History and Mission of Horizon Hope
The history of Horizon Hope Counseling began 20 plus years ago when I felt a Call to Pastoral Ministry. This calling was experienced through my years serving as a pastor in the United Methodist Church throughout Indiana and Illinois. I value greatly the experience I have had while serving as pastor for many good people and quality faith communities over the years. During these years, I learned that much of pastoral effectiveness is in assisting people at important times in their lives. It was through these relationships that I truly began to value the many facets of the human condition. I truly do believe that people want to have quality relationships, but often have difficulty reclaiming the hope which is out of reach.
As a pastor, I valued the ways in which God used me to help individuals and families during times of crisis and transition. What became clear was that first, as a pastor, I did not have the sufficient time to assist members of my congregation in the ways needed, and secondly I did not have sufficient training for mental health and pastoral counseling to help those I served. As a pastor I truly desired a trained mental health professional to whom I could refer persons from my congregation as the needs arose. What began to unfold was the realization that God was leading me to become one of the persons to whom people could refer. It was through the educational and clinical training which followed that I have been blessed to devote my vocation to sitting with persons at important times in their life. It is good to do what I believe God has called me to do and that for which I am most gifted - Counseling.
This call was a gradual move as I expanded my education and returned to complete my doctoral work in Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy, which included a 3 year post-graduate residency at Care and Counseling, in St. Louis, MO. I have learned so much from my mentors, supervisors and leaders in the pastoral counseling and psychotherapy movement. I am so very thankful for the expertise imparted to me over the years. During these years, I served the people of Illinois and Missouri in a variety of counseling settings. I have discovered that people of varied backgrounds and faiths desire a place where they can seek healing and change. I have also discovered that I am a small part of the change – I am merely a facilitator and servant for a person’s ability to discover resiliency and potential healing. I have discovered that change does occur even from the most difficult childhoods. Even though this change is often slow and gradual, change does occur and is possible. I have also found a special calling to pastors and pastor’s families as they have sought healing and growth. This added focus and vision is needed to provide places of healing for those who often help and minister. Healing for the healers is a vital part of the ministry of Horizon Hope Counseling.
After 9 years serving on the clinical staff of Care and Counseling, I felt a call once again to expand our services in Metro East Illinois. I have witnessed the compassion and caring of countless people in congregations to assist in the expansion of services to individuals, couples, and families of the Metro East area. We look forward to many years of quality service to the people of this area. We also look forward to expanding our locations and increasing clinical staff to serve the area. Our history is the story which continues to unfold and discover that which is yet to be.
Dr. Steve Heitkamp
History and Mission of Pastoral Counseling
Pastoral Counselors are ministers or persons endorsed by a religious faith group who are also mental health professionals. They have received specialized graduate training in both religion and the behavioral sciences and practice the integrated discipline of pastoral counseling.
The American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC) represents over 3,200 Pastoral Counselors and more than 100 pastoral counseling centers in the United States. AAPC Pastoral Counselors relate to more than 80 faith groups including the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths. Additionally, these AAPC certified and affiliated Pastoral Counselors have access to faith group congregations with membership of over 20 million people, with outreach to millions more.
The American Association of Pastoral Counselors affirms as a moral imperative that the American people, without exception, must have access to quality health care. It also affirms, as a matter of societal responsibility, that mental and emotional illness must be covered on the same basis and to the same extent as physical illness. It has been demonstrated that equitable coverage of mental and emotional illness will result in the lowered utilization of costly physical health care while such coverage will cost only a few dollars per covered person a year, a small proportion of the cost of coverage for all conditions
Pastoral counseling represents a major national resource for community mental health services, both therapeutic and preventive. This is because religious communities are one of the principal gateways for those seeking relief from human suffering, including mental and emotional illness, drug and alcohol abuse, family conflict, depression and suicide, child and spousal abuse, juvenile delinquency, and other societal problems of our day. Pastoral counseling has now become a major provider of mental health services in this country, accounting for over 3 million hours of treatment annually in both institutional and private settings, offering individual, group marital, and family therapy.
Pastoral counseling is also recognized as a national mental health resource in the public's preference for a spiritually oriented modality of treatment as demonstrated by a 1992 Gallup Poll. This survey showed that 66 percent preferred a professional counselor who represented spiritual values and beliefs, and 81 percent preferred to have their own values and beliefs integrated into the counseling process.
The American Association of Pastoral Counselors is a member of the national mental health community, actively participating in a number of health and mental health coalitions. From a professional perspective, the ethics and standards of the AAPC require that their Pastoral Counselor members work in close collaboration with other mental health professionals, imploring the latest and most effective psychotherapeutic modalities of treatment. There is ample evidence that many mental health professionals in other disciplines are beginning to recognize the value of the spiritual dimension in the healing process and are beginning to develop it in their own work. The AAPC also requires that their Pastoral Counselor members hold a continuing responsible relationship in their
local religious communities.
Pastoral Counselors certified by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors are highly educated professionals. By studying theology as well as psychology, Pastoral Counselors are trained in two disciplines instead of one. The typical education and training for the AAPC Pastoral Counselor at the membership level of Fellow consists of a Bachelor's Degree from a college or university, a 3 rear professional degree from a seminary, and a specialized masters or doctoral degree in the field. A significant portion of this education is spent in clinical training. The primary levels of AAPC certified membership are: Member - an apprentice certification; Fellow - indicating full clinical competence; Diplomate which qualifies one to work as a supervisor of ministers and Pastoral Counselors. The AAPC also sets standards for accreditation of pastoral counseling centers and approval of pastoral counseling training programs. A large number of universities, graduate training programs, graduate schools of theology, and seminaries around the Country prepare ministers for pastoral counseling.
Pastoral counseling represents a paradigm for preventive mental health care. From the perspective of community prevention, early and easy access to pastoral counseling centers through the family and church- or synagogue-based and other referral services provides the patient with early intervention before the illness or problem becomes chronic and/or resistant to treatment. The Church or synagogueis a natural community gateway through which millions of persons pass each week, and through which a wide spectrum of mental health and societal problems are presented, many of which are amenable to early intervention and treatment. In addition to the church or synagogue setting, Pastoral Counselors provide outreach preventive services in the hospital setting, in prison, in the university, in the military, and in the primary and secondary school.
Pastoral counseling is a discipline which has been consistent with the goals of managed care by providing quality service with preventive care, working with the total person, and producing cost-effectiveness. Provider processes involved in patient care such as utilization review, cross-discipline cooperation and referral, goal-oriented continuing education, on-going quality improvement, and operational efficiency have long defined the proficiency processes of Pastoral Counselors. In an era when managed care is assuming an ever-growing role in the present pluralistic health care delivery system, and at a time when a majority prefer to be treated by a professional counselor who represents spiritual values and beliefs, the services of Pastoral Counselors must be made available in managed care settings.
Pastoral Counselors possess a depth of training that is significantly beyond that of many other mental health professionals of the core disciplines. Theirs is a discipline which maintains the natural connection between the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions. It is now recognized across the mental health field that this connection fosters a sound and lasting foundation for treatment of the whole person. Moreover, Pastoral Counselors have successful treatment rates equal to those of the highest quality of mental health services.
Nevertheless, at this point, the majority of Pastoral Counselors are able to obtain state licensure only through a discipline other than their own. This provides them with neither the desired nor the appropriate pastoral counseling identity. The AAPC is currently pushing forward a national effort to promote state legislation for the licensing of Pastoral Counselors. This process takes time. Con currently, Pastoral Counselors are informing policy-makers, the various managed care systems, and those involved in the development of national health care proposals that pastoral counseling is a national mental health resource that is being sought by the public and that fulfills, in an exemplary manner, the highest standards for quality and cost-effective mental health care delivery.
Pastoral counseling is a valuable national mental health care resource which should be integrated into the national health care delivery system as that system is being reshaped to make it more responsive and accountable to the needs and desires of the American people.
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