Legal Issues And Religious Counseling

This much-needed book offers a current description of how religious counselors and clergy, as well as their local and national religious organizations, become legally vulnerable. The authors examine the three most litigated areas in clergy counseling: breaches of confidentiality; sexual misconduct; and the content and quality of counseling services. Glossary.

Pastors and biblical counselors who are seeking to faithfully lead, mentor, and guide their flocks in a rapidly changing cultural landscape will find clear direction and guidance from a team of Christian lawyers.

A client raises spiritual questions. Can a Christian therapist working in a government agency talk with a client about faith? A young couple with two children asks a Christian counselor to help them negotiate an end to their marriage. What responsibility does the counselor have to try to repair the relationship? A youth group member confidentially reveals to the pastor that he is taking drugs. Should the pastor tell the boy's parents? A counselor who teaches a college course has a client show up for class. What should she do? These are just a few of the complex dilemmas that therapists, counselors and pastors face nearly every day. Handling these situations appropriately is critical for both the client's progress and the professional's personal credibility and protection from liability. State and federal codes, professional association statements and denominational guidelines have been drawn up to address ethical issues like competence, confidentiality, multiple relationships, public statements, third parties and documentation. In this book you'll find them all compiled and interpreted in light of Christian faith and practice. Written by qualified professional counselors and respected academic instructors, this book is an indispensable resource for understanding and applying ethics in Christian counseling today.

Pastors and biblical counselors who are seeking to faithfully lead, mentor, and guide their flocks in a rapidly changing cultural landscape will find clear direction and guidance from a team of Christian lawyers.

Increasingly, counselors are practicing spiritual or complementary interventions. In balance, how counselors use such interventions is under closer examination by law. This effort to protect clients is embedded in ethical and legal principles, but rarely addressed in the mental health literature. This book will fill that gap by offering a clear understanding of the context of the law. Detailed case studies are given in each chapter as a centerpiece to the understanding, interpretation, and application of the laws. The author, with his unique qualifications in legal and spiritual areas, pays critical attention to the issues of culture throughout this resource that includes handy appendices of a legal glossary, abbreviations, literature review, and an exercise on how to find the law.

What you don't know can hurt you. Do you know: What constitutes "clergy malpractice" and "negligent counseling"? What is "duty of care"? When do you break confidentiality? When are you breaking the law? What are the legal ramifications of church discipline? What is your responsibility in child abuse cases? Can you use counseling illustrations in your sermons? If you are a pastor or counselor, or are in any counseling ministry, this may be the most important new book you will read this year. In this "age of litigation" an explosive new area of law -- suing churches -- is impacting Christians. How do these lawsuits affect pastors and counselors? Seve Levicoff's scholarly, yet easy to read, Christian Counseling and the Law, summons all Christian counselors to study the law themselves so that they can be "as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves" and thereby "fight the good fight of faith" in the secular arena. This is not a book filled with stilted legalese and lofty phrases. It is a straightforward, well-documented resource for the Christian counselor. When you put it down -- if you can -- you will probably say, "That was just what I needed." - Flyleaf.

ContentsPart I The Grave New World of Christian Counseling LiabilityPart II Sexual Misconduct in Christian CounselingPart III Confidentiality and Its Many ExceptionsPart IV The Counseling Process: Managing Liability RiskPart V Special Counseling Modes and Controversial CasesPart VI Corporate Risks and Counseling CredentialsPart VII The Maturation of the Christian Counseling Profession

Religious and Spiritual Issues in Counseling is a comprehensive resource for counselors, psychotherapists and psychologists seeking to understand and incorporate the spiritual dimension of a client's person, and to use this understanding in developing successful intervention strategies with clients. Including case studies and exercises for self-exploration, this book covers specific groups, such as the elderly, the homeless as well as multicultural populations. Human development concerns are integrated into the book and address the changing role that spirituality plays throughout the lifespan.