truthseaker

I said it was unethical for a bishop to counsel couples about their marriage, which I stand by. I said it was unethical for a Bishop to counsel members about problems in their lives, which I stand by. Its fine for a bishop to tell a church member to pray about their problems, but anything above that, in my opinion is unethical.

Thanks, you must understand that is a very fine line to walk, and a bishop is not trained to see the signs of someone who needs professional help, not everyone who needs counselling comes out and asks for it.

If that is your viewpoint on that comment then I find that extremely sad and very unethical.

I'd really like it if you would define it for me, the LDS view of what counselling means.

A joke is very well welcomed at this point in the current discussion!

Exactly, bishops should not counsel their members, they are not qualified to do so. A counsellor, a psychologist a psychiatrist is. Or at the very least in an emergency situation a doctor.

I was responding to Just A Guy who said It’s interesting to me how many therapists decry the power LDS clergy hold over the lives of their congregants, but then demand the right to exercise that exact same power over their clients, and with far less oversight. This is not what therapy is about at all. Therapy is about giving the client the power to make their own decisions and choose what is best for them. I nor any therapist I know 'exercises hold power' over their clients. I have however, counselled many clients who are taking their power back from a religious organisation which has had a very negative detrimental effect on their lives and mental and emotional well being. The Bottom line is: A bishop is not a medical health professional. He has no real training in marriage counselling, trauma counselling, suicide counselling, depression counselling, crisis counselling, sexual abuse counselling, physical abuse counselling etc etc. He should therefore make NO recommendations whatsoever on how anyone should receive treatment. Its unethical

This sounds nice in the abstract, except that other posts suggest you take a very expansive definition of “counseling”. I stand by everything I have said. I don't suggest any underlying agenda in anything I have said. “my clients have to quit listening to their bishops, quit listening to their parents, quit listening to their closest friends and listen exclusively to ME” I have never met a qualified therapist who has that attitude, to do so would be highly unethical. Wise mental health professionals realize that healing isn’t a one-man show. My clients support structure is of great value to their recovery. A bishop is not however a mental health professional and should never act or behave as such. It’s interesting to me how many therapists decry the power LDS clergy hold over the lives of their congregants, but then demand the right to exercise that exact same power over their clients, and with far less oversight. This is not what therapy is about at all. Therapy is about giving the client the power to make their own decisions and choose what is best for them. I nor any therapist I know 'exercises hold power' over their clients. I have however, counselled many clients who are taking their power back from a religious organisation which has had a very negative detrimental effect on their lives and mental and emotional well being.

This is the kind of unethical repercussions of bishops making referrals that I'm concerned about. I don't know what the policy is in your country, but in Australia if you get a referral from your doctor every Australian is entitled to 10 free sessions with a medical health professional per year. With these clients I always give them an extra 2 sessions at my cost so they can come and see me once a month.

There is no problem with someones church paying for counselling sessions, but ethically the referral needs to come from a doctor, to make sure everything is above board and non biased.

This situation is more about getting financial help to pay for counselling, they have already decided that they need the counselling. Asking your church for financial help is fine, but I strongly believe the referral should be coming from a doctor, then the church can pay for those sessions if they want to help the member. The bigger issue is with the bishop doing the counselling himself.

Exactly you should not go to your spiritual leader for a referral for a mental health professional, they are not qualified to make that referral, you should go to a doctor.

I'm saying they should not abuse that authority, and offering counselling when you are not qualified to do so is just that, abusing your spiritual authority over another.

Thank you, I'm actually a psychologist with an active counselling practice so I do have a very strong opinion on this issue.

But a bishop is in a position of spiritual authority over these people, it is unethical to offer advice on their personal lives (marriage or otherwise) from a counselling perspective, its very different than talking to a friend about your problems. I understand that is your culture but it invites a lot of problems, problems that could be avoided.