After the Storm. Supporting Disaster Response in Baguio

In the last few days, there has been a number of landslides in the greater Baguio area due to heavy rains. A deadly one occurred only around a 10 minute walk from our counseling center office— in Guisad Surong Barangay. We were asked to help minister to survivors and families. With 10 lives lost in the landslide, this is a great blow to so many.

Orientation for Disaster Ministerial Work

We joined in two main activities. One is standard chaplaincy, meeting with people close to the site (in Baguio Internation Academy, in Guisad Surong) and with family members at the vigil for their loved ones.

The other activity was a partnership with Pag-asa Para sa Bata Project. The focus for this work was on the use of art for therapeutic purposes. Below is the article from the Baguio City Information Office

As part of the continuing psychosocial response for families affected by the recent disaster, Pag-asa Para sa Bata Project and Bukal Life Care and Counseling Center in coordination with this office thru the Baguio Mental Health Council conducted a Mental Health and Pastoral Support Activity for internally displaced individuals temporarily staying at Baguio International Academy.

Today’s activity provided a safe and supportive space where participants could receive emotional and spiritual care and begin to process the stress, grief, fear, uncertainty, and other challenges associated with displacement and loss. Sessions were organized according to age and developmental needs to promote an appropriate and respectful approach to support. Individuals who required more focused assistance were also provided with one-on-one counseling.

Follow-up sessions will be continued by the CSWD and partner agencies to continue to provide sustained psychosocial and pastoral support, particularly for families whose homes were severely damaged and for those who have experienced the loss of loved ones.

Through this initiative, the the team contributed to the city’s ongoing efforts to foster healing, resilience, dignity, and hope among internally displaced individuals as they recover and begin rebuilding their lives.

Questions About Counseling at Bukal Life Care

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.

CPE Presentation at PBTS

Bukal Life Care will be presenting our ministry and especially the Clinical Pastoral Education program at the Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary this month.

When: Thursday, July 23rd, 2026. 9:30am to 10:30am.

Where: PBTS Chapel Service. Chapel A, PBTS. 19 Tacay Road, Baguio City

May 2026 Updates

Summer CPE is coming to an end now as the new school year starts. We do have a couple of things coming.

#1. June 8 is the start of CPO-200. This is a 200 hour, 6 week course preparing trainees for CPE.

#2. June 19 is the start of CPE for 4th unit trainees.

In September we expect to start up more training groups. We will update you as they come up.

March 2026 Updates– Bukal Life Care

===Child Safety Conference– Feb 25-26, 2026. Held at PBTS, and led by Pag-Asa para sa Bata at Kabataan Project, with Bukal Life Care one of their partners for this effort.

    ===CPE and CPO are finishing up for winter, with new groups starting soon. The following is our tentative upcoming schedule:

    Summer Intensive CPE Group A: March 30 – June 5

    Summer Intensive CPE Group B: April 8 – June 26

    Summer Intensive CPE Group C: May 6 July 25.

    February CPE Batch

    We just had the orientation for our February (Feb 3 – Apr 24) batch. The group will be split into four groups. Below is the group of trainees and supervisors. Our next batch (Summer Intensive) will start at the end of March. Email us at bukallife@gmail.com for more information (or go to the Contact Us page on this website.

    January 2026 Updates

    We hope that everyone has had a beautiful Christmas Holiday. In the Eastern church, Christmas is tomorrow (January 8), while in the Western church, the, the 8th is Epiphany. Either way, we wish a Blessed 2026.

    Healthy Aging and Church Workers Mental Health Forum, held at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary Jan 7, 2026. Chaplain Vo Canoy speaking here during the panel discussion time
    Healthy Aging
    Announcement for CPE at Saint Louis University (SLU)
    Announcement for CPR at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary (PBTS)

    Note: the two programs are really the same program but with different supervisors and meeting at different locations. This is done to provide greater opportunities for CPE trainers.

    Dr. Paul with his first police ministry work of the year.