The Arno Profile System (formerly known as the Temperament Analysis Profile) is used by NCCA-trained pastors, counselors and life coaches to develop insights into each person’s unique, God-given strengths, their weaknesses and helps individuals understand who God truly created them to be. At times you may see the terms “APS” and “Temperament”. Generally, these terms are used interchangeably.
The Christian counselor administered a questionnaire consisting of 60 questions, which takes approximately 10-12 minutes for the individual to complete. This assessment is used to generate an Arno Profile System (APS) report, which consists of a seven to eight page analysis and overview of the client. Five report types are offered:
- Clinical: Used specifically and only by the counselor, this report provides detailed insights into the individual’s strengths and weaknesses, and also provides suggestions on how to effectively provide counseling to the person. It is not intended to be given to the individual or client
- Personal: With details about God-given strengths, weaknesses and details about how to meet specific, individual needs, this report is created to provide a strong overview of the person’s Temperament and how they can put the information learned into practice in their daily lives.
- Personnel: Used by hiring managers, church leaders and others in position of management and leadership, this report provides details about how the individual works with others, and how their skills and abilities can be used within the scope of employment or ministry. Additionally, it provides details about potential pitfalls and weaknesses the individual may bring to the position.
- Special Personal Profile (SPP): Provided as an additional resource to the client, this report provides a brief overview of the individual’s Temperament. This report may be ordered as an “add-on” to a Clinical, Personal, or Personnel report.
The APS report provides the Christian counselor with in-depth information and the best way to provide counsel to the individual. The system enables a qualified and competent counselor to identify the client’s root problem faster and more accurately. The Temperament identification offered in the APS report identifies three separate human interactions:
- Inclusion: social orientation and intellectual energies
- Control: decision making abilities or inabilities
- Affection: interaction in deep personal relationships
The APS teaches and identifies these interactions in two ways: Expressed (what we say we want) and Wanted (what we really want).
When Drs. Richard and Phyllis Arno established the NCCA and began their research into Temperament, the identified and perfected information on the following five Temperament types:
- Choleric
- Melancholy
- Sanguine
- Phlegmatic
- Supine
The APS identifies a person’s Temperament in each of the areas of Inclusion, Control and Affection. It’s rare, in fact, that someone is the same Temperament in each of those areas. For example, a person may be Sanguine in Inclusion, Melancholy in Control, and Supine in Affection.
Temperament is not the same as personality. Our personality is a “mask” that we put on for others to see, while Temperament is at the core of who we are, who God truly created to be. Personality can change overtime, whereas our Temperament never changes. As such, the APS does not measure a person’s behavior, like a personality test does. Psalm 139 speaks of our “inmost being”. Who God created us to be (our Temperament) and who we become (our personality) through learned behavior can be vastly different. From that can come a great inter- or intra-personal conflict. By learning the Temperament model and utilizing the APS, the Christian counselor can help individuals learn who God created them to be, and who they are in Christ. This model teaches each of us to operate out of our Temperament strengths God has given us and to walk in the Spirit as we learn who we are in Christ. This, in turn, helps us overcome our Temperament weaknesses.
A well trained Christian counselor, using the APS report and the Word of God, is equipped to help a client get at the root of their struggles. The individual will gain an understanding and appreciation of the strengths God has given them; they will gain a deeper understanding of God’s love for them and who they are in Christ, in order to overcome their Temperament weaknesses (sin); and they will have a greater understanding of their needs, specific to their unique temperament, and how to meet those needs in godly ways.
The APS, which was developed and continues to be taught by Drs. Richard and Phyllis Arno, is inexpensive and will save the counselor and client several counseling sessions because it targets the hidden problems immediately. Administering the APS is the first step in the counseling model that is taught at CrossPointe Bible College.
As a student of CBC and a candidate for licensure as a pastoral counselor, the student will learn the APS for use with individuals. This model, referred to as Creation Therapy, has a success rate of more than 95%. Thousands of lay counselors, professional counselors, pastors and pastoral counselors throughout the United States and in many foreign countries utilize the APS in their practices, businesses and ministries.
Students and graduates of the CBC counseling degree program are authorized to administer and generate APS reports through CrossPointe College. The cost of each APS report is $35.00 for the Clinical, Personal and Personnel reports. The Special Personal Profile (SPP) may be purchased for an additional $10.00 fee when purchased with a Clinical, Personal or Personnel report.