{"id":2124,"date":"2016-04-27T14:30:22","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T19:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=2124"},"modified":"2021-08-27T10:02:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T15:02:23","slug":"pastoral-counseling-helping-families-heal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/pastoral-counseling-helping-families-heal\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastoral Care and Counseling to Help Families Heal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Within the ministry of pastoral care, healing from brokenness<\/em> is a central goal, both for individuals and for the families of which they are a part. Although pastoral care can certainly be extended at times of great joy in a family\u2019s life (such as at the time of a marriage or the birth of a new baby), families most often feel the need for pastoral care and counseling during experiences of brokenness in their lives together. Of course, brokenness within a family may take many forms: caring for an elderly parent<\/a>; grief following the death of a loved one; divorce or familial estrangement; the loss of a job; abuse or violence.<\/p>\n

In the midst of such experiences, individual pastoral caregivers and caring faith communities are called to facilitate healing in families\u2019 lives. Healing, in this sense, focuses on the restoration of wholeness and fullness of life, and does not necessarily mean \u201ccure.\u201d In other words, it may not always be possible to fully restore a family\u2019s health or wholeness, or to reverse the family\u2019s current situation in any meaningful way. Instead, in this way of thinking, healing means helping people overcome an impairment by helping to lead them to a place beyond their previous condition. It may also mean assisting families to move to a higher level of spiritual insight and awareness of God\u2019s love by integrating their experiences of brokenness with their faith.<\/p>\n

To be clear: healing does not come directly from individual caregivers or faith communities, or from any particular approach they might take in their pastoral care ministry. It is God who heals, but there are many things caregivers and communities can do to facilitate healing in the lives of the families they serve. Here are just a few examples of what this healing work might look like:<\/p>\n