Intensive OutPatient Therapy for Clergy Burnout: How Much Difference Can a Week Make?

A pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental matched pairs design was used to assess the effectiveness of a week-long multi-therapist intensive outpatient intervention process with clergy suffering from depression and burnout. Participants (n = 23) in the "Clergy in Kairos" program of the Pastoral Institute (Muse in J Pastor Care Couns 61(3):183-195, 2007) constituted the experimental variable. Clergy surveyed from United Methodist and Presbyterian denominations (n = 121) provided a control group from which 23 respondents were selected whose pre-test scores in depression and burnout were statistically equivalent to those in the experimental group. The treatment group consisted of clergy from three denominations who self-selected (or in some cases were referred by denominational officials) into the program. At the outset, clergy in both groups reported equivalent levels of conflict, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and depression. At the 6-months follow-up, clergy in the experimental group showed significant improvement of depression, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization scores. By contrast, there was no change in the burnout and depression scores in the control group at 6-months post-test. Findings suggest the usefulness of a week-long multi-therapist intensive outpatient intervention in reducing burnout and depression.

Clergy in crisis: when human power isn't enough.

The author cites current research and more than a decade of clinical work with hundreds of clergy from a variety of denominations to suggest an approach for empowerment and renewal by addressing the tension between the call to ministry and the need for self-validation. He describes a short-term, multi-counselor, intensive intervention for clergy in crisis and offers two heuristic models designed to facilitate integration of the domains of clinical diagnosis and spiritual discernment.

Chaplain, soldier, counselor, pilgrim.

The author offers examples of supervision drawing on object relations therapy and Christian faith, doctrine, and life, designed to facilitate theological integration of pastoral identity and clinical practice in the training of U.S. Army Family Life Chaplains. Therapeutic and supervisory relationships are conceived of as dia-Logos encounters requiring the same degree of ascetical sobriety, presence, and vulnerability as prayer and worship. Concepts of therapeutic aggression, functional atheism, and "not knowing" are linked with on-going self-examination and repentance stimulated by empathic engagement of clients as primary ingredients for spiritual growth and effective pastoral counseling.