Strategies for Brief Pastoral Counseling

by Howard W. Stone

More and more professionals in ministry realized the benefits of brief pastoral counselingtypically three sessionsfor addressing the real-life dilemmas of their congregants. In this very helpful resource, eleven leaders in pastoral counselingboth established leaders and new thinkers in the fieldoffer a convincing rationale. Based on reserach, case studies, and the latest thinking, they lay out (1) the dynamics of the pastor-parishioner relationship, including the need for collaborative, hospitable, future-oriented, and wholistic counseling, and (2) specific strategies, including brief counseling's solution-focused method, its relation to spiritual direction, its focus on people's strengths, and time limits. The volume concludes with a call for the whole field to recognize the contextual, practical character of effective, responsible pastoral counseling.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

242 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Howard W. Stone, Ph.D., is a psychologist, marriage and family therapist, a pastoral counselor, the author or editor of many books in the Fortress Press Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling series, and a professor emeritus at Texas Christian University.

- http://www.christianbook.com/crisis-c...

Reviews

[Josiah Muhr]

While it certainly has some insight regarding the nature of counseling and the advantages of brief counseling, this book is a bit of a drab read. It is written by a collection of authors, so some chapters are better than others. That being said, many chapters just repeat the same things over and over again and by the end I was struggling to finish it. It might be a good book to have for reference, but I don't think you need to read the whole thing.