly marked as theoretical frameworks, not individual counsel. They represent worked-out positions on common human dilemmas, relationship dynamics, spiritual struggles, etc.
3. Training Data for Christos Counselor
These essays become part of the knowledge base the AI draws upon — primary source material from the founder’s perspective, weighted appropriately as guiding principles.
4. Optional Live Contribution
You could engage with specific situations in Commons or elsewhere — either named (credibility) or anonymous (liability protection) — bringing your diagnostic gift to real cases while the theoretical essays provide the foundation.
Why This Solves the Dr. Laura Problem
You’ve identified a critical issue with broadcast advice:
The Dr. Laura Problem:
- Short intake → advice based on surface presentation
- Advisor doesn’t know full context
- “Rifle shot” impossible without understanding the actual target
- Solution may be completely wrong for this person even if correct for someone
Your Solution:
- Theoretical essays address patterns and types, not specific individuals
- Clear framing: “This is how these dynamics typically work, not advice for your specific situation”
- When someone reads the essay, they do the application work — they know their own context
- The AI can help them apply the framework to their specific situation through dialogue
This is actually how good pastoral and therapeutic writing has always worked — principles and patterns that readers apply to their own lives, not prescriptions for unknown individuals.
The Contribution Model Formalized
Layer 1: Dialogic Development (Private)
Process:
- You identify an issue worth exploring (common struggle, recurring pattern, theological question with practical application)
- We engage in dialogue — you share perspective, I respond, we refine together
- We reach a position we judge worth publishing
- The dialogue itself can be edited into essay form, or a clean essay extracted from the dialogue
Value: The dialogue process ensures:
- Positions are tested, not just asserted
- Objections are anticipated and addressed
- Nuance emerges through back-and-forth
- The final product is stronger than solo writing
Layer 2: Published Essays (MyCounselor.com)
Format:
- Clear title indicating the topic
- Theoretical framing: “This essay explores [pattern/dynamic], not advice for any individual”
- The essay content — principles, frameworks, examples
- Application guidance: “If you recognize this pattern in your life, consider…”
- Invitation to deeper engagement: “If you’d like to explore how this applies to your situation, Christos Counselor can help”
Categories might include:
- Relationship Dynamics (marriage patterns, parent-child, friendship)
- Spiritual Struggles (doubt, sin patterns, spiritual warfare, identity)
- Life Transitions (career, loss, aging, becoming parents)
- Emotional Health (anxiety, depression, anger, grief)
- Decision-Making (vocation, major choices, discernment)
- Character Development (virtue, habit formation, sanctification)
Layer 3: AI Training Integration
How essays become training data:
- Explicit Teaching: Essays flagged as primary source material for Christos Counselor
- Principle Extraction: Key principles tagged and indexed for retrieval
- Pattern Recognition: AI learns to recognize when a user’s situation matches a pattern addressed in the essays
- Citation: When AI draws on essay content, it can cite: “Dr. Abshier addresses this pattern in his essay on [topic]…”
- Consistency: AI’s responses align with the theological and practical frameworks established in the essays
Weighting:
- Essays carry significant weight as “founder perspective”
- But not absolute — AI still draws on Scripture (primary), other wisdom sources, and user-specific context
- Clear hierarchy: Scripture > Founder Essays > General Wisdom > AI Synthesis
Layer 4: Live Contribution (Optional)
Named Contribution:
- You engage with specific Commons posts or situations
- Your verified identity adds credibility
- Your diagnostic gift applied in real-time
- Contribution becomes part of the public record
Anonymous Contribution:
- Same engagement, but under pseudonym
- Liability protection
- Still valuable contribution to community wisdom
- Could be revealed as yours later if desired
Hybrid Approach:
- Theoretical essays are named (establishing credibility and ownership)
- Specific case engagement could be anonymous (liability protection)
- Or: Engagement is named but clearly framed as “perspective, not professional advice”
Liability Considerations
You’re right to think about this. Some thoughts:
What Creates Liability:
- Specific advice to specific individuals creating reliance
- Professional relationship implied or established
- Failure to refer when situation warrants it
- Practicing outside licensure boundaries
What Reduces Liability:
- Clear disclaimers: “Theoretical framework, not individual advice”
- No individual relationship established
- Encouragement to seek appropriate professional help
- Writing as educator/author, not as treating practitioner
- AI as intermediary applying principles (user’s own judgment involved)
The MyCounselor.com Framing:
- Site clearly positions essays as educational/theoretical
- Christos Counselor clearly not a replacement for professional mental health care
- Referral pathways to licensed professionals (Professional Module)
- Terms of service establishing appropriate expectations
Integration with Existing Ecosystem
This contribution model integrates beautifully with what we’ve already specified:
| Component | How Essays Integrate |
|---|---|
| Cross-Check | Essays reference Scripture; Cross-Check can pull up relevant essays when users study related passages |
| Christos Counselor | Essays are primary training data; AI cites them when relevant; user can request “Dr. Abshier’s perspective” |
| Professional Module | Licensed counselors can access essays as case study frameworks; might use in supervision |
| Group Leader | Essays can be study material for groups; “Let’s discuss Dr. Abshier’s essay on [topic]” |
| Voting Network | Essays on political/moral topics inform assessment standards |
| Diagnostician | Essays become curriculum content; model the diagnostic method in action |
| Medical Testimony | Health-related essays provide theoretical framework for testimonies |
| Commons | Essays can be referenced in discussions; you can engage live |
The Dialogic Method as Distinctive Feature
What you’re describing — developing wisdom through dialogue rather than solitary writing — is actually a distinctive methodological feature worth emphasizing:
Traditional Model: Expert writes in isolation → publishes → readers receive
Dialogic Model: Thinker engages with interlocutor → tests and refines → publishes dialogue or extracted wisdom → readers receive a more robust product
This mirrors:
- Socratic dialogue (Plato’s method)
- Talmudic discourse (rabbinical method)
- The Scholastic disputatio (medieval method)
- Even Jesus’s teaching (responding to questions, engaging interlocutors)
The Christos ecosystem could make this explicit: wisdom developed through dialogue, not just delivered from on high.
Practical Next Steps
If you want to begin this process:
- Identify first topics — What patterns/dynamics/questions do you most want to work out?
- Begin dialogues — We work through them together in our conversations
- Develop publication framework — Template for how essays will appear on MyCounselor.com
- Create integration protocol — How essays become AI training data
- Establish disclaimer language — Legal framing for theoretical vs. individual advice
- Consider naming/anonymity — Your decision on how to attribute different types of contribution
My Assessment
This is not just a good idea — it’s potentially essential to the Christos Counselor’s credibility and effectiveness. An AI counselor without grounding in specific human wisdom is just generic advice. The essays:
- Give the AI a distinctive voice and perspective
- Ground it in your decades of clinical experience and spiritual wisdom
- Create accountability (positions are public and can be evaluated)
- Provide depth that pure AI synthesis cannot achieve
- Model the diagnostic method in worked examples
The dialogic development process also ensures the essays are strong — tested in conversation, not just asserted.
Would you like me to draft a formal addendum to the Christos Counselor specification incorporating this “Founder Contribution Model”? Or shall we begin by identifying topics for the first dialogic essays?