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Services FAQs
Catholic pastoral counseling is a ministry of the Church committed to helping the faithful employ both spiritual and research-based insights to resolve personal, emotional, spiritual, and relationship problems in a manner that helps them more effectively celebrate the Catholic vision of life and relationships. At CatholicCounselors.com, our pastoral counselors have had years of experience as licensed mental health professionals, but have gone on to receive additional training in Catholic theology and spirituality and have dedicated themselves to using their skills to help Catholics live more faithful and abundant lives. Our pastoral counselors are certified through the Pastoral Solutions Institute, a pastoral counselor training program officially recognized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and responsible to the Bishop of Steubenville for the fidelity of their work.
Catholic pastoral counseling is concerned with helping people overcome personal, emotional, and relationship problems in a manner that is consistent with the Catholic vision of the person, love, and sexuality. We have an official connection to the Catholic Church and are directly responsible to our bishop for the fidelity of our work. Although pastoral counselors can help clients deal with a wide variety of problems, unlike clinical counselors, we cannot assist people who are dealing with serious mental disorders that present a threat to their life and health, the life and health of their loved ones, or that prevent them from engaging in normal activities of daily living (e.g., basic hygiene, attending work or school, etc.). If at any point in our work together we determine that a client requires clinical counseling services, we will our extensive professional mental health backgrounds to help our client find appropriate local, clinical help, at which point, depending upon the client’s preferences, we may continue as part of the treatment team to provide spiritual care or faith-based patient advocacy/case management services while they work with their clinical counselor, psychiatrist or other mental health/addiction recovery service provider.
Absolutely. A large body of research shows that professional tele-help services of all kinds are just as effective as face-to-face, and in some cases, even more so. Pastoral tele-counseling offers the added benefit of helping clients discover how the timeless wisdom of our Catholic faith combined with research-based insights can help them respond effectively to problems in a manner that also helps them lead more faithful, abundant lives. Research shows that people make faster and longer lasting change when they are being helped in a manner that is consistent with their faith and beliefs.
We are able to meet with our clients via telephone and video. Despite the more recent popularity of video calls, we actually recommend telephone sessions over video because of both its convenience for our clients and the additional benefits offered by the “disinhibition effect” (see next question for an explanation of this term), but we are happy to meet with you however you are most comfortable.
Despite the loss of facial cues, a large degree of meaning in communication is shared through tones-of-voice, specific word choice, pauses and vocalizations ("um," "ah," etc.), and other non-verbal cues that our pastoral tele-counselors have been trained to recognize and effectively interpret. Just like many people prefer to receive Confession “behind the screen” because it is easier to be open and honest with the pastor, (this is called the “disinhibition effect”) people often feel able to be more honest and open with their pastoral counselor when they can’t be seen (of course, we do not offer absolution with our services). Under certain circumstances, where a person is being asked to be more vulnerable than they are used to being, facial expressions and body language can be more of a hindrance than a help.
We can work with individuals, couples, and families. Sometimes parents will contact us looking for help for their children and we are happy to assist them. But because we don’t wish to come between parents and their children our preference is to work with families together. This way, upon the competition of work together, children are able to turn to their moms and dads directly for help and parents have the tools to feel confident in assisting their children with the challenges they are facing. Working with parents and children together has been shown to be the best way to help children make and sustain the progress they achieve by working with us. That said, in some situations, after an initial consultation with the parents, a pastoral counselor will sometimes recommend individual sessions for motivated, older teens (16+).
Yes. Persons who experience hallucinations or psychosis or whose primary complaint is a serious addiction to drugs or alcohol, or who have persistent and serious thoughts about harming themselves or others, or who are suffering from other problems that prevent them from engaging in normal activities of daily living should seek local mental health assistance. Likewise, because our goal is to help our clients live more faithful Catholic lives, anyone hostile to Catholicism or disinterested in learning how the Catholic view of the person could help them live a more abundant life or have healthier, holier relationships (according to the Catholic vision of marriage, family life, and sexuality) would not be appropriate for our services. In all other instances, your pastoral counselor can help you determine whether your problems can be managed safely and effectively. In most cases, they can, but we will provide you with an honest assessment in our initial, free, informational interview. We are committed to helping you receive the help you need regardless of who provides it. If you require help beyond what we are able to provide as pastoral counselors we will make recommendations for appropriate local clinical mental health assistance. Please direct any specific questions to your pastoral counselor in your initial, free, informational interview.