I choose Mood Disorders for the exercise. The three stages of Benner’s Strategic Pastoral Counseling model would be applied in the following.
The Encounter Stage
The first stage corresponds to the initial meeting which involves tasks like joining and boundary setting, exploring the central concerns and relevant history, conducting a pastoral diagnosis, and achieving a mutually agreeable focus for counseling.
The goal for this meeting is to establish a personal contact with the person, set the boundaries for the counseling relationship, become acquainted with the person and his or her central concerns, conduct a pastoral diagnosis, and develop a mutually acceptable focus for the work that will be done together.
The Engagement Stage
This stage…show more content… The goal is to listen empathically to the person’s feelings. The strategic pastoral counselor should not prejudge feelings and should encourage facing and accepting only those that are deemed acceptable. To encourage the person to express his or her feelings is so that the burden may be shared.
The second secession should focus on examining the thoughts underlying those feelings. The pastoral counselor should explore the underlying beliefs and values but at the same time, make no assumption that the thoughts, values, and beliefs are more important than feelings. The explicit use of Scripture can be used to encourage the adoption of a new frame of reference for the parishioner.
The final secession involves the exploration of a person’s behavior. After the examining of the problem that the person is facing, the pastoral counselor together with the parishioner can begin to identify changes in behavior that may be desirable. The pastor should not just tell the parishioner what needs to be changed. The aims of this phase are to identify changes that both the pastor and the parishioner agree are important and to begin to establish concrete strategies for making these changes. Making realistic goals is essential. These tasks require wisdom and the help of the Holy Spirit.
The Disengagement