Course Description

Through personal reflection and exploration of current pastoral care paradigms, the course will assist in developing best practices in spiritual care. The course participant will develop contextual understanding of persons in crisis and formulate strategies for seeking their well-being and justice.

Learning Objectives

• Identify and apply best practices in empathetic listening including a healthy awareness of power dynamics in the pastoral care encounter.
• Understand models of pastoral care assessment.
• Create a pastoral care plan based on spiritual assessment tools.
• Articulate how to provide pastoral care effectively in diverse cultural settings.
• Understand and apply seven moments of Pastoral care (as defined by Carrie Doehring) in a case study.

Texts Required

Major Book:

• The Practice of Pastoral Care: a Postmodern Approach by Carrie Doehring

Additional Books and Resources:

• Spiritual Care in Practice: Case Studies in Healthcare Chaplaincy, Ed. by George Fitchett & Steve Nolan
• Encounters for Change by Dagmar Grefe