For me, coming from a big city to Mansfield, it was striking just how many stand-alone "pastoral counselors" there were. Grace Haven had one whose office was in the Lodge (which makes sense, I guess, because there wasn't really a pastor over the whole body). Anyhow, when I look at Google, there are still more than a dozen counseling offices, most of them lining Lexington Avenue.
Ashland Seminary seems to be the source of all these counselors—two years (64 credits) and you're a professional. (Most of the courses are three hour "Introduction to" courses, and six of those credits are hands-on practicum hours.)
The appeal to the Christian community is obvious. Aside from the Evangelical anti-expert bias, there has always been a suspicion that secular psychologists or psychiatrists would try to talk Christian patients out of their faith (which would actually be a serious breach of professional ethics). Secular mental health professionals would never pray with their patients and would never try to funnel them into churches. If a patient in a secular counseling situation wants to talk through issues such as being gay or wanting a sex change, a secular counselor would not automatically assume that those issues are signs of a sinful nature. Besides, there has, for years, been a feeling that there should be a "Christian economy" separate from the "secular economy" (similar to the economic separation of the muggles and the wizarding world) and a feeling that secular legal/ethical standards just don't apply to our people.
Thus the extensive network of Christian counseling.
The need for Christian counseling is obvious. Aside from the ills that befall all of humankind (grief, depression triggered by events, etc.), the Christian world has additional stressors (wanting an abortion, having had an abortion, being gay, having a gay child, wanting a divorce, etc.). The idealized Christian family (all-powerful father, submissive mother, saintly children) was difficult to achieve, created a lot of personal strain, and was open to a lot of abuse. And if you couldn't live up to that standard, there was a load of guilt to deal with.
The Christian counseling environment was its own thing, and was just … odd.
For one thing, these counselors never seemed to have stand-alone qualifications or credentials. If you were seeing John Doe, he was really working under the auspices and license of Dr. Richard Roe, whom you never met, but who presumably is being kept up to date on all your private conversations.
Ashland Seminary (the source of most of these counselors) pushed Rogerian therapy, which meant that the counselor never had an agenda coming into the meeting and that the most common question was "What do you think is the issue?" or "How do you think you should deal with it?" (If I knew what the problem was and how to fix it, I wouldn't be here.) Rogerian therapy is, however, a great refuge for those who do self-diagnosis, another bonus for this community. It's also a great refuge for counselors who don't want to do too much study or preparation for a session.
Of course, because your counselor has, at best, an M.A. in counseling, you won't get any medication. Would Prozac help your depression? There's no way to know—you won't get it from John Doe, M.A. You might, however, get some sort of nostrum. I spent several counseling sessions sitting under a special light while talking to one guy.
Billing was also odd. If your health insurance offered to pay 80% of the cost, it was typical for the counselor to simply forgive the copayment (effectively lying and saying that the session's bill was $100 when the true amount was only $80—what the muggles don't know won't hurt them).
Confidentiality
Both professional ethics and civil law require that mental health professionals (and other health care professionals) keep your communications private. There are exceptions in very extreme cases, but in general, you should expect that what you say to a counselor stays in the counseling office. (This made the "supervising psychologist" relationship weird. If John Doe is discussing particulars of my case with his supervisor, Dr. Richard Roe—whom I have never met—I'm uneasy about my private communications floating around the county. On the other hand, if they aren't discussing my case, I can't imagine what good Dr. Richard Roe is doing for me.)
Anyhow, it was very risky to share any sensitive information with GFC elders, whether they were licensed counselors or just plain old elders, because their first impulse was to take this information back to the elders' prayer group. Suddenly, what I thought was a private cry for help to one spiritual guide becomes common knowledge to half a dozen church leaders and (because a husband and wife are one flesh) half a dozen wives as well. More than once (and one of them well-documented in newspaper stories) when an elder who was also a mental health professional faced the question whether to protect the client or share the information, the decision was to share the information. Not the best practice in a counseling situation. Elders seemed to have a problem with priorities and boundaries.
Personal reflection
I went through several years of that sort of counseling. I didn't have any big breakdowns, nor did I suffer anything like the scandal that rocked Grace Fellowship Church in 2015, but all that Rogerian chit-chat (and the fluorescent lights) didn't help much either. Later, when an elder decided my cry for help wasn't that private after all, I had to deal with the consequences, but that's all behind me now. I came away from counseling with most of my problems intact and with the settled opinion that mental health professionals are pretty much useless and risky. Would I ever share my most sensitive and potentially embarrassing thoughts with such a person? Not on your life.
I suspect I'm not alone.
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