Fall 2010/Houston

CN520 Pastoral Counseling

Smith

CN520: PASTORAL COUNSELING. Steven F. Smith.

Description. This course introduces students to theories and practices of pastoral counseling as an activity within the field of pastoral care and the ministry of the church. These matters will be explored through readings, focused reflections and written assignments, class exercises and discussions.

Significance for ministry. This course will provide basic skills and insights, which will enhance the counseling ministry of those in pastoral ministry. It will also help students understand their abilities and limitations as counselors, and when and how to refer people to professional therapists.

Learning Outcomes. Students successfully completing the course will have demonstrated that they:

1. acquired general knowledge in pastoral care, including listening skills, appropriate pastoral responses, the importance of “being vs. doing,” power issues, and boundary concerns;

2. are more motivated to engage in ministries of giving care, prevention education, and the healing of persons;

3. learned important dynamics of brief pastoral counseling in congregational settings, along with the importance of networking, community resources and the appropriate use of referral;

4. better understand and am able to interpret individual experience, family relationship patterns, culture, and congregational life;

5. are more committed to self-development and self-care.

Course format. The class will meet Thursday evenings for three and one-half hours for ten weeks, 6:00-9:30 PM. Instructional methods include lectures, discussions, audio-visual presentations, experiential exercises, simulations, triads utilizing counseling skill training exercises. Practice in simulated counseling circumstances will integrate theory, theology and practice. This course contains a didactic component for the introduction of students to major issues and basic skills in pastoral care. It also has an intentional reflective dimension in which students are invited to begin the work of bringing practical and theoretical components into meaningful pastoral expression.

Required Reading. 1200 pp. maximum.

Howard Clinebell. Basic Types of Pastoral Counseling (Abingdon Press, 1984 ed.). 068702492. $22.94. (300 pp.)

Michael P. Nichols. The Lost Art of Listening: How Learning to Listen Can Improve Relationships (Guilford Press ,1995). 1593859864 . $11.53. (250 pp.)

Wayne Oats. Behind the Masks (WestminsterJohn Knox, 1987) 0664240283. $17.05. (135 pp.)

Edwin Friedman. Generation to Generation (Guilford Press, 1985). 0898620597. $42.34. (300 pp.)

Riet Bons-Storm. The Incredible Woman: Listening to Women’s Silences in Pastoral Counseling (Abingdon Press, 1996). 068700652X . $19.00. (150 pp.)

Recommended Reading:

Augsburger, David, Pastoral Counseling across Cultures (Westminster/John Knox, 1995). 0664256163. $26.95.

_________. Helping People Forgive (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996). 0664256864. $26.69.

Ciarrocchi, Joseph W., A Minister's Handbook of Mental Disorders (Paulist Press, 1993). 0809134039. $14.49.

Cooper-White, P., Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling (Augsburg, 2003). 0800634543. $18.90.

Egan, Gerard, The Skilled Helper [5th ed.] Exercises in Helping Skills. [5th ed.] (Brooks-Cole, 1994). 0495601896. $72.76.

Gerkin, Charles, The Living Human Document (Abingdon, 1984). 0687223725. $22.99.

Graham, Larry Kent, Care of Persons, Care of Worlds (Abingdon, 1992). 0687046750. $26.00.

Hunsinger, Deborah van Duesen, Theology and Pastoral Counseling (Eerdmans, 1995). 0802808425. $25.00.

Hunter, Rodney, Dictionary of Pastoral Care & Counseling (2^nd ed. Abingdon, 1990). 0687497515. $162.49.

Kornfield, Margaret, Cultivating Wholeness: A Guide to Care and Counseling in Faith Communities Continuum, 1998). 0826412327. $26.95.

McBride, J. LeBron, Spiritual Crisis: Surviving Trauma to the Soul (Haworth, 1998). 0789001357. $43.96.

Oglesby, William, Biblical Themes for Pastoral Care (Abingdon, 1980). 0687034477. $7.98.

Patton, John, Pastoral Counseling: A Ministry of the Church (Abingdon, 1983). 1592440304. $25.00.

_________. Pastoral Counseling in Context (Westminster/John Knox, 1993). 0664220347. $39.95.

Ramsay, Nancy, Pastoral Care and Counseling: Redefining The Paradigms (Abingdon, 2005). 068702224X. $26.50.

Wicks, R., R. Parsons, & D. Capps, eds. Clinical Handbook of Pastoral Counseling (Integration, 1985). 0809133512. $29.16.

Assignments and assessments. Attend class, including lectures, small group exercises and field trips (30%). Attend one session of a 12-step group (AA, NA, etc), and write a 3-page report with theological and psychological analysis (10%). Do a case study (8-10 pp.) from a minimum of five counseling sessions done during the class. (30%). Write a paper (8-10 pp.) on a focused topic of interest, choosing the topic in conversation with the instructor (30%). All written assignments should show interaction with required reading, where applicable.

Prerequisites. None.

Relationship to curriculum. Meets MDiv core requirement in Pastoral Counseling (MIN 5).

This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification.