Ingo Tophoven, CHRISTIAN COUNSELor

Ingo Tophoven, PhD, LPC-S, LCMHC

Ingo Tophoven (Dr. T to his students) is an experienced licensed professional counselor, supervisor, and former professor of clinical counseling with over 35 years of Christian counseling work helping individuals, couples, and faith leaders navigate the complexities of mental health and well-being.

With 15 years of experience as a missionary using his professional and pastoral skills, and 3 years as interim pastor, Ingo understands the unique challenges that arise at the intersection of faith, ministry, and mental health - from pastoral burnout to congregational grief, and the stigma that surrounds seeking help.

Integrating evidence-based counseling approaches always include a trauma-informed lens and welcomes open conversations around faith disappointments and church hurt. Faith is not just a belief system—it is woven into identity, relationships, calling, and hope. Because of that, faith can be a place of deep healing, but it can also be a place of deep hurt. Ingo understands these dimensions and respects each client’s experiences and seeks healing wherever needed.

Counsels: Ages 18+, premarital, couples/marriage, male and female individual clients, parenting, and family.

Works with: Blended families, adoption, faith crisis, loss of meaning, marital crisis intervention, complex trauma processing, family & relationship estrangement, foster parenting, domestic violence - abuser, victim (current and past), trauma, PTSD, substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) - family member, sex abuse - survivor, childhood sexual abuse - adult survivor, gender identity, pornography use, sexual addiction/avoidance, ADD/ADHD, post-abortion, post-divorce counseling, mood disorders, military issues, terminal illness, Gestalt Therapy, OCD, ODD, narcissistic personality - partner of, toxic work environment issues, multi-cultural identities, lifestyle & wellness counseling, intercultural sensitivity training, prepare/enrich, DISC, Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis, SYMBIS, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (Adults).

Specializes in: depression/anxiety, infidelity, grief/loss, anger, divorce, end of life issues, CBT, life coaching, trauma-informed cognitive-behavioral counseling, emotion-focused work, narratology, depression and loss of meaning, exploring deconstruction journeys, health and mental health recovery journeys.

Ingo also offers professional consultations to churches on pastoral counseling situations and implementation of customized mental health care systems.

Ingo works with residents of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina via telehealth.