Many people naturally approach life seeking pleasurable and rewarding experiences and seek to avoid painful ones. However, we commonly end up facing a mixture of both through life. Major changes in life are sometimes expected and planned, at other times they come with little preparation or anticipation, and both create a mixed crisis.

“What is the Samaritan Institute?” my friends ask as soon as they learn that I’m on the Board. When I say, “It’s an inter-faith center for counseling and education that offers a variety of pastoral counseling services,” they want to know how pastoral counseling is distinct from other therapy. Here is how six therapists describe pastoral counseling and what a client might expect at the Samaritan Institute.