Pastor Dr. Joseph Riccioli is not only a Licensed Professional “Christian” Counselor, but also a former medical doctor, who abandoned the general medical field after becoming more interested in counseling and natural health. He is a Board Certified Diplomate, Expert in Traumatic Stress (BCETS) with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and National Center for Crisis Management, and a graduate of the Harvard Medical School Clinical Training Program in Mind-Body Medicine. He has 20 years of counseling experience, successfully helping people that either acknowledge having an ongoing problem with one or more of the following conditions, or have been diagnosed by a doctor and have declined to take medications. People that come for counseling are those that seek help for:

Depression, Anxiety, Fears, Phobias, Addictions, Eating Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Abuse, and others.

As a bi-vactional Christian (Baptist),Pastor, Dr. Joseph also does Pre-Marital counseling and Marriage counseling.

He stayed in Bologna, and completed a 3 yr. internship training program in Emergency Room Medicine at Sant' Orsola University Hospital. During this time, Dr. Joseph became disillusioned with the limitations of general medicine, and started investigating other alternative, natural remedies. A short time later, he abandoned general medicine because and became more interested in counseling and mind-body health (mental health, health psychology, natural medicine & wellness), and at the same time, started studying in greater depth, the areas of nutrition, (food, vitamins, minerals) and herbs.

I started dedicating most of my time to study and research these areas, and was not surprised to read that there exists some type of connection between illness (disease), and the psychological part of our being; Example: consequences, resulting from unresolved conflicts or issues, manifest themselves through various emotional states.
Many research studies have clearly confirmed, that these unresolved conditions, if allowed to continue over time, may act as a form of "chronic stress", (depending on the individual, pre-existing conditions and other factors).

This may set the stage for a "chain-reaction" of serious consequences (such as weakening the body's defense mechanisms and other systems), starting silently internally, and finally manifesting itself externally (Example: physical symptoms... anywhere from a cold to cancer), therefore, leading to further health issues and an unbalanced healthy state. (See the PNI topic to the left).

As a result, this has opened my interest in the area of Mind-Body Medicine and Health Psychology. I have become sensitive to those affected, with a greater understanding, and this has giving me a desire to help those in need, through counseling.

After having spent much time studying and researching the area of mental health and health psychology, Dr. Joseph sees how the effects of prolonged stress and unresolved issues, are major contributing factors, or may even be the most likely root causes of a gradual deterioration of one's general health, from depression, to a cold, and if allowed to continue... even cancer. (see PNI section to the left) This is why he is dedicated to helping people, primarily as a counselor, in the area of mind-body health. (see General Counseling on the left)

Joseph witnessed a direct relationship between emotional health and illness, after having counseled many people for the past 18 years. This area of study called Mind-Body Medicine, has led him on a journey to explore and further his studies in this area. One of the training programs he completed, is a clinical training program in Mind-Body Medicine (Behavioral Medicine) at Harvard Medical School. As a result of this training, he decided to study in greater depth, and dedicate more time to researching this relatively new specific branch of science called "Psychoneuroimmunology" (PNI - click on the PNI link on the left to find out more) which deals with the inter-connections/inter-relationships between emotions and our health, and how our immune system, hormones and other neurochemicals are affected. This is why counseling is a very important part of the practice, since it has a great influence on our health and the healing process, apart from the food we eat, physical exercise and our life-style habits.

Joseph returned to the U.S. in 1995, and said, " besides being disillusioned with the limitations of allopathic medicine, while researching and investigating the medical/health-care field on the internet, and in person, I discovered evidence of corruption and dishonesty within the health-care system (AMA, FDA, insurance companies) and Pharmaceutical industry." (I highly recommend visiting this web site: http://www.naturalnews.com
I also suggest you read these 2 books: (1)Racketeering in Medicine: The Suppression of Alternatives ,James P. Carter, M.D., Dr. P.H.; (2) Natural Cures, Kevin Trudeau.) I have come to the conclusion, and this is my personal opinion, that because the health-care system thrives on sick people, healthy people would mean less medical attention which results in: less doctor visits, less pharmaceutical products sold, and others. Prevention is not a realistic goal of our health-care system. Health education is provided, but not enough. This and for other reasons, led me to no longer apply for a medical license in the US., and my love, devotion, and desire to counsel and help people, along with my convictions about natural medicine(nutrition, herbalism, vitamin/mineral supplements)led me to work in the areas of counseling and natural health.

Joseph states " I primarily work as a Christian "Biblical" counselor, however, for those that seek other natural health remedies, I spend time to educate them on how to help the body naturally, restore its natural balance and wellness. I will at times recommend vitamin / mineral supplements and herbs. The pharmaceutical company provide, through bottle labeling or drug information sheets, information about the nature of most medicines (toxic chemicals). Many times, they may cause more health problems then benefits, often resulting in dangerous side effects which may lead to more problems. This is why I highly recommend whole-body detoxification, to help eliminate toxic substances and heavy metals from the body which have been accumalting, predisposing the body to futher dangerous health issues. Therefore, * I do not work as a medical doctor in the U.S., but as a Professional "Christian" Counselor, Wellness Counselor (nutritionist, medical herbalist) and Alternative Medical Practitioner ."

Although Joseph still holds a license to practice general medicine in Italy, his intent here, is to only help people in their quest for emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, and considers himself more as a counselor, natural health consultant, health researcher, investigator and educator.

He knows the policies and politics of the American Health Care System (AMA, Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration and Insurance companies) do not, in most cases, consider first using non-toxic, less expensive, life saving alternative approaches. Unfortunately, as a result, those who wish to improve, or regain and maintain a balanced state of optimal health do not have the necessary information or education to equip them to do so, or even allow them to make a well informed decision. Most of all, the dangerous side effects and detrimental consequences which may result from various prolonged drug use (pharmaceuticals are man-made, toxic chemicals), along with their high cost, persuaded him to research other alternative, natural approaches and modalities, which can bring the body back into a balanced, healthy state. These are also less toxic, less expensive, and effective.

Joseph states, "drugs have their place and can be life saving in an medical emergency or in emergency medical conditions. After much research and investigating, and after having experienced personally some of these healing systems with successful results, I desired to inform and educate others who were dependent on drugs, about alternative approaches, and they also have benefited form these as well. I know healthy people don't need drugs, so education which leads to prevention is the answer!" He believes, after much research, that the body normally tends toward self-healing, because it is equipped to do so, and a balanced healthy state can again be re-established. Education is definitely fundamental in maintaining a healthy, functioning body.

He also states, " people must be made aware of effective, natural, alternatives, instead of depending only on addicting drugs, especially, after having studied in depth, researched, investigated, and examined the effectiveness of various alternative approaches based on the results of scientific and clinical studies." Once educated and informed, people can then decide and choose if they would like to first try a natural, alternative approach instead of drugs, and use one (or more in combination) of the many non-toxic, much less costly alternative solutions, rather then introduce more toxic chemicals(non-prescription and prescription drugs) into our self-healing bodies, which many times can lead to further damage other parts of our bodies. Knowing and understanding about alternative approaches, combined with learning through education, allows people to take responsibility for their own health, instead of being dependent on drugs." Again, this is a main goal of the wellness counseling.

Joseph had previously worked in the area of Clinical Hypnotherapy, and was featured in 2 issues of Americas #1 leading alternative health magazine, "Alternative Medicine", now called "Natural Solutions Magazine"(Issue 25, September 1998; Issue 28, March 1999), concerning emotions, the mind and healing. His work is mentioned in America's best selling book on Alternative Medicine," Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide". Though he was very successful, sometime after he was saved (became a Christian), he realized that the changes which took place, were a result of directly confronting the problem of sin (Example: being unforgiving, holding on to anger, bitterness, etc..). The main reason for his success, is attributed to the application of Biblical principles dealing with forgiveness, anger, bitterness and others, which he had learned before even becoming a Christian, and their acceptance by the client.

In 1996, Joseph became a Christian, and was called to the ministry in 1999. He was ordained into the ministry, and started New Life Ministries, a Christian Evangelistic Outreach, Counseling and training ministry.

He presently serves as a bi-vocational Assistant Pastor and Open Air Evangelist with Christ International Baptist Church, which meets at First Reformed Church in Little Falls, N.J. He serves also as a Chaplain (United States Corps of Chaplains) and conducts training seminars in " Biblical Evangelism and Open Air Evangelism." Presently, he is working on a ministry project called, “Youth Hope”, which has a goal to reach out, help and mentor our youth population who have no one to turn to or no where to go for help.

Pastor Joseph's ministry, New Life Ministries, is located at: GodsLove4U.com