 Okay, good morning everybody, to all the students here online as well as those who joined us on the e-learning. Today is our last class, so just a note that we will not be having class next week. So today is our last class. Is this better? Can you all hear me now? Yeah, I think you can. Okay, so sorry, the students were just sharing about what they have learnt. Yes, we've left with Oni Sri Radha now. Yes, Rita, what have you learnt? Not to be judgmental. Not to be judgmental and confidentiality is the main thing. Okay. We should not share. Like, whatever the situation is, we should not share it. Not share. Okay. Alright, what about the online students? I think there's Nina, Chira, Shivakumar, Jack in Antony. What are some things that you have picked up through the last 13 weeks? You can put it on the chat if you don't want to. Online students? Okay, alright. I'm hoping that you all have learnt something and it's been helpful. Okay, today we will focus... Sorry, there's a comment. I'm just presenting this. There's a comment. Okay. So Shivakumar said, learnt how counselling is to be done. A lot of misunderstanding has been cleared. Okay. Good. Thank you. Thank you, Shivakumar. Okay. So today we are going to wrap up and we're going to... Just like any other work that we do, there are some ethical guidelines that we need to follow, even when, even in counselling. Okay. Do you understand by what it means, what the word ethics mean? What is ethics? Fair practices. Very good. Or any kind of practices that actually... That should not. So you're having certain guidelines that don't violate the person or you as a professional or even the relationship. So that's what we look at ethics. So there are even ethics when you look at Christian counselling. There are certain ethics that is good to follow. Now, this has... Again, if we're looking at what ethics are, it's certain principles that actually specify what is good and what may not be. And it also classifies what you can do, what you should not be doing. It helps you see what is right, what is wrong and how we can apply some of those beliefs. Okay. So we're going to be looking at what some of these ethics are. And as even as people, not just as counsellors, but even as people, it's good to actually follow some of these practices. Okay. So we look at professional ethics. So as it's written here, what is ethics? It's the standards that actually govern your conduct as a counsellor and how you operate through these sessions or through anything that you may be doing. Okay. Okay. So quickly just looking at why are code of ethics necessary? Why is it important for us to have this? One, it gives you a common set of beliefs and values. Right? Everyone knows that these are certain practices that we need to follow. Okay. All right. And so when they are specified, there is no ambiguity in it. There isn't a question as, oh, should I be saying yes to this? Should I be saying no to that? So there is a set of beliefs and set of standards that we follow. Now, even as we are talking about set of standards and beliefs, Christian counselling, Christian counselling is based on what? On scripture. On scripture. Right? On biblical guidelines, on biblical scripture, on the person of Jesus Christ, his revelation in both the Old and the New Testament. So that's the base and that's where we get our guidelines also from. Okay. So nothing that is contrary to the word is even practiced ethically. Okay. All right. So going back, what are some of the, what are some of the needs? Why should we have these ethical? Like I said, it gives you a certain standard. It tells you how you can, how you should be behaving as a counsellor. What kind of care should you be taking care of? What are some of those practices that you have to keep in check? Now, when there are some ethics, it also reassures the people, the counsellor who is actually sitting in front of you. Right? Like for example, one of the ethical considerations is confidentiality. So when a counsellor is sitting in front of you, they don't have to keep fearing the fact that, okay, will this counsellor go and share this because it's a guideline. It's a practice that whatever they share here will be maintained. So it is a practice. And so it gives the reassurance to the people who actually come to you. It also gives you, gives yourself a protection. Okay. Because you also know that there are, you are bound by certain ethics, bound by certain guidelines. And you should not be violating that. So it's almost like a protective factor also for you. Like I'll give you for example, let's say you have broken confidentiality of someone who, who's spoken about wanting to commit suicide. All right. And let's say someone puts a legal case on you saying that as a counsellor she, you know, breached confidentiality. But you're protected because under the ethical guidelines, if they are harmed to themselves or harmed to somebody else, you can breach that confidentiality. Got that? So you're also protective among these ethical guidelines. Got that? Okay. The next is it reflects counselling as a profession. Like we were talking, you know, everyone does counselling. You go to anyone, they'll say, I counsell so and so, right? But it is actually a skill based profession. It's something that is a profession and, and, and everyone and anyone does not do that without actually being prepared or learning the skills, right? So you need to be equipped with the skills, with the knowledge, with the understanding, with biblical guidance to become a Christian counsellor. All right. Okay. Next is it actually raises the quality of practice. So what does that mean that because these, like if you have a certain boundary, you know where you have to be, you know, where you have to play, right? You don't play outside of it. And so you know that these are certain things that is needed. Like, for example, when you're dealing with a counsellor, you know, when they're talking and crying, you have to be paying attention. You're using the skills of attending. You're using the skills of responding. That's how you're raising that quality of care. And lastly, it also gives a place where people can bring about complaints of a counsellor of how they are or what it is. Now in India, we specifically don't have an association for ethical guidelines. So this has been borrowed by the American Association guidelines. Okay. It's been borrowed from that. But in general, these are certain practices that we need to ensure. Okay. Is that clear? Okay. So what is the mission? The mission is to ensure that you have an ethical framework from where you can operate so that you're ensuring the dignity and care of any person who comes to you for help. So a couple of things. There's a framework. Okay. There is, you are offering dignity and care for those who are coming to you and those who are receiving your services. So that's what the mission of this ethical guideline is. All right. If you look at scripture, again, there is a scriptural admonition for all of us or for those especially in this kind of a ministry to be able to ensure that we take care of the needs of others to bear others burdens. And so when we bear the others burdens, what does it say? We fulfill the law of Christ. We fulfill what God came to do, what Jesus came to do when we bear each other's burdens. Again, in Galatians 610, it says good to all people, especially to those in the household of faith. So people in problems, in struggle, do it, do good to them. Again, in Philippians, it says, do not merely look at your own personal interests, but at the interests of other people. It's something that the Bible also tells us to do is to bear each other's burdens, to do good, to ensure that we are helping others, but within a framework, within a guideline. Okay, Francis, are you here? Okay. All right. Okay. So we're going to be looking at some guidelines and there are seven in all. And we will look at seven of these ethics. So here it's just a list first and then we will get into each of them. So there is compassion, there's competence, consent, confidentiality, cultural regard, collegiality and community presence. Okay. So we will discuss each of this in detail. Okay. Right. So let's look at the first one. It's compassion in Christian counseling and it is, what does it call us to do? It calls us to be servants, to have a heart of servanthood. So in Christianity or in Christian, just look at what Jesus did. What was the hallmark of his ministry? What is the most important thing in his ministry? Compassion, people. Yeah. So yes. So it was, it was that to give to others, to bear each other's burdens. So compassion and service is, is the main point of Christian. And so it should also be of Christian counseling as well. So counselors should proactively look at being compassionate rather than exploiting, discriminating or even bringing about any kind of harm. So how do you bring harm? How could you bring harm to your counseling? Yes. Yeah. When you, when you, when you character assassinate them, when you judge them, when you give wrong advice, right, it could probably mean more harm than it is. It's actually helpful. So that's why that's what we're looking when we're saying about compassion and service, not giving any suggestion that can actually be really more harmful. Like I'll give you a simple example. Let's say in a marriage, a wife comes to you. Okay. And for example, let's say they are going through violence in the house. The husband is, there's domestic violence. And in case your suggestion is something like, you know, you must continue staying there, serve him, be faithful, just keep praying. You know, even if he beats you, just keep praying. What would that do? Yeah. So it can harm, right? So you've got to be extremely careful on how you make those suggestions. And sometimes we make suggestions without even knowing the full truth, right? So being very, very careful about how and what you do. And that's exactly why you don't give suggestions. You get them, draw from them. What is it that may be useful for them in their situation? Okay. All right. So you must be aware of the influence that you as a counselor have. The spiritual influence as well as the social influence you as a counselor can have because people do tend to look up to, let's say a pastor or a counselor or a leader, isn't it? And then they take that advice, but then it needs to come with that sense of compassion and service. All right. Got that. So that's what we're looking at compassion in Christian counseling. Now, just to just to also again highlight a few things. We need to remember that as counselors, we do not support certain things. Abortion. Okay. Separation and divorce. We don't support an assist. All right. But there could be times that the person chooses to. All right. And we let we allow that freedom for them to do so. Okay. We separation and divorce. Right. So there may be maybe something like for example, let's say adultery. Okay. Maybe the counseling comes in and says that they have decided that they would like a divorce. You are not assisting them to do it. All right. But you are taking them through that journey. That doesn't mean all because you are sorry. Yeah. That is something you don't do. You're not. Yeah. You're not there advocating it or things like that. But then if they make that choice, you help them through that journey. That's what it means. You don't support and assist them to do that. Okay. A premarital or extra marital sexual behavior. We don't support assist condone that substance abuse and other substance abuses, things like alcoholism, drug addiction or any other addictive behavior, homosexual, bisexual, transgender behavior, euthanasia and assisted suicide. You know what euthanasia is? It's to a decision to kill one to end one's own life. Okay. I think it's in Germany if I'm not mistaken. In some countries made legal. You choose to die. You can make that decision that you want to die. Right. So that's something that as counselors, we do not support or advocate. Okay. All right. Okay. With the first one, second one is competence. What do you mean by the word competence? Do you know what the meaning of competence is? Competence is mainly how you work, the way that you work. The kind of excellence that you put into your work. All right. So in Christian counseling, the call is to be a competent counselor. So what does being a competent counselor mean? Yeah. So you're doing all the best that you can to help someone. So which means if you do not know how to do it. One is you have to learn or step back and let someone else do it. Because remember, this is the, it's a life of a person. Right. We can't be taking it lightly. So if you feel that is you do not have a competence, ensuring that you pick up the skills and the ability to do that so that you have your excellent in your work. Okay. So you are honoring the call to be an excellent worker or an excellent professional. So it, what does this also mean is that you are also knowing and respecting the boundaries of competence, which means you know what is it that you're able to do? What is it that you're not able to do? What is it that you may give to someone else? So you are maintaining the highest standards, even of integrity. That is you're being honest. You're being authentic in the way that you offer whatever help or support that you are giving. Okay. Okay. Now what is this call to excellence? Remember, there are some guidelines again for, for example, let's suppose you go back to your own homes. Okay. And there isn't what do you say? There isn't availability of someone like a counselor, like a Christian counselor. You're probably one among the very few. So what can you do if you do find yourself in a place where you feel you're not competent, you can consult somebody else and get the support or get something like a supervision so that you can get the best help that you want. All right. Or you can refer to those maybe others that are there outside. Now Christian counselors, remember, do not counsel or advise against professional counseling. So for example, they're also going to a secular counselor. Okay. And the secular counselor is maybe telling them something. What our call to excellence is not to say, no, no, no, don't follow them. They are after money. They don't know what they're doing. You know, just keep away. Don't take those medicines. Don't do what they're saying. You know, come here under the guidance. Got that? Okay. But you can, what you, what you, what you should be doing is to really understand what kind of support they're getting from there and to allow them to make that decision about that support. So as it's written here, you as a Christian counselor, do not counsel, do not counsel or advise against professional counseling, medical or psychiatric treatment, use of medications, legal counsel or other forms of professional service merely because they, because you believe such practice is wrong or because the person who's providing this is not a Christian. All right. Is that clear? So we've got to be very careful of how we excellently work without really putting an issue for, for others who are working in the profession. All right. Francis. All right. Yeah. What? All right. Okay. The third one is consent, consent in Christian counseling, which is a call to integrity. So what is the meaning of consent? Permission. Consent is permission. Permission. Kind of. Okay. You're taking permission. Yeah. An agreement or a permission. Okay. So in Christian counseling, it is very important to take consent, informed consent. And that is why all those who come to us for counseling in Chrysalis, they fill up a form and they give us a signature saying that they consent to the practices of Chrysalis, which is where we do say that we, we are scriptural and we do follow a scriptural and biblical guidelines and principles. So then they do sign that. Okay. So it's getting consent. Also consent for the structure and process of counseling. Sometimes they may want to know, they've come in multiple issues, but they don't want to deal with some. They want to deal with only a few. And so taking that consent that, okay, we will talk about only this and that. And not, not really delve into things that they may be, that they may not want to talk to. So that's what we're looking at consent of the structure and process of counseling. Next is consent from parents, legal guardian or counseling representative. Like if it's a minor, right, you take the consent from a parent documentation of consent, which is like a written document and then consent for biblical and spiritual practices and counseling that you're taking consent that we are going to be looking only at guidelines from scripture. So if they're not, if they don't feel that's something that they want to do, they're free not to take the service. Okay. Any questions? Okay. Do you have a question? Okay. Okay. So on person, like, I asked later. You'll ask later. You'll plan the question in your head. Okay. So what all did we look at up to now? Compassion, competence. Okay. Competence is excellence and then consent. Okay. All right. Okay. So that's consent. Good. Consent means integrity, right? Okay. Next is collegiality. What is collegiality? It is you are recognizing and valuing the benefit of forming effective relationships with other people. Okay. The collegiality like the word colleagues, it comes from the word colleagues. Okay. That you have good relationships and good working relationship with other people. Like maybe as a counselor, you may need to work closely with a pastor. Right. You may need to work closely with, let's say, probably other, maybe someone in a hospital, maybe like a doctor. Right. So having that a call to a relationship to ensure that whatever you do, you're doing it with absolute meekness and humility. So this can include other mental health practitioners. It can include ministry leaders in the community. It can include mentors, mentees. It can include educators, maybe the person, there's a teacher, there is a school, college, right? So it can come in all of this. So basically it is cooperating and respecting the thoughts and the work that they bring into the person in question. Okay. You remember your question? Okay. Chen. So we discussed like we should not like promote the divorce. But in like Christian marriage and family, we learned about like if it's another relationship, it's okay to divorce. So how it like... You're not the one who's advocating it. You're counseling. Like one person is like shouting like I need to divorce. This is the problem. Correct. So if your counseling comes with the need to divorce, what you are through your practice, you're helping them see other ways in which we can resolve this issue. Okay. So you try and come help them to look at other alternatives. If still they decide to make that choice, they make the choice. So they still make the choice. You're not the one suggesting say, okay, I think there's nothing else to do but have a divorce. Yeah, it should come from the person themselves. Right? It's not that we support and say, you know, any individual, anyone that becomes the first solution. That's what I mean to say. You're right that there may be some points that nothing else will work but to divorce, but allowing the counseling to come to a point to make that informed decision themselves. Okay. All right. The next one is confidentiality in Christian counseling. It is a call to trustworthiness. Now, confidentiality, like we all know it's the ability to keep in confidence everything that is shared to you. So when you are confidential, what are you doing? You are recognizing that your counseling has the right to the fundamental right to keep private all that they have shared with you. It is their right to have it shared with you. And the very fact that they have come and opened themselves out to you is a feeling of wanting to be trusted and wanting to give their trust in you. So it's a call to trustworthiness. So when someone's come to you with their problems, it's for us a call to be trustworthy. We do not give away any kind of information. So what the person can be bringing in could be their personal thoughts, their opinions, their beliefs, their behaviors. And we are ensuring that they are protected from any kind of a public view or public opinion. Okay. Confidentiality. Yes. Okay. Next is cultural regard in Christian counseling. It's a call to dignity. So especially in India where we have a huge number of cultures. So what are we called to do? We are to recognize that all people have been created in the image of God and they all have a right to be valued and respected. No matter what culture they come from, what background they come from, we give them the utmost respect and dignity that is due to them and all because they may not be a part of our culture or they may not be doing things the way that we do. They are due for disrespect. Okay. So that's what we mean by cultural regard. Like for example, let's suppose a person who let's say somebody from the LGBTQ community comes to you. Right. We treat them with absolute dignity and care and compassion. Okay. What happened, Anand? Okay. So again, what is this called to dignity? Yeah. So, yeah, you remember, yeah, respecting is not agreeing. It's not even supported. It's agreeing with their ideas. It's not agreeing. Right. It doesn't mean agreement. Yeah. We respect, we love them for who they are. Right. We may not agree or condone their behaviors, but as people, they are people. Treat them with dignity. You have something to say? No. Okay. So when we're looking at this cultural regard, it's important for us to have a knowledge of various cultural practices and worldviews. Like for example, let's say an atheist comes to you. It's good to know what atheists believe in or an agnostic comes to you. It's good to know what they believe in or a Buddhist comes to you. Just have an idea about what they have so that you're also sensitive while you are helping. Right. Like for example, let's say someone who believes in idols come to you, believes in idols, idol idols come to you. Right. So in your counseling, if you're going to go say, you know, believing in idols, I mean, worshipping idols is a sin. What's going to happen? They won't come again. Right. And because we need to be sensitive about what they believe in, not that if not that we must change them then and there and make them, you know, a believer and a spirit led Christian. That's unsalvation. It's not that it's to meet them at their point of need. She must be coming to you with some parenting issues and she said, oh, I pray to my idol also. And then you say believing in idols is a sin. Right. So being very sensitive and the one way of doing that is to actually know about different cultural practices. Yeah. On this Christian leaders, Christian counselors and all. So there is one comment like they, they changes into Christians. They just show this counseling or some compassion or some few things. They'll show few things and they'll changes. So on the process, what is, what should be our answer? So, and that's why there is this consent that is there saying that we follow scriptural principles, we follow the Bible. Right. And there are so even among Christian counselors, there are different kinds of groups. So there is a certain group of group of counselors who will admonish you according to the word, whether you're a believer or not a believer. Okay. They will admonish you on the word. They said, this is not what the Bible says. That's not what you should be doing. Right. And so it's making reference to probably people like that because there are, there is a group of counselors who do that. Right. However, we, our principles are there. Nevertheless, we don't condone, we don't assist anyone in doing that. But we are open to helping them look at something different, to look at it at a different site. So it depends on which framework you come from. If we are counseling non-Christian, what is the biblical boundary for us to not go beyond that, as a Christian grounds well. So we have this influence right on Bible. This is his teachings and whatever all. So what should be the biblical boundary for us? If it is a non-Christian, if the counseling is a non-Christian. So one is remember free will that they should be, they should make the choice and be in agreement that they are willing to take on the teachings or the, or principles in Christianity. Right. We should never override that will. Right. That is when we override will, that's when it becomes more like a force that becomes more pushed on to them. But knowing that they have a free will, but even in counseling, like we were talking about remember, we spoke about disclosure. Disclosure is where the counselor can bring about some personal stories about the way things have changed for them, depending on what you're talking about. Right. So there you have the right to say this is what my story has been. So if they express interest as a result of that is when you can open up a conversation. If they say, no, I'm not too much of a believer in it. I don't want to. So you could say, you know, would you like to explore what the Bible says or do you want, would you like to explore what Christianity looks at? They may say, no, I'm not interested. So you let you respect that. Yeah. Okay. So when we're looking at cultural regard, this is something we need to find look at is how do we work with persons of different faiths, religions and values. So counselors share their own faith only as a function of legitimate self-disclosure. That's what I mentioned. Only when you're in a place of disclosing a self-disclosure and when appropriate to the counselor's need. Right. So you're not going to do this with every counselor is sharing your faith and bringing them to salvation prayer. No. Okay. While you always maintain a posture of humility, again, when you work with people of different religions, you're not imposing your values. Okay. While Christian counselors may expose counselors to their faith orientation, you do not impose your beliefs or practices to them. Okay. You are making them open like, for example, even when they come to the church office, they're seeing the environment there. They're seeing verses. They're seeing someone praying for them. Right. They are exposed to the orientation, but they're not imposed with beliefs and practices. Okay. All right. Is that clear? Okay. Next one. Case management in Christian counseling. Now, case management. What is the word case management means? Every person you see, you don't like when you go to a factory and you're making something. Let's say you're making biscuits. Is there any difference from one biscuit packet at the other biscuit packet? There's no difference. Actually, there isn't a difference. It's all the same. Right. You're manufacturing biscuit. Okay. In a factory. Good day biscuit. Good day butter biscuit. And there are, all butters are the same. That's what I said. Right. Yeah. So, but when you're looking at in Christian counseling, each person or each case, I know it sounds very impersonal when you say case, but case management is a term that you use in counseling. Each person is, has a, has a unique or a, what's the word, customized way of dealing with them. Right. You're not following a, yeah. No one to 10 process. No. Each person is different. And that's, that's what helps in Christian counseling. So comprehensive and tarot case management always considers the whole person. That is their biological factors, psychological, emotional, cognitive, social, cultural, relational spiritual, because every person is a mix of all of this, all of these factors. All right. So it, it's important that we ensure that we look at all of these areas to give them the best service that is possible. So that's what we mean by case management. So every case, a person that comes to you is considered uniquely looking at all of these factors so we can curate a plan or a program or a treatment for them that is specifically needed for their individual needs. Okay. And the last one is community presence in Christian counseling. And it is what, it is a call to humility. What does that mean? Where we are, we are aware that we are playing a larger role in our community or in our society. Okay. So we have, as the Bible tells us, we are called to be salt and light. We are called to be God's ambassadors. And whatever we do, we do it for the honor and for the glory of God. Okay. So let me go back to those. Yeah. So it's compassion, competence, consent, confidentiality. Oh, sorry. Cultural regard, collegiality and community presence. Okay. So these are the ethics that we need to take care of. Okay. Any questions? Community presence. Let me go back. Go to that. Okay. So in what, huh? This one, right? Yeah. So wherever we are placed, we need to be, yeah, salt and light. We are aware that our influence is just not with the counseling, but it is also with the larger community, their family, the, the, the counseling's family, maybe their church. And so we are called to be the salt and light as God's ambassadors so that we will adopt and we will, we will offer practices or services or support or help in a way that brings God glory, right? That really brings about who we are as believers. Okay. Because we're just not serving one person. Through that one person, we are serving a community. Okay. So, so people in the community that they see you, you must be salt and light. Okay. All right. Any questions? Okay. So the last part is going to be boundaries and what should we take care of what we should be aware of. Okay. We'll start that in, in the next hour. Yeah. So we'll stop for a break and come back at 11 o'clock.