Pastoral Care:  

Basic Types of Pastoral Care and Counseling remains the standard in pastoral care and counseling. This third edition is enlarged and revised with updated resources, methods, exercises, and illustrations from actual counseling sessions. This book will help readers be sensitive to cultural diversity, ethical issues, and power dynamics as they practice holistic, growth-oriented pastoral care and counseling in the parish.

This book is designed as a guide for pastors and church leaders counseling members of their congregations through mental health and family problems. It gives clergy the tools they need to understand thorny problems from both a scientific and a spiritual perspective. It includes easy-to-follow chapters that provide a summary of best practices written in lay language. It broadly addresses real-world concerns while also noting when to contact a mental health professional. It is also vetted by an editorial board of church leaders and expert scholars. - Oxford University Press

"The Concise Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling is a condensed version of the Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling, first published in 1990, with new and updated articles. This book provides classic and key articles that explain current theories, trends, and practices in the field of Pastoral Care and Counseling.
Contents include: Definitions; History and Biography; Issues of Power and Difference; Interfaith Issues and Methods; Clinical Method; and Pastoral Theological Method.' - Abingdon Press

"This authoritative reference book by one of the most distinguished leaders in the profession features 4,000 commonly used terms and abbreviations in counseling. Since publication of the previous edition, Dr. Samuel Gladding has added 342 new, clear, and concise definitions and has fully updated existing terminology. This exceptional resource also highlights the professional contributions of prominent counselors, both historical and contemporary, and includes a current chronology of the evolution of counseling. In addition, it provides comprehensive contact information for self-help groups and nationally prominent helping organizations." - American Counseling Association

Pastoral Care and Counseling has changed radically since the publication of the Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling. Rapid changes have occurred in theological, social, and medical contexts broadening the understanding of care. The shift from the "living human document" to the "living human web" both enriches and challenges the study and practice of pastoral theology. Bringing the field current, this Expanded Edition offers authoritative, easy-to-find information that will assist anyone engaged in the study or practice of pastoral care and counseling. Now more than 1200 state-of-the art articles, prepared by experts in the field, cover virtually every topic related to pastoral care and counseling.  The volume is ecumenical in its vision, enlisting the participation of nearly 600 Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish contributors.  This volume is easy to use.  Concise articles are arranged in alphabetical order, knit together through an extensive cross-referencing system

Professional counseling involves helping clients, individually or in groups, or as couples and families, deal with various career, vocational, educational, and emotional problems. Whether performed by psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, or counselors, thousands of professionals throughout the United States, as well as the world, are providing counseling services to fellow human beings to help them address and resolve the various problems of living that exceed their coping resources and social support. The Encyclopedia of Counseling provides a comprehensive overview of the theories, models, techniques, and challenges involved in professional counseling. With approximately 600 entries, this definitive resource covers all of the major theories, approaches, and contemporary issues in counseling. The four volumes of this Encyclopedia are flexibly designed so they can be use together as a set or separately by volume, depending on the need of the user.

"Motivation is a pervasive force that can affect well-being in a variety of life situations, from the more minor through to the ability to overcome addictions and other serious psychological problems. This book presents empirically supported theories (featuring current concerns theory), questionnaires based on these theories (highlighting the Motivational Structure Questionnaire) and varied interventions based on these, with special emphasis on Systematic Motivational Counselling but also including chapters on such approaches as Personality Systems Interaction Theory, expectancy-based approaches, Motivational Interviewing, logotherapy and several others." - Wiley-Blackwell

"In this ground-breaking book, pastoral counselor Andrew Lester demonstrates that pastoral theology (as well as social and behavioral sciences) has neglected to address effectively the predominant cause of human suffering: a lack of hope, a sense of futurelessness. Lester examines the reasons that pastoral theology and other social and behavioral sciences have overlooked the importance of hope and despair in the past. He then offers a starting point for the development of addressing these significant dimensions of human life. He provides clinical theories and methods for pastoral assessment of and intervention with those who despair. He also puts forth strategies for assessing the future stories of those who despair and offers a corrective to these stories through deconstruction, reframing, and reconstruction." "This book will be invaluable to pastoral caregivers who are looking for a vantage point from which to provide care and to pastoral theologians who are seeking to develop a theological lens through which to understand the human condition." -Jacket

"This book is an edited volume of works that have predominated over the past several decades in contemporary pastoral theology. Through the writings of nineteen leading voices in the history of pastoral care, Dykstra shows how each contributor developed a metaphor for understanding pastoral care. Such metaphors include the solicitous shepherd, the wounded healer, the intimate stranger, the midwife, and other tangible images. Through these works, the reader gains a sense of the varied identities of pastoral care professionals, their struggles for recognition in this often controversial field, and insight into the history of the disciple." Chalice Press

This encouraging book equips new pastors to navigate the difficult early years of ministry and set the stage for a long and fruitful pastorate.

"Pastoral Care affirms the historic link between Christian formation and pastoral care by locating the distinctive nature of pastoral care in the mission of the church to form persons in the Christian life of love. Drawing primarily on the theological concept of sanctification and using insights from narrative psychological theory, this text presents a praxis-oriented model of pastoral care as companionship. Pastoral caregivers, it suggests, are called to be companions growing in love, walking alongside others who are likewise growing in love of God, self, and other. Such pastoral caregivers engage their companions in narrative, relational, and prophetic practices in multiple settings." - Abingdon Press

"Leading pastoral theologians explore a wide variety of themes related to pastoral practice. Pastoral Theology and Care: Critical Trajectories in Theory and Practice offers a collection of essays by leading pastoral theologians that represent emerging trajectories in the fields of pastoral theology and care. The topics explored include: qualitative research and ethnography, advances in neuroscience, care across pluralities and intersections in religion and spiritualties, the influence of neoliberal economics in socio-economic vulnerabilities, postcolonial theory and its implications, the intersections of race and religion in caring for black women, and the usefulness of intersectionality for pastoral practice. Each of the essays offers a richly illustrated review of a practice of pastoral care relationally and in the public domain. The contributions to this volume engage seven critical directions emerging in the literature of pastoral theology in the United States and internationally among pastoral and practical theologians. While coverage of these topics does not exhaust important points of activity in the field, it does represent especially promising resources for theory and practice. This important work: Offers unique coverage of new directions in the field Includes contributions from an exceptional group of experts who are noted leaders in their areas of study Introduces the newest perspectives on pastoral care and offers constructive proposals Filled with case illustrations that make chapters pedagogically useful, Pastoral Theology and Care is essential reading for faculty, seminarians and students in advanced degree programs, and pastors." - Wiley Blackwell

"The Practice of Pastoral Care has become a popular seminary textbook for courses in pastoral care and a manual for clinical pastoral education. In it, Doehring encourages counselors to view their ministry through a trifocal lens that incorporates premodern, modern, and postmodern approaches to religious and psychological knowledge. Doehring describes the basic ingredients of a caregiving relationship, shows how to use the caregiver's life experience as a source of authority, and demonstrates how to develop the skill of listening and establishing the actual relationship. This new edition elaborates on and expands the author's previous work, adding an intercultural perspective that gives more attention to religious pluralism in the pastoral care setting. It offers a road map for using a step-by-step narrative, relational, embodied approach to spiritual care that respects the unique ways people live out their values and beliefs, especially in coping with stress, loss, and violence. Readers will be able to confidently and professionally offer pastoral care and counseling to members of their congregations or other places of ministry." WJK Press

"Since its publication a decade ago, Strategic Pastoral Counseling has been a standard text for pastoral counseling classes and a practical resource for parish clergy. This user-friendly book has been thoroughly revised and now includes two new chapters. Benner includes helpful case studies, a new appendix on contemporary ethical issues, and updated chapter bibliographies. Benner maintains that clergy are uniquely positioned in their pastoral roles to combine the therapeutic approach of modern counseling with the framework of classic Christian soul care. This practical handbook will be a useful guide in that aspect of their ministry." - Baker Academic

"This innovative text presents a comprehensive review of the theoretical and empirical support for a wellness approach to counseling with current techniques for client assessment, case conceptualization, treatment planning, and intervention. The authors provide holistic strategies for wellness promotion with children, adolescents, and young, midlife, and older adults, as well as in counseling with groups, couples, and families. Each chapter includes reflection questions, learning activities, and resources to deepen readers'understanding of the content and application to practice. Wellness boosters offer quick methods for clients and counselors to increase their domain-specific and overall well-being. In addition, experienced counselors share their personal experiences implementing wellness interventions in “Practitioner Spotlight” vignettes. A chapter on counselor self-care completes the book." - American Counseling Association