Catholic mental health practitioners need peer support, as they find their faith sidelined in the secular world.
Te Kupenga Catholic Theological College director John Evangelista and New Zealand-registered psychologist Pamela Low formed the Catholic Counsellors and Psychologists Network this year, to provide a space for Catholics in the helping industry to exchange ideas, experiences and resources, through monthly meetings.
Pamela Low
“It’s very early days. We’re hoping to build the network, have more people become part of it. We can only be more enriched having other people join the network,” Ms Low said. “It’s about building everyone’s capacity to be able to serve more confidently and competently.”
Dr Evangelista said that Catholic practitioners are often discouraged to touch on faith or religion when looking for tools or interventions that could help their clients.
Increasingly, though, he said there is a move towards taking a holistic approach when dealing with clients with mental illness.
“Whatever happens in our lives, we are not only affected physically, but the soul is always affected. That is why, when it comes to healing a person, you heal them both physically and spiritually,” he said.
Dr Evangelista trained as a medical doctor, and also worked as a counsellor. He spent 25 years in healthcare management, but also has a background in education.
Ms Low, on the other hand, has a 20-year experience in the health care industry.
About 18 months ago, they started discussing forming a Catholic network with their colleagues and friends in the industry. They launched the network in June.
“We started with friends, people whom we worked with. And then, some of the chaplains came as well as psychiatrists,” Dr Evangelista said.
They have around 15 members at present, and they hope to increase that number.
Ms Low said that there is a bias towards secular approaches when it comes to mental health interventions.
“There are Christian forms of mindfulness, but there is a bias for Eastern forms,” she gave as an example.
But she has found that there are clients who seek her out because she is Catholic like them.
Dr Evangelista and Ms Low both said that counselling is different from getting spiritual direction, as their training is on mental conditions. But mental health professionals who understand the faith can use tools like prayer, spending time with the Blessed Sacrament, and enriching one’s relationship with God, to help a client.
Ms Low cited the case of a client who was obsessive-compulsive around confession, who was referred to her by priests. The client would go to confession for what the client believed were sins, such as going five kilometres per hour over the speed limit.
“The different priests doing [the client’s] confession . . . told [the client] to seek professional help. They (priests) sought somebody who understood the faith,” Ms Low said. “I was able to use some interventions to target the actual behaviours and thoughts that [the client] had.”
Dr Evangelista also said that, when he was counselling couples, Catholics would prefer to go to him, because secular counsellors would always recommend divorce.
“They [secular counsellors] do not understand the importance of the sacrament of Marriage to Catholics,” he said.
Ms Low said that, when she started incorporating faith in her practice, she decided to take a Graduate Diploma in Theology at the Good Shepherd College. She found the courses on pastoral theology and canon law helpful.
Dr Evangelista said that the Catholic Theology College has designed their graduate diploma to cater to helping professionals in areas such as pastoral care in psychology, pastoral counselling and health care ethics.
He said that, in the future, they would like to be able to organise workshops and talks for the members.
Ms Low said that, eventually, they would like to set up something “more official”, like a database of Catholics practitioners.
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