Frequently Asked Questions

What Should I Expect In the First Session?

For the most part the initial session allows you and your therapist to meet and get to know each other. You share with your therapist the reasons for seeking therapy, your goals, and other information about yourself that will help your therapist understand you, your life situation, and your needs. Your therapist may ask you specific questions and is open to answering any questions you have. This process may include completing forms provided by your therapist.

Each BPC therapist also has written information for you that explains basic policies and procedures. It includes an explanation of confidentiality and some information about its limits as well as the therapist's policy regarding fees, cancellations, and payments. We ask you to sign a form to verify that you have received it.

At the end of the first session, you and your therapist will share general impressions and assess whether working together would be helpful to you or not. You can decide if you feel comfortable enough with this person to do the inner work that is needed (see "How to Choose a Therapist"). If you don't, your therapist can refer you to someone else. If you want to work with this therapist, your goals and your therapist's recommendations will be integrated to make a plan for helping you make the changes you are seeking.

This plan specifies goals and describes a course of action to help you achieve those goals.

What Results Can I Expect? How Long Will It Take?

The answers to these questions depend, in large measure, on the problems that you choose to address in your therapy. Some problems respond very well to a short course of therapy, while others require a longer commitment. In general, a more narrowly defined issue, in which the desired outcome can be concretely named (e.g. "I want help in confronting my boss about a raise. I would like to be able to handle the interaction professionally, but in the past I have always ended up getting angry or teary"), may be resolved in a few sessions.

Conversely, those problems that are more generalized (e.g. "I'm unhappy but I can't figure out why, and I don't know what would make me feel better."), would probably require a longer discernment process to get to the real issues that are causing the distress. Additionally, these kinds of issues take more time to effect the changes that would be necessary to resolve the problem. The scope of the therapeutic endeavor can be negotiated between you and your therapist so that you know what you are committing to, and what the criterion would be for a successful outcome.

How Do I Choose a Therapist?

At Brookland Pastoral Center, we understand that making a commitment to therapy is a big investment in time, money and effort. It's important that you choose a counselor who can best help you realize your goals in therapy. There are several things you might want to take into consideration when you're looking for a therapist.

The first consideration involves practical details. For example, do you need to see a preferred provider in order to be covered by your insurance? Is the therapist's office close enough to you to allow convenient access? Can you find a mutually acceptable meeting time? Is the fee within an appropriate range for your budget?

The second thing to consider involves investigating the therapist's credentials, education and areas of expertise or specialization. All the therapists at BPC have the legally required credentials and appropriate educational backgrounds. Several of our members are specially trained in particular skills, such as Imago Relationship Therapy or EMDR.

The third thing that you should weigh when choosing your therapist is purely subjective. What is your comfort level with this person? Do you feel heard and understood? Do you think you could trust this person with your thoughts and feelings no matter what they are? You need to find a counselor that is a good fit for your personality and style in order to make the most of the therapy opportunity. Our referral coordinator will try to match you with an appropriate referral, but you always have the option of meeting with more than one therapist until you are comfortable with your choice.

How Can I Arrange to See a BPC Therapist?

To arrange to see a BPC therapist, contact Ann Marshall, our referral coordinator, by leaving a voicemail message at (202) 526-4445, ext. 0, or sending an email message to referral@BPCcounseling.com . Please use this voicemail extension or email address when requesting a referral, rather than Ann's personal extension or address. Please include your telephone number or numbers with the area code in your message and suggest some times Ann can reach you. She will try to call you during one of the times you suggest. During that conversation, Ann will answer any questions you have about our services. She will also ask for information about what brings you to seek counseling, any preferences you have regarding the type of therapist you want to see, and your particular needs in areas such as scheduling and fees. Based on the information Ann gathers she will match you with one of BPC's therapists and give you information on how to contact him or her.

What Is Pastoral Counseling?

Pastoral Counseling combines the disciplines of psychology and spirituality.

Pastoral counselors are trained through rigorous academic programs in counseling and in theology. Thus, pastoral counselors are professional psychotherapists with a plus-that is, training in integrating the spiritual into the process of psychological change. They recognize the life of the soul as well as the influence of psyche in a person's life.

In particular, pastoral counselors assist people in bringing about positive change in their lives while respecting their participation in their own spiritual life or faith tradition. Accordingly, clients are welcome, but never required, to bring faith resources to bear on difficulties for which they seek help.

While pastoral counselors are supportive of faith life, they never impose their own faith discipline on others, nor do they require that clients practice a particular faith discipline. Counselors do not all have one particular religious affiliation. Sometimes those who practice no faith choose pastoral counselors as therapists because they appreciate being treated as whole people.

The word "pastor" comes from the Latin word for shepherd. In the most traditional sense, "pastor" is used to designate a minister who shepherds the flock, the congregation. Originally ordained ministers who trained to become counselors referred to themselves as pastoral counselors. More recently, any person, lay or clergy, who is open to incorporating spirit/soul into the counseling process, can choose to train as a pastoral counselor.

In sum, pastoral counseling is offered by clinically and theologically trained psychotherapists, assists people in making both short-term and long-term changes, and uses a process that allows people to draw from the resources of their spiritual life in an intentional way, if they so wish.

What Is the Difference Between Psycho-Educational and Process Groups?

There are two kinds of therapy groups. One is "psycho-educational." The other is "process." Psycho-educational groups use techniques to help clients learn new ways to look at their personal history or their present experiences, or to help them practice new skills in their daily lives at home, school, work, or other social settings. The emphasis in these groups is on gaining new information from books, lectures, and especially exercises. Group members assist and encourage one another to meet their individual goals. Members tend to talk about their experiences outside the group and how the lessons, or homework and readings help them relate better to the co-workers, friends, or intimate partners in their daily lives.

Process groups rely less on providing information and more on providing opportunities for members to engage more deeply in relationships with the other members during the group sessions. Clients in these groups focus less on what goes on in their daily lives outside the group and more on how they are developing relationships inside the group. Group members use each other in a kind of relationship laboratory. These groups function therapeutically because members work through communication difficulties as they inevitably arise in the group over time. These communication difficulties usually signal the very issues that continually recur in the members' lives with their co-workers, friends and intimate others. The leaders of the process group set up ground rules and provide guidance or coaching to the members. These factors make it safe for group members to remain connected to each other while risking new ways to relate to each other. Those new behaviors can heal the wounds that have often plagued the members' past relationships. In effect, members do the interpersonal work that they have avoided or handled poorly in the less protected encounters of daily life.