Pastoral Counseling

Concentration Chair: Rev. Gregory Lockwood

 The pastoral counseling MAPS concentration is intended to give learners the skills they need to help people lead more fulfilling, healthy, and godly lives and relationships. Students will acquire the skills necessary for fostering the emotional, spiritual, and relational development of people-of-faith, in addition to being able to develop ethical and effective psycho-spiritual interventions to assist people in crisis. This concentration is an excellent fit for:

  1. Persons in church ministry who would like to sharpen their psycho-spiritual intervention skills and be more effective, first-line responders to people needing emotional and relational support.
  2. Any person who wishes to practice as a Christian Life Coach and/or Board Certified Professional Life Coach.
  3. Licensed mental health counselors who wish to engage in ethical and effective faith- integrated approaches to professional counseling.

Although this program is not intended to prepare learners to practice as state-licensed mental health professionals, all graduates (whether or not they are currently licensed mental health providers) will have advanced standing to become a Board Certified Coach through the Center for Credentialing and Education

Concentration Goals: 

To equip students with the skills needed to:

  1. To equip learners with the skills needed to foster the emotional, relational, and spiritual well-being of the people they serve.
  2. To equip students with the technical skills needed to assist people struggling with emotional and relational problems using spiritually-integrated counseling/coaching techniques
  3. To empower students to provide faith-integrated counseling/coaching services in an ethical and effective manner.
  4. To give students the means of pursuing ongoing personal, emotional, and spiritual development.

 Concentration Outcomes:

Students with a concentration in Pastoral Counseling will be able to:

  1. Assist others with effective goal planning and decision-making skills.
  2. Use spiritually-integrated approaches to counseling/coaching in an ethical/effective manner.
  3. Facilitate the emotional, relational, and spiritual well-being and development of the people they serve.
  4. Effectively help people deal with emotional, relational, and spiritual crises.
  5. Develop greater self-awareness and the ability to use this self-knowledge to be more effective helping professionals.

Licensed mental health professionals who complete the Pastoral Counseling Concentration may identify as Certified Catholic Pastoral Counselors (CCPC) upon graduation.

Co-requisites for All Areas of Concentration

  1. PAS 602 Fundamentals of Practical Theology
  2. DTH 645 Nature and Grace 

Core Courses for the Pastoral Counseling Concentration

  1. MTH 851 Contemporary Moral Issues 
  2. PAS 805 Trinity and the Incarnation
  3. PAS 660 Thanatology PAS 785 Pastoral Issues Concerning Human Sexuality 

Pastoral Counseling Area Concentration 

  1. PAS 641 Methods in Counseling  
  2. PAS 683 Pastoral Counseling I: Spiritual Helping and Accompaniment (Pre-req., PAS 641)
  3. PAS 684 Pastoral Counseling II: Spiritual Diagnosis and Accompaniment (Pre-req., PAS 641; PAS 683)
  1. PAS 791 Morals and Psychology

Pastoral Counseling Electives 

*Select any two courses from the following or consult the MAPS Program Director to approve your alternate selection.

  1. DTH 512 Spiritual Life in the Classics 
  2. PAS 511 Mission and Evangelization 
  3. PAS 605 Intercultural Competencies  
  4. PAS 621 Pastoral Care of Marriage and Family 
  5. PAS 700 Christian Life Together in the Presence of Human, Physical, and Intellectual Impairments
  6. PAS 720 Nurturing the Domestic Church: Facilitating Authentic Marriage, Family Life and Spirituality

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