Solution-focused pastoral counseling : an effective short-term approach for getting people back on track / Charles Allen Kollar.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 216-218) and indexes.

Part I: Theory --
Individual paradigms: a question of focus --
Christian faith: a story of change --
Deficiency language: the world of mental health --
Hidden presuppositions: old wineskins --
Meaning is perception: the constructs that bind us --
Identity formation: the unfolding of God's grace --
Guiding assumptions: a way of thinking --
Personal integrity: ethical guidelines.
Part II: Practice --
The counseling interview: suggesting a framework for change --
Attentive listening: a search for clues --
Track options: highlighting change as meaningful --
Vision clarification: a description of life without the problem --
Supportive feedback: promoting and supporting change --
Bringing it all together: a case example --
Questions and answers: some final considerations.

Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling introduces a fresh, effective, and time-saving approach that will benefit pastors overtaxed by counseling demands. Dr. Charles A. Kollar shows that counseling need not be long-term to produce dramatic results. In most cases, the solution lies with the counselees themselves. Pastors, apart from therapists, are well equipped to help the counselees discover it and put it in motion speedily and productively. Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling shifts the emphasis from the problem to the strengths, vision, and practical solutions that lie within the individual. Stressing that God is already active in the counselee, Dr. Kollar first lays the theological and theoretical groundwork for short-term counseling. Then he shows how to apply theory to practical, short-term sessions that help people get back on track in their marriage, family living, and other aspects of life. Kollar recognizes that there is a time to refer to a Christian specialist, but he warns against today's ready-referral mindset. What is generally needed, he believes, is neither professional help nor long-term counseling, but a new paradigm based on Christian identity. Like "new wineskins," Christians are fashioned not for the old wine of problem-oriented therapy, but the new wine of God's life-changing grace. - from publisher's description.