Smart Counsel

Counselors, social workers, psychiatrists and other providers frequently have the opportunity(and dare we say, obligation) to collaborate with other individuals and systems that are important to our clients. One of the most notable for many, is their faith community. How should a counselor go about coordinating care with a person’s spiritual director? Similarly, pastors, priests, and other spiritual directors frequently encounter mental health and behavioral challenges that seem to exceed their specific focus of soul care. How should a spiritual care provider go about coordinating care with a person’s mental health, behavioral, or psychiatric provider? And just to complicate things even more, how does all this change when the client in question is a child or teenager? Jared Bennett is a Protestant Youth Pastor. Rhys Pasimio is a clinical counselor. Together they explore some of the variables and considerations at play in attempting to work together to care for the whole person and the systems that surround th