Am I in too deep? - When pastoral care and complex counselling issues merge

Trainer - Jenny Brown

Many people in pastoral care ministry, speak of the challenges of knowing how far to go in assisting others who often open up distressing life issues.  Workers often express the concern that they feel like they are out of their depth.  Others express the challenge of meeting with people to encourage them and discovering that their helping efforts seem to promote dependence. There is commitment to demonstrating Christ-like love but the potential for burn out often seems to loom large. This 1 day workshop will explore these and other common dilemmas of pastoral care.  It will illustrate, with practical examples, how Bowen family systems theory and understanding of symptoms can provide assistance in the process of ministering to others who are in difficult circumstances.

Topics covered

• Exploring the boundaries of biblical guidance, pastoral care and clinical counselling for complex life and personal issues?
• What kind of help may become a hindrance?
• What kind of help promotes personal responsibility and resilience without reducing sacrificial care?
• Essential counselling skills. How this is different to advice giving
• What to do when another discloses serious symptoms?  How to determine who is responsible for what?
• The challenge of taking sides in peoples difficulties.
• Responding to  symptoms of depression, anxiety and addictions

Jenny Brown is a Masters level social worker who is the director of the Family Systems Institute. She has over 25 years of counselling experience and has been training professionals in family systems theory for many years. Jenny’s church involvement and consulting to church and mission workers has heightened her interest in applying Bowen theory to relational aspects of Christian ministry.

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