{"id":23592,"date":"1989-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1989-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/1989\/10\/01\/12-ways-to-reduce-your-counseling-load\/"},"modified":"1989-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1989-10-01T00:00:00","slug":"12-ways-to-reduce-your-counseling-load","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/12-ways-to-reduce-your-counseling-load\/","title":{"rendered":"12- WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR COUNSELING LOAD"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Don’t put a door on your office.<\/p>\n\n

2. Sing songs such as “Put On a Happy Face” and “Don’t Worry; Be Happy” to counselees.<\/p>\n\n

3. Step out of the office and start laughing uproariously.<\/p>\n\n

4. Tell the counselee that although you can’t figure out a solution to the problem, you’ll bring it up in the sermon on Sunday and see if anybody has any ideas.<\/p>\n\n

5. Casually catch up on your reading while counselees bare their deepest problems.<\/p>\n\n

6. Tell the counselee you are videotaping the session for replay on the local cable program: “Candid Clergy.”<\/p>\n\n

7. Put a bumper sticker on your car: I’D RATHER NOT BE COUNSELING.<\/p>\n\n

8. Refer them to a helpful article in your favorite professional journal: the National Enquirer.<\/p>\n\n

9. Suggest counseling by FAX machine.<\/p>\n\n

10. In front of the counselee, phone your spouse and ask for his or her opinion on what to do.<\/p>\n\n

11. Recite tales of people who are a lot worse off, and call the counselee a crybaby.<\/p>\n\n

12. Engage the counselee’s mother-in-law as a co-therapist.<\/p>\n\n

– Paul Bailey <\/p>\n\n

Sand Lake Baptist Church <\/p>\n\n

Averill Park, New York<\/p>\n\n

Copyright © 1989 by the author or Christianity Today\/Leadership Journal<\/em>.\nClick here<\/a> for reprint information on Leadership Journal<\/em>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Don’t put a door on your office. 2. Sing songs such as “Put On a Happy Face” and “Don’t Worry; Be Happy” to counselees. 3. Step out of the office and start laughing uproariously. 4. Tell the counselee that although you can’t figure out a solution to the problem, you’ll bring it up in Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[2644],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[612,613,156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3698,4193],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-23592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-paul-bailey","tax_publications-1989-leadership-journal","tax_publications-fall_1989-leadership-journal","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-counseling","tax_ctp_tags-humor"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\n12- WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR COUNSELING LOAD - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"1. 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