Do you feel called to serve others as a spiritual counselor? A spiritual advisor is tasked with providing spiritual guidance to people who need a calm atmosphere. For example, hospitals, prisons, and military bases usually have a chaplain to provide spiritual support for people who need it. If you feel you are suitable for this amazing profession, you can do it by following the existing trainings.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Preparing for a Career as a Spiritual Counselor
Step 1. Learn the tasks to be done
A spiritual counselor is ordained or recruited by an organization or by faith to serve people with different needs. A spiritual counselor usually works in hospitals, houses of worship, or military bases and prisons. As a spiritual counselor, your role is to connect with people who need guidance and to advise and comfort those who are sick, confined to their homes, or far from their hometowns. Wherever you work, you should be able to work on several things, such as:
- Visiting people affiliated with your church or organization, as well as in the hospital, or making hours of work as long as people can come to you.
- Listen and pray with people who need spiritual support.
- Lead spiritual services or prayer sessions.
- Provide grief counseling.
- Perform funeral services.
Step 2. Be an open-minded and empathetic person
A spiritual counselor must be able to empathize deeply and be open to building relationships with different people from all backgrounds. As a spiritual counselor, you will be in a position to help someone who is in their most vulnerable condition, when they are seriously ill or are far from their home and family. The most important thing for a spiritual counselor is to have the ability to be able to relate to a variety of people from different backgrounds.
- A spiritual counselor who works in hospitals and prisons as well as military bases will interact with people of different spiritual backgrounds. Some who seek spiritual guidance may not be religious at all. To be an effective spiritual counselor, it is important that you are open and receptive to religious beliefs, even if they differ from yours.
- Even if you are affiliated with a particular religious congregation, you must be able to work with people who come from many different walks of life. You may be asked to advise someone who has made a choice that goes against the teachings of your religion for example. The ability to give your personal opinion is very important as long as it helps, and it doesn't matter who you work with.
Step 3. Be a person who can meet the spiritual needs of strangers
No matter where you become a chaplain, you will get used to meeting new people. It's an opportunity that maybe you've only met the person once or twice, so you have to really help, inspire, and motivate the people you've just met. Its purpose is to strengthen you, a bond will mean to support someone in a very difficult situation. It takes a special person to be able to form this type of relationship quickly.
Step 4. Be trustworthy and able to maintain confidentiality
One of your duties as a spiritual counselor is to provide counseling to those who are under spiritual pressure. When people come to you for help, they will share sensitive details with you and hope that you will keep things private between the two of you. Just as a counselor or psychiatrist can maintain confidentiality, you too will be expected to do the same. An untrustworthy spiritual counselor will quickly lose his potency and effectiveness.
Step 5. Always ready to help at any time
People experience spiritual crises all day long, even in the middle of the night. Depending on where you work, such as a doctor on call, you may have to stop what you are doing or wake up during breaks to help people with problems. Being a selfless person will not be easy for most people, it will be tiring and require personal sacrifice. This is what makes a spiritual counselor special.
However, it is very important to establish boundaries to protect your private life. For example, there may or may not be providing your contact information. Depending on where you work, there may be other restrictions in terms of space
Step 6. Be spiritual
When you have to provide guidance throughout the day, you may find yourself draining of energy. As a spiritual counselor, you must be able to help yourself and keep yourself from deteriorating spiritually. Strengthen your spiritual strength and be able to cope with stress in helping others to become a spiritual counselor who can make a difference.
Part 2 of 3: Meeting the Required Educational Requirements
Step 1. Earn your Bachelor's degree
Many institutions and organizations will not see you as a potential chaplain after you have at least earned a bachelor's degree. When you decide to become a chaplain, focus on the relevant and most helpful education, namely theology and counseling.
- Some colleges, universities and seminaries may offer specialized chaplaincy training with the aim of producing chaplains. However, getting a bachelor's degree in religion or a related field is also sufficient.
- If you aspire to become a chaplain in a particular institution, such as a hospital or prison, complement your undergraduate education with volunteering experience. This will be viewed positively when it comes to applying for jobs.
Step 2. Consider getting a master's degree
Some institutions require a chaplain to have a master's degree (and some prefer candidates with PhDs). This is especially necessary if you are trying to become a hospital or military chaplain. Pursue your master's degree in divinity or a related field, and consider moving on to a doctoral program if your desired job requires it.
- The degree is available at accredited seminars and universities.
- Focusing on biblical counseling or pastoral care or in any other religion is the right provision to become a spiritual counselor.
Step 3. Decide if you should receive Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)
Hospital spiritual counselors are usually required to receive this training, which provides experience in the field as a complement to educational courses. You will have the opportunity to work with people in need in health facilities or prisons. CPE brings together spiritual counselors from all different faiths and provides them with real-world, valuable experiences that will be applied to their later work. This is a requirement for many certification programs.
- Look into CPE centers in the type of facility where you want to work, so you will gain experience working with specific populations.
- The CPE program is divided into several units. One unit usually takes 3 months to complete. Some certification programs require you to complete more than 4 units.
Step 4. Be converted by your religious organization
Since work as a spiritual counselor is rooted in religion, training in religious education and practice is a must. In some cases you may be required to be crowned or endorsed by your religious organization before you are recruited as a chaplain. For example, the United States Army requires you to be a chaplain to a congregation or faith group to guide it. Some religious groups and religious organizations have standards and qualifications that you must meet before you are officially certified as a qualified spiritual counselor. Know what steps to take before becoming a spiritual counselor for your congregation.
- In some cases, the educational level of the seminar will be required to become a spiritual counselor.
- In addition to ordination, your religious group must also provide support, which certifies that you have the ecclesiastical qualifications to adequately represent your religious group and to be a competent spiritual counselor.
Part 3 of 3: Looking for a Job as a Spiritual Advisor
Step 1. Obtain a spiritual advisor's certificate
Depending on where you want to work, you may be required to obtain certification from an organization recognized by the Association of Professional Chaplains. There are many national chaplaincy organizations that each have slightly different standards for certifying a chaplain. Choose the one that best fits your beliefs and work ambitions. Generally, you must pass a written test as a requirement for certification:
- Ordination as a chaplain (or equivalent in your faith group)
- Support from your faith group
- A bachelor's degree in theology (or a related subject)
- Complete four CPE units
Step 2. Determine whether you need to complete the residency
Some hospitals and other facilities require a chaplain to complete a residency before becoming a chaplain. Residency is the completion of supervision from a senior chaplain and can last for one or two years. Once the organization deems the residency complete, the candidate can become a chaplain.
A spiritual counselor's residency involves working with families and hospital staff and attending lectures and seminars as part of their training
Step 3. Become a member of a professional chaplaincy organization
In the United States, the largest group of professional chaplains is the Association for Professional Chaplains, which accepts members from many different religious backgrounds. There are a number of other chaplaincy organizations, and they all have their own requirements for membership. Becoming a member of one of the organizations is a great way to connect with other spiritual counselors and strengthen access to job opportunities during their lifetime.
