Chaplains and Counselors—Working Together for Good

Background 

It was my good fortune to begin my ministry as Head Chaplain at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School at the same time as the school hired its first full-time Director of Counseling. Though he and I did not know each other prior to the 2012-2013 school year, we quickly realized that we could do more together to support the community members than if we attempted to “stay in our own lanes.” In order for each of us to understand the goals of our respective programs, we met several times during that first academic year to discuss our hopes and plans. After several meetings, we used the image of a Venn diagram to imagine the ways that the chaplain’s role and the counselor’s role are different, and the ways that they can overlap in complementary ways. 

In our particular context, it was important to investigate how the roles of counselor and chaplain had been understood in the community prior to our arrival. This investigation required a period of listening to the community members about how they had experienced these roles being embodied. Certainly we needed to listen to the other adults involved in the school’s Health Team (nurse, deans, athletic trainers, etc.), but we also needed to listen to the students’ experiences and expectations. In some cases, what we heard confirmed ways of working that we would continue, and in other cases, what we heard helped us identify ways of working that we would need to amend or change. 

I wrote the following article for our team as a way to clarify and guide our working relationships.It is offered here not as the only approach but simply a model that may help other schools as they do the same in their own particular contexts.

“Chaplains and Counselors—Working Together for Good”

For the chaplains, the goal of pastoral care is an encounter with the love of God wherein the person in distress experiences divine love acting through the chaplain. As it is articulated by the National Association of Episcopal Schools:

“Pastoral care is characterized by listening, encouraging, and paying attention to the spiritual dimensions of the conversation taking place. Pastors listen not only for the voice of the other, but also for the voice of God in every conversation.​”

Principles of Good Practice for School Ministry in Episcopal Schools

More specifically, pastoral care might take the form of a conversation with a student about a family member’s poor health, it might include a visit to the hospital when a student is ill, or it might be a prayer with a faculty member struggling with a disappointing diagnosis. In all of these examples, the chaplain is able to draw on theological training to evaluate the circumstances, and to witness God’s presence in the midst of life’s challenges and to hold redemptive hope in suffering. 

While pastoral care is an important part of the overall care administered by the health team, there are some important distinctions between pastoral care and the work of the counselor. As distinct from the counselor, the chaplains’ role is to help the community to wrestle with questions of life and meaning. This role might take shape as: listening and reflection, guidance in spiritual disciplines, and prayer. Certainly emotional and psychological concerns could surface, in which case, the chaplain should encourage the student to seek out help from a counselor. Such concerns would include but would not be limited to issues regarding suicidal ideation, self-mutilation, eating issues, gender identity, drug and alcohol use, ongoing anxiety or depressive symptoms, etc. The chaplain should refer these students to the counselor as soon as these issues become apparent, and the chaplain and the counselor might work together to support the person in distress. 

An area of similarity between the chaplain and the counselor is in keeping confidentiality. In a school community like St. Stephen’s, it is very important to maintain confidentiality in order to build trust and ensure a safe environment. While both chaplain and counselor are bound by professional ethics to maintain confidentiality, when it is appropriate and legal, it may be appropriate for the chaplain and the counselor to consult together in order to share the responsibility of privacy and confidentiality. It was the second century bishop of Lyon, Irenaeus, who said: “The Glory of God is the human person fully alive.” The chaplain and the counselor of the St. Stephen’s Health Team have the unique privilege to create an environment where students can mature and all community members can grow spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. It is vital that the team members work closely together, acknowledging that the goal of each professional involved is “…the human person fully alive.”

Procedure for continuing and improving shared work: 

1. Communication — formal and informal means of communicating immediately about students of concern and health plans; during H-Team meetings but also beyond these weekly meetings 
2. Collaboration — clear plans for how H-Team members will support students and who will do what
3. Review — regular conversations about how cases were handled and how each role carried out

Conclusion

After almost a decade of building a shared safety net for students, there have been many important learnings. In my experience, the most important ingredient to building an effective working relationship between these two roles is open and direct communication. On many occasions, chaplains and counselors have been able to discuss situations with students that have gone well and others that were not handled as well. Discussing these situations has required each of us to balance advocating for our method of caring for students and appreciating the ways that method might be improved. The degree to which we could each examine our handling of a situation and incorporate feedback for the next time we faced the same circumstances is the degree to which we have been able to continue working well together. In all of these situations, we strived to improve the quality of care that we might provide together in order to do our very best in supporting the formation and development of all students.

The Rev. Todd Fitzgerald is Head Chaplain at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, TX.