The pastor as genetic counselor

The pastor as pastoral counselor in the setting of the church can play an important role on a genetic team. This article explores the role the pastor plays in the definitive stage: delivery of information, educating, supporting, and counseling in human genetics. Problems that are encountered by team members, patients, and families, and dominant feelings that seem to exist in couples or individuals who discover that their children have a birth defect or that they themselve are carriers of a faulty gene are revealed and illustrated through clinical examples and interviews. Further suggestions are given on how a constructive team approach can help provide information regarding birth defects and how pastors can help and participate in this process.The Rev.M. Wayne Clark, D. Min., is a United Methodist pastor in Sidney, Iowa, and has completed Care and Counseling's two-year graduate training program for pastoral counselors in St. Louis, Missouri. He has served as a consultant to the Division of Medical Genetics at the University Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, and has worked with the staff of Regional Genetic Consultation Services of the Iowa State Department of Health. He is a member of A.A.P.C. and a clinical member of AAMFT.     

The pastor as enabler

Out of a personal struggle to understand and help a chronically ill friend the writer evolves a view of the pastor as enabler. The definition of enable, the role of the enabler, and the problems which prevent many from being enabled, are discussed. These definitions are illuminated by the Biblical perspective of Elihu in the book ofJob. The pastor who sees himself as enabler is able to bring perspective, clarity, empathy, compassion, and concrete help to the person in need.Chaplain Rusnak is a graduate of The Luthern School of Theology at Chicago.     

The minister as pastor and person

The image of the clown as developed by Faber to illustrate the role of the hospital chaplain as a deepening and unifying force in that setting is utilized to elucidate the role and needs of ministers as they function as significant professionals in the community. As such, they are both pastors and persons. As pastors, they are also symbols to others representing a reality larger than merely their own personhood. Nevertheless, for the most effective work, the development of the person as person is a prerequisite. Their increasing competence can be secured only through the supervision of their pastoral work by another highly trained, skilled and sensitive practitioner.     

The counselor as metaphysician

Despite their scientific temper of mind, counselors should be interested in metaphysics because of its concern with, among other things, the problem of distinguishing the real from the not-real—obviously, a vital issue to every counselor and client. This article sketches the scope of metaphysical inquiry as this discipline is understood in the traditional philosophical sense. The authors also illustrate the significance of metaphysics for counseling by presenting the principal tenets of one metaphysical position—personalistic idealism—and by delineating some implications for counseling that flow from an adherence to this metaphysical view.     

The counselor as psychoecologist

Counselors may be in need of a new model of practice. Current approaches based on the intrapersonal models of psychotherapy are not congruent with institutional realities. More important, they assume, often falsely, a “disturbed” person who must be adjusted to a “normal” environment. This article suggests that emotional disturbance be viewed as an ecological phenomenon that exists in the transactions among people. The task of the counselor is to alter disturbed transactions in ways that promote individual competence. The implications for practice of viewing the counselor as a psychoecologist are discussed and illustrated through a case study.     

The counselor as contingency manager

Aspects of contingency management are discussed as they relate to counseling. Three case studies illustrate the role of a counselor as a contingency manager and adviser to teachers in the application of behavior modification techniques to common classroom problems.     

Community as counselor

This article discusses a process in which people in a community setting offer counsel to one another. The author shares with us the results of an experiment in group living and learning based on a personal growth model. As the experiment progressed, the community itself—rather than the counselor in a formal role—became the catalyst for growth and change.