Periodically, we get questions about the counseling services we provide. Here are some things that may be of assistance.

#1. We like to clarify that we do “PASTORAL COUNSELING.” Does that make a difference? Well, somewhat. Counseling without other descriptors in the Philippines normally refers to an activity that is done by a registered psychologist, psychiatrist, or guidance counselor. Pastoral counseling is a form of counseling that integrates spiritual with psychoemotional aspects of the person. In some settings, this is referred to as “spiritual counseling,” while in others, it is known as “biblical counseling.” We prefer not to use the latter terms. First, spiritual counseling suggests that it is only concerned with “spiritual” matters and does not consider the whole person in their whole situation. Biblical counseling, on the other hand, is often used more negatively — frankly, often to demean other forms of counseling as being “unbiblical.” We prefer pastoral counseling as our term since it lacks those presumptions, we believe.

#2. We don’t have regular hours for pastoral counseling. Therefore, you need to contact us to set up an appointment. There are different ways. It can be done through our contact page on our website. It can be done by emailing bukallife@gmail.com or bukallifecare@gmail.com. We don’t have regular hours for pastoral counseling for a couple of reasons. First, our primary ministry is in training ministers in Clinical Pastoral Education. Our schedules are primarily built around that. Second, our team members are all volunteers. We don’t have a staff. We don’t have employees. Therefore, we don’t have anyone sitting down in our office waiting for people to simply walk in.

#3. We do not normally charge for pastoral counseling services. We are a ministry, not a business, and our limited expenses for the ministry are covered by training fees. However, if the meeting leads to a series of appointments, the pastoral counselor MAY seek some payment for those subsequent meetings. Again, our team is a group of volunteers. As such, we encourage generosity in ministry, but we don’t ask volunteers to commit to weeks of pastoral counseling sessions without any financial support. If that happens, any fees would be agreed on mutually before the meeting.

#4. Those who do pastoral counseling with us are certified under CPSP-PH based on the standards established by CPSP (College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy). This is a private certification, as is normal with pastoral counseling, and not a form of licensing. As such, we don’t do counseling that is required for legal matters in the Philippines, such as for marriage or annulment. We certainly do premarital or marital counseling, but not to meet government requirements.

#4. We are in no way in conflict with ‘regular’ counseling. We do work with psychologists, psychiatrists, psychometricians, and guidance counselors. Furthermore, we have referred people to specialists when needed (such as for those we believe may fit into DSM-V categories) and at times have worked in partnership with these professionals.