COURSE SUMMARY
D200 Introduction to Pastoral Care and Counseling
Fall 2006
Instructor: Dr. Roslyn A. Karaban
Enrollment and Restrictions: Open to all students.
Course Description:
This course is designed as a beginning course in pastoral care and counseling and serves as an introduction to understanding the basic principles and methods of pastoral counseling (listening) within the framework of pastoral care. The course addresses the changing definition of pastoral care and counseling and the various issues that have emerged because of these changes.
This theoretical background is complemented by actual, practical experiences in pastoral listening. Students will practice their listening skills in helping dyads and as part of a working group.
Course Objectives:
At the end of this course a student will have:
1. gained a basic understanding of the meaning of pastoral care and pastoral counseling (listening)
2. become more aware of the complexities and issues involved in the field of pastoral care
3. gained a foundational understanding of the helping skills necessary for pastoral care and counseling (listening)
4. been exposed to a number of different models of pastoral counseling (listening) and practiced one in depth
Course Format:
Lecture, Discussion, Practicums: Exercises and Working Groups
Required Reading:
Books
Gerard Egan. The Skilled Helper. 7th ed. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co., 2002.
Gerard Egan. Exercises in Helping Skills. 7th ed. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co., 2002.
Rodney Hunter, gen. ed. Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990.
Jeanne Stevenson Moessner, ed. Through the Eyes of Women. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.
John Patton, Pastoral Care in Context: An Introduction to Pastoral Care.Louisvile: Westminster/John Knox, 1993.
Edward P. Wimberly. Using Scripture in Pastoral Counseling. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994.
Article:
Roslyn A. Karaban. Chapter 3, “Always an Outsider? Feminist, Female, Lay and Roman Catholic,” pp. 65-76 in Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore and Brita Gill-Austern, eds. Feminist and Womanist Pastoral Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999.
Please note:
Readings from the Dictionary and Patton are limited and therefore it is not required that you buy these books. They will be on reserve in the SBSTM Reading Room as will the Karaban chapter.
The professor will provide handouts on grief ministry, crisis intervention and referral. These will be distributed the class prior to the topic.
Assignments/Requirements:
Each student is expected to participate in two dyads with two other members of the class – both as helper and helpee. Each student is expected to have three sessions as helper and three sessions as helpee.
A verbatim report: actual conversation and analysis of one conversation in which the student is the listener (helper) in the dyad. (12-15 pages; due class 8 – November 6)
AND
A second verbatim report due on the last class day (12-15 pages).
OR
A research paper (12-15 pages) on an identified issue in pastoral care or counseling. Topic must be approved by professor. Due last class day.
Grading:
Class attendance and participation 25%
Missing more than 2 classes will result
in a lowered grade
Verbatim Report #1 25%
2nd Verbatim or Research Paper 50%
COURSE SUMMARY AND READINGS
Class I Monday, September 11
Introduction: To Course, each other, field of pastoral care and counseling
Pastoral Care and Pastoral Counseling: Historical Foundations and Contemporary Concerns
Required Reading:
Miller-McLemore in Moessner, ch. 1, pp. 9-26
Karaban article (on reserve)
Articles on pastoral care and counseling in Dictionary pp. 836-858; pp. 1093-1095
Patton, pp. 15-39 (on reserve)
A Myriad of Models
Patton - contextual
Bohler and Snorton – feminist/womanist
Wimberly – narrative/biblical/African-American
Egan – problem-management
Required Reading:
Patton, pp. 39-61
Bohler in Moessner, ch. 2, pp. 27-49; Snorton in Moessner, ch. 3, pp. 50-65
Wimberly – pp. 9-53
Egan book – pp. 1-39
One Model Among Many
Overview of Egan’s Helping Model in the Context of Pastoral Care
The Minister and the Congregation as Pastoral Caregivers
Values
Required Reading:
Couture in Moessner, ch. 5, pp. 94-104
Egan book, pp. 40-61
Egan workbook, pp. 1-18
Dialogue
Empathic Presence
Active Listening
Responding Skills
Empathic Highlights
Probing
Summarizing
Required Reading:
Egan workbook, pp. 20-65
Step 1-A: Helping clients tell their stories
Step 1-B: Helping clients break through their blind spots that prevent them from seeing themselves, their problem situations and their unexplored opportunities as they really are
Advanced Communication Skills:
Advanced Empathic Highlights
Information Sharing
Helper Self-Disclosure
Required Reading:
Egan workbook, pp. 66-101
Immediacy
Suggestions
Confrontation
Encouragement
Required Reading:
Egan workbook, pp. 102-104
Challenging through Immediacy (Round Robin)
Required Reading:
Egan workbook, pp. 105-113
Crisis handouts will be distributed
Applying Models and Skills to Particular Pastoral Situations:
Ministering in Crisis Intervention
Required Reading:
Henderson in Moessner, ch. 12, pp. 207-222; Stinson-Wesley in Moessner, ch. 13, pp. 222-239
Crisis Handouts
Grief handouts will be distributed
Applying Models and Skills to Particular Pastoral Situations:
Ministering in Loss, Death and Grieving
Required Reading:
Wimberly, pp. 99-117
Robins in Moessner, ch. 9, pp. 167-178
Referral handouts will be distributed
Required Reading: