Christian Counseling- by unlicensed persons
Can people with mental illness
find help from counselors without professional training at a church or a
Christian ministry?
Certainly, there is a need for help. Rick
and Kay Warren recently wrote about
the need for churches to do more for people with mental illness. They quote the
National Alliance on Mental Illness statistic that 60 million Americans
experience a mental health condition each year. But what can churches and
Christian ministries do?
I’ve been reading a book titled Evidenced-Based Practices for Christian
Counseling and Psychotherapy. It’s an edited volume with chapters by many
leaders in Christian counseling and psychotherapy. One chapter (3) by Siang-Yang Tan of Fuller
Theological Seminary takes a look at “Lay Christian counseling for General
Psychological Problems.”
What is lay counseling?
The definition is a problem
because we need to define both counseling and the attributes of the person
providing the counseling. Here’s Tan’s definition of lay counselors from page
40: “those who lack the formal training, experience, or credentials to be
professional psychotherapists, but who are nevertheless involved in helping
people cope with personal problems…”
What evidence supports the value of lay counseling?
Some years ago, Tan found some
positive results from research on the benefits of lay counseling. As he admits,
most studies did not include an important ingredient in research-- a valid
control or comparison group. Some studies offered evidence that lay
counselors improved in target skills. But the key question is: How well do
clients fare after being seen by a lay Christian counselor? There is one controlled
outcome study. Those in the treatment group improved significantly on four
outcomes: Target complaints, symptoms, spiritual well-being, and a global
rating of psychological adjustment. And importantly, the clients maintained
these gains at a one-month follow-up (Toh & Tan, 1997 in Tan, 2013).
What should organizations do?
At this time, the evidence is
scanty but Dr. Tan appears hopeful that future research will support the value
of lay counseling. In fact, near the end of the chapter he offers 10 guidelines
for setting up a Christian counseling center. Guideline number three advises organizers
to “Carefully select, train and supervise the lay counselors.” So it seems, at least in Tan's approach, lay
counselors are not just ordinary church workers but people who have some
personal attributes, relevant knowledge, counseling skills, and some level of
supervision.
Reflections
What is Christian counseling?
A few approaches are common among
those who purport to provide Christian counseling. One general approach is to
rely heavily on the Bible and can be called biblical counseling. Professional
counselors have difficulty with this restrictive sense of Christian counseling because the Bible does not cover all
aspects of human functioning. Another problem is what constitutes Christian in the phrase Christian Counseling?
With over 2-billion Christians in the world, the variety of Christian beliefs
is considerable. In reality, most of the articles I have read about Christian counseling focus on what may
be called American Protestant Evangelical Christianity. It’s probably time for
American Christians to broaden their perspective. Maybe some have. So, please
add some comments and links if you know of broader perspectives. Here’s one
link to a Catholic perspective.
Reasonable Expectations.
Drawing on my own experience, I found a lot of Christians expected prayer and scripture to be a part of the counseling process. Christians also expect counselors to share their moral and social values. I think it reasonable for Christian lay counselors to learn to listen, show support, and lead prepared programs on topics such as relationship skills, forgiveness, and marriage enrichment activities. But I think it is up to the counselor and organization to be clear about expectations.
Truth in advertising.
If a church or ministry offers Christian
counseling services, how can the public know if the counseling services are
provided by someone with a few hours of workshop training and experience vs. a Professional
Counselor with some 60-university hours of education plus thousands of hours of
supervision vs. a Psychologist with some 120 hours of coursework plus thousands
of hours of supervision? As a matter of integrity, clients should know the
credentials of people providing services. Other providers of Christian counseling or
psychotherapy include Social Workers, Psychiatrists, Chaplains, Pastoral Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Psychiatric Nurses.
How much training is needed?
If education, supervision, and
experience are important in the assessment and treatment of mental illness, how
much of each is necessary? At this point lay counseling is an unregulated
movement. People are going to help people. And churches and ministries can play
an important part in the helping process. Tan’s chapter offers some good
ideas—a starting place to build knowledge and skills.
Good and evil.
Helping can be a good thing.
People often feel better just telling their story or confessing their sins.
(Hint- protestants should consider the value of confession—a part of Catholic
tradition). But counseling can also cause harm. The harm can be due to failure to recognize the need to refer a client for more intensive services. And the harm can come from violating appropriate boundaries between a counselor and a client. There's much more to this topic, which is one reason the licensed professions have ethical guidelines and encourage professionals to take annual risk management workshops. So, let the client and ministries
beware.
Related posts
Reference
Tan, S. (2013). Lay counseling
for general psychological problems. In E. Worthington Jr., E. L. Johnson, J. N.
Hook, & J. D. Aten (eds.). Evidence-based
practices for Christian counseling and psychotherapy. Downers Grove, IL:
IVP Academic/ CAPS books.
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