Chaplains Document of Practice
Pastoral Care and Counseling is a distinct discipline among the helping professions drawing on the history of spiritual care, theology, and the behavioral sciences (psychology, social work, family therapy, etc.). It also includes certification and credentialing processes and organizations which are recognized as a basis for licensure by many states. One type of Pastoral Care and Counseling professional is the Health Care Chaplain.
Health Care Chaplains are unique in terms of the context of their service, i.e. health care settings of multiple types. In those settings they provide pastoral care and counseling to patients, patients' families, and members of the health care team itself. The broad range of health concerns--wellness, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, life style changes, ethical decisions, and grief --are the focus of the Health Care Chaplain's practice.
Health Care Chaplains employ short-term counseling methods similar to those of "Crisis Counseling" as practiced by various mental health professionals. A crisis is a change in the person's world which requires some accommodation--behavioral, physical, emotional, spiritual. In the interdisciplinary wholeness model of wellness, Health Care Chaplains understand a crisis from a theological or spiritual perspective - persons in crisis find themselves between despair or hope, fear or trust as their spirituality is challenged at the very time they need to draw upon their spiritual resources.
Health Care Chaplains are typically involved with patient care regarding an anticipated life transition, sudden traumatic stress, life-cycle developmental issues, changes in a situation, relationship, or condition. In summary, the goal of the Health Care Chaplain is to help persons find relief and/or cope with their situation so they can resume their customary level of functioning or begin making necessary changes in their life style.
As an overview, Health Care Chaplains:
- Represent and acknowledge life's spiritual dimensions and assist the person in drawing upon their spiritual resources
- Listen empathically to the person's feelings and concerns while employing supportive techniques (in contrast to "uncovering" methods)
- Help the person discover some basis for hope and meaning as a source of energy
- Affirm the person's constructive and creative response(s) to the crisis
- Strengthen the person's social environment as a resource for support and coping
- Link with community or work resources: agencies, EAP, social services
- Refer to other helping professionals--medical, mental health, social work (It would be unusual in this form of pastoral counseling to see a person more than six times.)
- Connect the person as requested with his or her faith community resources
- Consult with other members of the care team in developing care plan
- Conduct Spiritual Assessments
Education and growth counseling is undertaken with persons needing help learning new living skills and wellness practices, techniques, theories - especially as these involve spiritual well-being, relationships, and sense of values and purpose in living.
Pastoral counseling as practiced by the Health Care Chaplain may occur with individuals, families, or small groups. It may occur informally when the moment is right, or in scheduled sessions. This form of pastoral counseling is not designed to address serious mental health problems for which medication and/or hospitalization are indicated, though the Health Care Chaplain may work cooperatively with physicians and/or mental health workers to support such patients.
