Should a Pastor Use Counseling?

Some within the reformed tradition are leary of using the term counselling to describe something that a pastor is called to do. We need to keep in mind that there may be physiological elements that we may need to encourage them to seek some outside care for. Others may want to guard the ministry of word and sacrament and hilight the public means of grace. It's not so much the, you know, putting on a shingle and opening a psychotherapy practice, as much as it is remindinga pastors and seminarians that you're going to be in a variety of situations with people suffering.