A Text Book on Pastoral Care & Counselling

A Text Book on Pastoral Care and Counselling’ is a joint effort of many authors. It presents the basis of Pastoral care and counselling, functions, basic skills in pastoral counselling and its therapeutic measures. It also tries to highlight the pastoral care and counselling for different stages of life, religious resources which can be utilized. Important psychotherapies and crisis counselling for different situations of crisis also included. This volume will be a valuable resource for counselling students, teachers and pastors for their professional helping ministry of the church and society.

Rev. Dr. Daniel Burnabas is an ordained presbyter of Church of South India - Diocese of South Kerala and has been serving in different churches since 1979. He served as teaching faculty in the department of Ministry, Pastoral Care & Counselling and also as the registrar and principal of Kerala United Theological Seminary (KUTS), Kannamoola, Trivandrum, Kerala. He was also a member and treasurer of the Federated Faculty for Research in Religion and Culture (FFRRC). He is a teacher, counsellor and a motivator. He did his BD at the Kerala United Theological Seminary, Kannamoola; MTh from the United Theological College, Bangalore and Doctoral Studies in Pastoral Care and Counselling with the Senate of Serampore College.

The present socio-cultural and religious settings demands people to lead a happy and meaningful life. But starting from the family atmosphere we may confront with many stressful and unhappy life. In the midst of advanced global technological and scientific developments some people wish to lead a peaceful life and most of them try to seek help to solve the problems in their lives. Here comes the need of pastoral care and counselling. Though pastoral counselling comes under the wide spectrum of pastoral care, it demands special attention of the counsellor by the counselee to solve his/her problem which needs skills in counselling.

A Text Book on Pastoral Care and Counselling is hope to give initial knowledge about care and counselling. It also will provide knowledge to the counsellors for the therapeutic measures to solve the problems of the needy to a large extent. The content of this book written by different authors will hope to be helpful for the initial readers as well as those who are interested in care and counselling ministry. An attempt is made to include most of the initial factors necessary for the students of counselling and educators of care and counselling.

Many have contributed in the attempt of publishing this book. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped in the completion of the book. First of all I would like to express my humble gratitude to Rev. Dr. Gabriel Robinson, my initial 'guru' in pastoral counselling ministry during my theological studies in the seminary who has written the first chapter of this book. I am indebted to Rev. Dr. L. V. Bipinlal, head of the faculty of counseling department in Kerala United Theological Seminary, Kannammoola and treasurer of FFRRC, Kottayam for his keen support and motivation.

I acknowledge with gratitude, to the contributors who have worked hard and co-operated with me for this noble venture.

My sincere thanks goes to Dr. G. J. Hamlin, Assistant Professor, department of English, Women's Christian College, Nagercoil for editing and proof reading the manuscript.

My heartfelt thanks to Mr. Bejoy Burnabas J. for doing the cover design. Above all I express my thanks to Christian World Imprints, New Delhi for publishing the volume.

**Contents and Sample Pages**