Research in pastoral counselling: Retrospect and prospect

The emergence of counselling as a specialism practised by a number of different professions has had a marked effect on the understanding of the pastoral role of the clergy. Attention has been focussed on the nature of pastoral counsel-ling and a wide range of courses in 'clinical pastoral education' have been developed in Britain and in the USA. Examination of research to date suggests that boundaries between pastoral counselling and other areas of counselling are ill-defined, that personality variables may be a potent influence on the clergyman's understanding of his counselling role, and that training courses in counselling result in modified personality change. Suggestions about priorities in research in this area in Britain are offered, with a view to clarifying the relevance of pastoral counselling to the counselling services in the community as a whole.     

Is Student Counselling a Profession?

Moves towards professionalisation within student counselling are discussed as a case-study which may have wider applicability within counselling as a whole. The main approaches to defining a profession are described, and eight criteria are distinguished and applied to student counselling. It is concluded that student counsellors are some way from the 'ideal-type' profession. Account also needs to be taken, how ever, of moves towards some forms of deprofessionalisation' within the traditional professions. Current moves towards accreditation of individuals and courses within the Association for Student Counselling are welcomed.     

Counselling in the United Kingdom: past, present and future

We chart the development of counselling in Britain since the Second World War through to the present and speculate about possible directions counselling may take in the future. Our major, but not exclusive, focus is on counselling as a developing profession and the particular role that the British Association for Counselling has played in this development. To this end, we consider some of the professional issues that have preoccupied practitioners in the field and those that may do so in the future. Thus, amongst others, we consider the relationship between counselling and psychotherapy, the costs and benefits of counselling's increasing visibility in British society, the role that supervision has come to play in the maintenance of professional standards, the debate that has surrounded the issue of counsellor accreditation/registration, the development of standards and ethics and the tension that exists between the relational and technical aspects of counselling. Counselling does not exist in a vacuum, and this is seen most strikingly in the speculations that we make about future developments of counselling. Thus, for example, we argue that counselling will have to grapple with the increasing emphasis that society places on the accountability of human services and with the inexorable progress occurring in the area of technological development. We note that counselling's response to these significant trends will have to be made against the backdrop of the continuing dissolution of barriers between previously distinct areas of human knowledge .     

The prophetic nature of pastoral counselling

The role of pastoral counselling is explored in the light of the increasing interest among secular therapists in spirituality and the escalation in the number of clients presenting themselves with spiritual issues. Definitions are offered of spirituality, sexuality and religion as well as of pastoral counselling itself. The development of pastoral counselling is contrasted with the upsurge of Christian counselling in the latter years of the 20th century.The central influence of Carl Rogers is examined and it is argued that his late embracing of the spiritual dimension makes him, once more, a potential source of inspiration for pastoral counsellors in the years ahead. The critical tasks of integrating science and religion and of communicating across inter-faith boundaries require both an emphasis on contemplative and mystical experience and a radically evolving theology. Rogers' 'person of tomorrow' is seen as a possible blueprint for the pastoral counsellor of the future who can be assured of a difficult path and much hostility and misunderstanding.     

Can pastoral counselling recover its roots in madness?

Modern pastoral counselling had its origins in North America in the experience of people, who suffered from psychiatric illnesses and who believed them to be spiritual crises, which would respond to pastoral care. In the United Kingdom many of those involved in the foundation of the pastoral care and counselling movement also worked in psychiatric hospitals. In both Europe and America pastoral counselling has largely forsaken its roots in psychiatry. However, recent research amongst mental health service users/survivors reveals how important spiritual care and counsel are and how few resources are available to provide this service from psychiatry, religious organisations or secular counselling services. The results of three research projects in Somerset are described and the significance of the recovery of pastoral counselling to fill the vacuum of spiritual care is explored.     

System Orientation: A dilemma for the role conceptualisation of 'counsellors' in schools

A survey of the American and British literature on counselling is used to elaborate an hypothesis concerning the importance in the minds of counsellors of the organisational as well as the interpersonal relationships they make. The hypothesis is tested and confirmed by a questionnaire enquiry to counsellors, pastoral care staff, guidance staff and others in British secondary schools. It leads to an elaboration in organisational terms of the notion of 'directiveness'.     

Attitudes towards marital counselling and the Family Law Act (1996) in a British Asian community

People of South Asian origin represent one of the largest ethnic minority population in Britain. However, research into the marital beliefs and attitudes towards relationship dissolution of British South Asians has tended to conflate together different South Asian groups of different religious and geographic origins. This study focused on one large religious group originating from one region (Hindus from Gujarat) resident in one large British town. 70 married couples participated in detailed interviews describing their attitudes to the use of formal and informal support counselling services available in times of marital crisis, and their response to the provisions of the new Family Law Act (1996) in Britain. Findings indicate that, whilst most British Hindu-Gujaratis are willing in principle to use counselling services to save a failing marriage, there are age, occupational and caste differences in knowledge of, and attitudes towards, counselling provision. Furthermore, there were important reservations across the sample about the location of services and the ethnic background of the counsellor employed.     

Pastoral counselling: an American perspective

While pastoral counselling is a function of pastoral ministry in religious communities, it is also a specialised ministry requiring professional training that extends well beyond a pastoral/ theological education for ministry, as well as beyond the confines of religious communities. This article is an American perspective on Certified Pastoral Counsellors as mental health care providers for individuals, couples, and families, generally on a fee-for-service basis, with many qualifying for reimbursement by private and federal third party payers. It demonstrates that pastoral counselling as practised in the USA is spiritually integrated counselling and psychotherapy, requiring graduate academic and clinical work in these disciplines as well as graduate education in religious studies. It offers an American perspective on this specialised ministry of mental and relational health and discusses its identity and function, methodology, supervision requirements, and the clinical use of religious resources, including a case illustration.     

Ethical Issues in Counselling and Pastoral Care

The historical and contemporary context of pastoral care and counselling within the judaeo/Christian tradition is reviewed. Three kinds of pastors who use counselling in their work - Christian, specialist, and generic - are identified and the ethical problems of their positions clarified. The ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice are applied to the counselling work of pastors. Theology's definition of various ethical levels, and the impact of these upon the professional ethics of pastoral carers and counsellors, are explored, and some conclusions for the future drawn.     

Developing a transpersonal approach to pastoral counselling

A key area of difficulty for those engaged in pastoral counselling often concerns the adequate integration of pastoral, psychological and spiritual concepts and resources. The roots of this tension can be identified within modernity between what can be known through objective observation and reason over what is known through subjective experience. Pastoral counselling, in general, represents an attempt to hold together both scientific and subjective accounts of human existence. Existing forms of Christian pastoral counselling will benefit, however, through a deeper use of spiritual resources drawing both on transpersonal psychology and the tradition of Christian mysticism.     

The construction of counselling psychology in Britain: A discourse analysis of counselling psychology texts

Counselling psychology is a relatively recent arrival on the professional psychological scene in Britain. This paper examines the ways in which this new branch of professional psychology has been constructed by the counselling psychology community. Articles which embodied this construction process from the 1990 and 1996 volumes of the journal Counselling Psychology Review were subjected to discourse analysis. The main themes of the 1990 articles concerned the construction of identity and legitimation, achieved largely through representations of similarity with and difference from related professions at a general level, whereas in the 1996 articles, the emphasis was on more fine-grained constructions of similarity and difference. Implications for the future construction of counselling psychology are considered.     

Counselling Supervision: The British context

Counselling/psychotherapy supervision is on the verge of a professional breakthrough in Britain today. Training courses are emerging, accreditation for supervisors is in progress and a Code of Ethics for Supervisors is finalised. Yet supervision is still little understood. There are few agreed definitions and certainly no agreed tasks, roles, or even goals of supervision. Conflict still abounds about whether it is more akin to therapy than to education, about whether or not it shold be evaluative, and about what areas of counselling it should cover. Supervisors are poorly trained in supervision and areas such as the legal implications and responsibilities of supervision not clear and often not even considered important. What research has been done is confined largely to United States and few attempts have been made to apply findings to Britain, e.g. how valid in Britain is the current research on Developmental Models of supervision which outline the stages through which counsellors in training travel.

Supervision is still tied to counselling theory despite its efforts to become a discipline on its own. Most supervisors in Britain seem to apply their theory of counselling to supervision setting. However, some of the conflicts are being faced and some questions raised about the future of supervision, about the kind of relationship involved, about its relationship to counselling. This article raises some current issues in the field and asks the kinds of questions that need answering before we are able to talk about a British understanding and application of counselling supervision.     

Pupils as consumers: Perceptions of guidance and counselling in a scottish school

Pupils' perceptions' of the effectiveness of counselling services were investigated within a school with a high degree of commitment to guidance and counselling. Pupils were asked to read eight problems: four were school-based, and four were personal/familial problems. Half the sample were given a list of possible sources of assistance (including counselling staff); half were unprompted On personal and familial problems, the unprompted group were as likely to cite counsellors as being sources of assistance as were the group prompted with the names of counselling staff. This was taken as an indication that counselling staff were spontaneously seen as sources of help on these matters. In addition, respondents completed semantic-differential protocols, analyses of which indicated that counselling staff were seen in more pastoral terms than were other teaching staff. These results are discussed within a perspective that sees the school's guidance and counselling system as interacting with its general ethos.     

Applying public health science to the counselling profession: An initial examination

The application of public health science to the counselling profession is examined. Specifically, the public-health practices of prevention and epidemiology are reviewed for their applicability to the field of counselling. Evidence of the counselling profession's substantial involvement in the prevention research field is provided through an examination of recent major meta-analysis articles on prevention studies. The role of the counselling profession in social-policy development, and the interrelation between this type of social/political engagement and the solidification of the counselling field within the spectrum of mental-health services, are explored.     

Pluralism in Education: The display of Islamic affiliation in French and British schools

The expression of Islamic affiliation by Muslim students in French and British schools has been perceived as particularly problematic to the extent that it has become a focal point for public and media attention. The controversies over the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in French and British public schools and the state funding of Islamic schools in Britain are case studies representing a range of issues raised by religious pluralism in education, particularly the display of religious affiliation in public schools. In France the prohibition of the Islamic headscarf in public schools provoked a national controversy in 1989. In Britain the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in public schools resulted in a localized and minor debate but the question of state funding of Islamic schools became a major controversial issue in 1990. The press coverage of the case studies is used as an analytical tool with which to examine the exchange of public information and opinion in the press on this type of religious expression. Over 1,500 press articles on the two case studies were published from 1989 to 1998 by selected French and British national daily newspapers, religious papers and education papers. A quantitative analysis of the articles measures the magnitude of each controversy and its prominence in the press. A qualitative content analysis of the articles examines actual press content and compares the primary issues, prevalent opinions and supporting arguments defining the debates in each case study.     

A trans-disciplinary study of the therapist's self

Participation in personal therapy during training is required by British accreditation bodies for counselling psychology as well as by most psychotherapy trainings. By contrast, trainee clinical psychologists are not required to undertake personal therapy, although they may elect to. Prior research in Britain and the US suggests that practitioners have a wide range of motives for entering therapy as well as motives for not doing so (Norcross &; Connor, 2005). This study addresses the fact that no research to date has specifically explored what individuals beginning their counselling psychology, clinical psychology and counselling training think and feel about participation in personal therapy during training. Data from open-ended questionnaires was analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Two main themes were identified. These consisted of: ‘Personal therapy helps me to be a better practitioner’, and ‘Personal therapy costs me’. The study results are considered in light of the limited prior research and recommendations for training are made.     

“Outsiders”: How some counselling psychologists construct themselves

The identity of counselling psychology in Britain is still developing. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of what counselling psychology is through an analysis of discourses that practitioners draw on when talking about their work. Drawing on data from interviews with eight practicing counselling psychologists, we identity a “maverick” repertoire and examine how it is used by the participants. This repertoire is used to characterize counselling psychology as occupying a position outside established schools of psychological therapy. We also identify how the maverick/outsider repertoire provides solutions to problems of internal consistency within counselling psychology. We discuss implications for the future and the importance of self-awareness for the profession.     

Counselling, counselling skills and encouraging pupils to talk: Clarifying and addressing confusion

The context in which counselling approaches operate in schools is outlined. The issues that arise from the location of counselling skills and the practice of counselling in the framework of pastoral care and of personal and social education are discussed both from a historical perspective and in terms of the current educational climate. Ways in which counselling and counselling skills might be more appropriately and effectively used in schools are considered.     

Educated millennial Sikhs: Higher education,social mobility and identity formation among British Sikh youth

ABSTRACT

Large scale Sikh male migration to Britain in the 1950s gave way to family re-unions, leading to the development of vibrant Sikh communities across major cities and emergence of a millennial second and third generation Sikh youth. This chapter specifically identifies and evaluates higher education and labour market experiences of these millennial Sikhs. It argues mass participation in higher education produced differential outcomes, with a small upper segment becoming high achievers but a large bottom segment unable to realise the full potential. Further, these experiences had varied effects on their identity formation, with some moving away from their parental religion whilst others (re)embracing their tradition and adopting Sikh articles of faith. Finally, these differential experiences have also contributed to the widening of socio-economic differentiation within the British Sikh community as a whole and on potential for upward social mobility.