Spiritual Counseling & The Law


SalemWitchChild
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Yesterday I wrote a post on "This is why I'm a Minister". Its in response to an article on Witchvox degrading Pagan ministers. In my article I touched on why I decided to become ordained. A well respected member of the Pagan community told me that she became ordained because it protected her legally when she did spiritual counseling. I was also doing spiritual counseling online at the time but had not known I could be sued. So I trusted her judgement and became ordained.

However I didn't research the specific laws and cases in regards to why its important to be ordained to do spiritual counseling.

I've found what seems to be the biggest case, or perhaps the most popular one.

Nally vs. Grace Community Church This is an 80's case where the family of the deceased sued for clergy malpractice. The court ruled that spiritual counselors do not have a duty to refer anyone to a mental health professional.

Does anyone else have specific laws or court cases that deals with this?

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Well that varies by state. Many states have laws the provide that anyone doing any kind of counseling must be trained and certified with the the state. Most of those states have exceptions for clergymembers. Another area is mandatory reporting, most states have it, some exclude clergy from mandatory reporting others don't.

I guess what I am getting at is, specifically what do you want to know?

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Well that varies by state. Many states have laws the provide that anyone doing any kind of counseling must be trained and certified with the the state. Most of those states have exceptions for clergymembers. Another area is mandatory reporting, most states have it, some exclude clergy from mandatory reporting others don't.

I guess what I am getting at is, specifically what do you want to know?

Ok so do you know of a website that lists the law according to state?

Edited by SalemWitchChild
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