What a week. The highs of San Diego Mission triumphed over any challenges that the enemy tried to throw our way. It was a week submerged in prayer, fellowship and evangelism. I found myself emptied time and time again by ministering to children who were starving for true Love. My greatest hope is that the…
As I walked briskly down Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C. last autumn while visiting a friend, the click, click, click, click of my heels added to the cacophony of the street vendors, construction workers, vehicles, and the throng of people who each added their own particular noise to the mix. Where were they all going?…
Shrek: For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think. Donkey: Example? Shrek: Example… uh… ogres are like onions! [holds up an onion, which Donkey sniffs] Donkey: They stink? Shrek: Yes… No! Donkey: Oh, they make you cry? Shrek: No! Donkey: Oh, you leave ’em out in the sun, they get all…
Pastoral counseling by its very nature incorporates spiritual beliefs and realities into the counseling process. One way in which it does so is by informing the pastoral counselor regarding his or her beliefs about human nature and views of the person. As a Catholic pastoral counselor, then, part of my job is to allow my…
Probably the most important message I have tried to relay in all of my posts at this point is that the counselor is not perfect–shocking, I know–and certainly not immune to depositing his or her own baggage in the midst of a session, not in the least. Various forms of this imperfection present within a…
For those of us who are not quite making the big bucks, or making few bucks at all, at least getting to window shop and dream about what we might like to buy if we won the lottery is a realistic alternative. Perhaps it never quite hits the spot that that gorgeous dress or those…
We have talked a great deal in all of my counseling classes thus far about counseling in general being a certain walking or journeying with our clients. By this, I mean to say that counselors do not simply stand there at the finish line of “health.” Rather, we try to meet our clients where they…
I think one of the key skills of pastoral counseling would be the integration of spirituality into the counseling process. One key way in which this integration could be demonstrated is with a client who is having difficulty in a relationship and needs to work towards forgiveness of a past hurt. Now, if a pastoral…
Lights… Camera… Fluency! Teachers of reading have begun to adapt Reader’s Theatre as a new instructional strategy in their classroom. The Reader’s Theatre strategy combines reading aloud, repetitive readings, and performing which not only motivates students to read, but it also increases reader’s fluency. As the student is assigned a role, they are required to…
When I first started doing my practicum and internship, I often had this sinking feeling believing that any clinical work that I would be doing would not pertain to a future in pastoral counseling believing that I would be dealing with other problems or with a more faith based population. However, through my experiences working…