Introduction
Pastoral care as a source of counselling advice is one of the key areas of development for pastoral training.
For many people who approach religious leaders for counselling support, this may be their first approach for assistance and it may be the only opportunity that any service provider has to intervene in order to provide them with assistance. This places a great responsibility on the pastor, who needs to be able to tackle the approach appropriately and constructively, and also to determine whether further outside assistance is required and whether any outside approaches or referrals should be considered. Particularly in the most difficult cases, it will be important for the individual’s confidence and confidentiality to be respected in order to ensure that they continue to access support.
For many individuals, approaching a public sector provider, teacher or other authoritarian figure may be too big a step, but it may be easier to approach someone in a pastoral setting because the context can be less formal and may be perceived to be less threatening.
However, this does mean that those engaging with pastoral care require some of the tools of counselling in order to ensure that they are in a position to properly support their communities, and these questions are the ones that we will attempt to address below.
Counselling skills
The first thing to consider is perhaps when use of counselling skills are appropriate in the context of Pastoral Care in the 21st Century. According to Gordon Lynch , we can deduce the appropriate use of assistance through recourse to our system of values. Values are the “compass” in this context. The set the initial direction and should then be honed and shaped throu...
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...nal abuse may be taking place, and alert to the possibilities of seeking support and advice for themselves on how best to help the individuals.
Works Cited
Ciarrochim, J., Forgas, J.P. and Mayer, J.D. (2001) Emotional Intelligence in Everyday Life. East Sussex: Psychology Press.
Coleman, D. (2006) Emotional Intelligence (10th edn), New York: Bantam Books.
Egan, G. (2002) The Skilled Helper – a problem management and opportunity-development approach to helping (7th edn), California: Brooks/Cole.
Jacobs, M. (2000) Swift to Hear. California: SPCK.
Lynch, G. (2002) Pastoral Care and Counselling Skills. London: Sage.
Mearns, D. and Thorn, B. (2007) Person Centred Counselling in Action (3rd edn), London: Sage.
Wallbank, S. (1997) ‘Counselling in voluntary organizations’, Ch 8 in Palmer and McMahon (eds) Handbook of Counselling. London: Routledge.
The start of this article focuses on a Christian client named George who is plagued with feelings of worthlessness, depression, low self-esteem, and suicide. His mother had also battled depression, and his father had an abusive relationship with alcohol, which caused his father to have verbally and physically abusive altercations with George and his mother. The abusive experiences that George was exposed to as a child paved the way for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as an adult (Garzon, 2005). With all of these factors present in this client’s life, a treatment plan was created that involved scripture interventions. The author made sure to touch on the fact that every client is unique in the hopes that counselors would be aware that one type of scripture intervention might work for one client and not work for another. The article highlights three guiding values when considering these types of interventions; “respect for the client’s autonomy/freedom, sensitivity to and empathy for the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs, and flexibility and responsiveness to the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs.”(Garzon, 2005). ...
Clinton, T. & Ohlschlager, G. (2002). Competent Christian counseling: Foundations and practice of compassionate soul care. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook Press.
McMinn (2011) establishes the topical history of integrating psychology and theology, and promptly transitions to the necessity of inclusion for spirituality into counseling sessions; he cogitates three queries: Will this aid in establishing a healthy sense of self? Will this aid in establishing a healthy sense of need? Will this aid in establishing a healing relationship? (McMinn, 2011, pg. 32). These three components cater to psychological and spiritual health. Christian counseling helps the client move away from need, a faulty sense of self, and relationships to “an assured sense of self, a cognizance of human need and limits, and revealing interpersonal relationships with others and most importantly, God” (p. 59). McMinn (2011) provides intervention tools needed for effective therapy. However, amid the six challenges, counselors can see the risks in implementing the suggested tools with: defining relevant ethical standards, establishing a scientific base, confronting dominant views of health, expanded definitions of training, blurred pers...
There are very many key ideas that were discussed during this interview. The main ideas that were of most interest to me included counseling individuals from various religious and spiritual backgrounds, maintaining one’s safety and the importance of counselors practicing
7. Woolfe R. & Dryden W. ( 1996) (ed.) Handbook of Counselling Psychology, Sage Publications: UK
Nelson-Jones, R. (2008) Basic Counselling Skills – A Helper’s Manual, 2nd edition, London: Sage Publications.
Because of the nature of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault we will be working with young adults from 18 to 45 years of age. DV does not have a gender basis, men and women are both abused within relationships. However, with this set of group sessions, it will be focused on women that are or have been in a domestic violence situation. Because SA and DV are so closely related when it comes to a domestic violence situations the group sessions will also take sexual assaulted victims...
Confidentiality. Confidentiality is just as important in Christian counseling as it is in secular counseling. According to the American Association of Christian Counselors (2014), “confidentiality recognizes that every client has a fundamental, moral and legal right to privacy and to have a wide range of personal thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and behaviors that are protected from public knowledge” (p. 22). It is crucial for counselors to maintain client confidentiality unless what a client discloses brings harm to themselves or other people. Confidentiality should be kept at all
In essence, McMinn’s intradisciplinary integrated approach to Christian counseling is more than a “toolbox of set strategies for change” instead it is a “deep, abiding, formative work of God’s Spirit,” within the counselors lives (p 31-32). McMinn (2007) explains his theoretical map is cognitive therapy along with developing a strong therapeutic relationship and trust with our clients is not only essential to the effectiveness of counseling, but also is vital to applying his approach of the integration of psychology, theology, and spirituality into counseling. By McMinn using his theoretical cognitive therapy map he can build upon it to integrate the concerns of the spiritual growth wellbeing of our clients as well as their wellbeing of mental
Nelson, P. (2007) an Easy Introduction to Egan’s skilled Helper Solution Focussed Counselling Approach. Available at: http://mystrongfamily.co.uk/downloads/PDFs/SFP-EasyIntroToEgan.pdf [Accessed 13th February 2014]
the theories, and the techniques dealing with Christian and secular counseling will require different tactics and approaches for it to be effective
There are multiple structures of that can be applied to the counselling process, ranging from the basic idea of a beginning, middle and end to a more structured approach as that proposed by Egan (1994). Although his initial structure offered three main components; Stage 1, exploring the situation, stage 2, identifying a new or desired scenario to strive for and stage 3, the action stage, in which methods of coping are devised of and implemented. Egan later devised a ten stage structure that still takes into account initial stages from the speakers perspective of identifying a problem and seeking help, within this structure stage 4 is the initial meeting of the counsellor and client and can be considered the beginning stage of the helping re...
This essay will attempt to highlight and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the three main theories of counselling within the module covered this term. The three approaches in discussion are psychodynamics, cognitive behavioural and humanistic.
The shepherd and sheep relationship is the best illustration for the relationship between pastor and parishioners. When Jesus asked Simon Peter does he love him three times and said to him “Feed my sheep”, the shepherd and flock relationship has been set. Since Jesus is our good shepherd (Jn. 10:11a), he laid out a good example for us to follow - to lay down his life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:11b) Thus, the wellness of both in and out of the parishioners should always be the concern in the pastors’ hearts. Soul care for the people is essential. Christian friendship is the foundation of Christian soul care. Pastoral ministry including preaching, teaching, and worship forms the broad context of pastoral counseling. Pastoral care is within pastoral ministry but broader than pastoral counseling. God’s love is the source and motivation. Within the pastoral care, there are spiritual direction and pastoral
Helping consists of four parts, those being; (1) an individual seeking help, (2) an individual that is willing to help those seeking help, (3) the helping individual is competent and skilled enough to train, and (4) an environment that is conducive for help to be given and received.