Pastoral counselling: towards a diagnostic and interpretational approach in Africa

Abstract

Effective pastoral counselling is influenced by appropriate pas- toral diagnosis. A pastoral diagnosis or assessment in Africa should focus on socio-cultural systems thinking, which entails an understanding of the people’s worldview of distress embed- ded in stories. Thus, the process of assessment in Africa should concentrate, among other factors, on the constructive and de- structive role of the community and the strength of beliefs in supernatural causes of distress in order to focus the probing and interpretation of the conversation.