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PS1012 Pastoral Care and Counseling

Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

Fall 2004
Mondays, 7:10 pm - 10:00 pm
PLTS Giesy Hall #1

Gary Pence

gpence@plts.edu

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Theory and practice of pastoral care and counseling within a Lutheran and ecumenical context. Integration of biblical, theological, liturgical, spiritual, and psychological perspectives and resources. Attention to pastoral care and brief pastoral counseling of individual children and adults, couples, and families; personal and faith development; family systems and family of origin theory. Role-playing, cases, films, lectures, small groups, etc.

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GOALS

Self

• Deeper knowledge and acceptance of evolving self within your own extended family
• Increased confidence in listening and responding to self and others
• Increased integration of your faith with your personal and relational life.
• Increased passion for the pastoral role.

Knowledge

• Know the ethos and major insights of some schools of modern psychotherapy
• Understand individuals as evolving persons within their family and other group settings.
• Identify the distinctive functions of the pastoral role for care and counseling.
• Integrate theology, psychology, and spirituality in your theory of pastoral care and counseling
• Gain awareness of your assumptions and commitments and how these are likely to impact your care giving and care receiving.

Skills

• Distinguish content from process in communication and learn to respond to both.
• Practice in brief approaches to pastoral counseling and their application to pastoral care.
• Connect your theory of care and counseling to the real demands of pastoral ministry.
• Take care of yourself and thrive whatever your life situation.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• Regular class attendance.
• Active participation in class activities.
• Individual and/or group study of reading assignments.
• Satisfactory completion of written assignments:

• approx. 10-15 page (double spaced) Family of Origin paper. (DUE 11/1)
• weekly approx.-250-word posting to class online Discussion Board of responses, associations, questions, illustrations, explorations related either to the previous week’s readings and/or previous week’s class session or to the readings for the coming week.

• Candid and timely consultation with instructor about any issues or problems that trouble you during the course.

Family of Origin Paper (Due 11/1)

Your task is to write an account (10-15 pages) of your extended family of origin covering three generations (including your own generation). For an example read my own Family of Origin paper online.

Your paper should include the following items:

1. Genogram covering three or more generations including major events such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces, illnesses, work successes or failures.

2. An interactional description of your family of origin over time. To the degree possible, this section should include the following:

a. Your parents' relationships in their families of origin (i.e. proximity to, distance from their parents, siblings, etc.)

b. Your parents' courtship, engagement, and early years of marriage.

c. Birth of children, their infancy, childhood, adolescence.

d. Leaving home - parents alone.

e. Death of parents

Within each life stage, pay attention to how the family of origin subsystems function (spouse subsystem, parent-child, siblings, aunt/uncle- nieces/nephews, grandparents-parents-grandchildren, etc.)

3. Describe (with examples) the spoken and unspoken "rules" of your family of origin and your role in it with members of your family.

4. Give your ideas about how, in the present, you are maintaining (or abolishing) the rules of your family of origin with new significant others (e.g. partner, spouse, children, close friends).

If you spent part or all of your growing years outside of a "family" context, describe the other system(s) in which you were raised.

Please note that your papers should be more than just a recitation of facts. They should show understanding of the interactional patterns, conflicts, and "atmosphere" within the family over time, with a special emphasis on how you were personally affected.

Read my Confidentiality statement online. I follow the same principles in class as I do in my clinical practice. This paper and its content will remain strictly confidential and will not be shared either specifically or in general terms with anyone.

GRADING

Learning in this class derives from your engagement with the readings (assigned and optional), class sessions, written assignments, other students, instructor, your own reflection alone and with others. Students who attend class sessions regularly and complete all assignments will receive an "A". Failure to complete a minimum of 10 postings to the class Discussion Board reduces the grade to a "C". Failure to complete the Family of Origin paper reduces the grade to an "F".

TEXTBOOKS

McGoldrick, Monica. (1995). You Can Go Home Again: Reconnecting With Your Family. Norton.
Miller, Alice. (1997). The Drama of the Gifted Child. Rev./Updated ed. with a New Afterward by the Author. Basic Books.
Kegan, Robert. (1994). In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Lee, Wanda M. L. (1999). An Introduction to Multicultural Counseling.. Accelerated Development.
All other readings are available online.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Course Schedule

SESSION 1 - 9/13/2004

Psalm 23 (PDF version)
Introductions
What is pastoral care and counseling?
Core dimensions of counseling
Screening of video, "Collaborative Case Conceptualization as a Therapeutic Intervention - Christine Padesky"

Read:

My understanding of counseling.
Gestalt "Prayer"
Working Definition of Pastoral Care But compare the alternative definition offered by Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore in "Feminist Theory in Pastoral Theology."
Core Conditions for Human Growth (A.G.E.)
W.E. Hulme. (1990). "Lutheran Pastoral Care." Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling. 670-672.
R. Reed. (1990). "Anglican Pastoral Care." Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling. 42f.
W.B. Oglesby. (1987). "Referral as Pastoral Care." J. of Pastoral Care, 41:2. 176-187.

SESSION 2 -9/20/2004

Psalm 148 (PDF Version)
Pastoral Care in a Multicultural Context

Read:

Wanda Lee, An Introduction to Multicultural Counseling.