The Church Leader's Counseling Resource Book: A Guide to Mental Health and Social Problems

by Cynthia Franklin (Editor), Rowena Fong (Editor)

This all-in-one guide is designed to better equip clergy and the church leaders to meet their congregations' needs in a spiritually grounded and scientifically sound manner. Succinct, easy-to-read chapters summarize all a pastor needs to know about a given problem area, including its signs or symptoms, questions to ask, effective helping skills, and, most importantly, when to refer to a mental health professional. Synthesizing what research says about treatment approaches for mental health issues, this user-friendly reference is filled with guidelines, case scenarios, key points to remember, resources for further help, advice on integrating scripture and theology with the best available research, and tips on partnering with others to provide the best possible care for each church member. Each chapter is designed for quick lookup by problem area, empowering church leaders to understand and help meet the challenges facing the children, adults, families, and communities that they
serve.

Genres: Counselling

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Rev. Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A supplemental text for Pastoral Experiences of Aging at Brite Divinity, and a resource for Pyscho-Educational project on Caring for Caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's Disease -- This all-in-one guide is designed to better equip clergy and the church leaders to meet their congregations' needs in a spiritually grounded and scientifically sound manner. Succinct, easy-to-read chapters summarize all a pastor needs to know about a given problem area, including its signs or symptoms, questions to ask, effective helping skills, and, most importantly, when to refer to a mental health professional. Synthesizing what research says about treatment approaches for mental health issues, this user-friendly reference is filled with guidelines, case scenarios, key points to remember, resources for further help, advice on integrating scripture and theology with the best available research, and tips on partnering with others to provide the best possible care for each church member. Each chapter is designed for quick lookup by problem area, empowering church leaders to understand and help meet the challenges facing the children, adults, families, and communities that they serve.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for Christian clergy on a variety of mental health and social issues, including everything from schizophrenia to eating disorders to single parenting. Divided into chapters by topic, experts in the field offer science-based information about each condition, guidance for when and to whom to refer, pastoral care stories from real life, and Biblical resources for spiritual counseling and preaching. All are ridiculously helpful. The only chapter I did not benefit from was the sex chapter which is extremely sex negative, avoids a range of important issues regarding counseling couples, and largely focuses on the experience of straight cisgendered men lacking resources for other groups. But the book is still well worth buying to keep at hand on the shelf of your office, perhaps with a supplemental clergy sexual counseling guide from a better source.