Providence Network
Position Description for Counselors
We welcome you as a new member of the counseling team of the Providence Network!
Counselors here have an exciting, rewarding, and challenging experience. Many of your clients will be residents of PN;
others will be referred from area churches and ministries. Some details will be different (as outlined below) when counseling
these two populations, but the principles on these pages apply to both groups. The following are expectations we have of
each counselor.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
1.
Be a Spirit-led, born again Christian, actively involved in an evangelical church, evidencing a Godly lifestyle.
2.
Have an understanding of God’s love, power, and presence in the lives of believers, and His desire for our love,
allegiance, and obedience. (Consistent with evangelical theology.)
3.
Be of strong moral character.
4.
Be emotionally strong and stable, and be willing to work hard at showing consistent love, patience, forgiveness, and
perseverance with clients.
5.
Be flexible, able to cope with the crisis-orientation, missed appointments, lack of respect, and survival mentality that
are part of urban life.
TIME COMMITMENT
1.
One year commitment, normally.
2.
Weekly counseling sessions—up to 1½ hours each for residents, 1 hour for outpatients. May have more frequent
sessions for residents, less frequent for outpatients, as determined by counselor.
3.
Counselors for each home attend that home’s weekly staff meeting, which also fulfills graduate schools’ weekly
group supervision requirement.
4.
Clinical supervision is required and is provided. One hour of individual supervision weekly is required for interns.
Post-graduate counselors determine supervision frequency, depending on client load.
5.
Once each month there is a counselors-only group supervision meeting for training and consultation purposes.
6.
Counselors in each home become part of the “family” in that home, and are encouraged to participate in house
parties, meetings, dinners, and other activities. Your spouse and children are welcome also.
7.
Counselors working strictly with outpatients determine their own level of involvement, normally by determining a
comfortable number of clients. Other time commitments are described above.
PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
1.
Be a graduate or intern of an accredited counseling-education institution.
2.
Classes in Alcohol & Drug Counseling and Cross-Cultural Counseling are strongly encouraged to be taken before or
during internship.
3.
Classes/training in integrating competent Christian counseling styles and techniques with standards of practice set
forth by the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA).
4.
Interview with Traci Willhite. An interview with Andy Cannon, the Homes’ founder and program director, and/or
the appropriate directors of the various homes, may be requested.
5.
Read “Handbook of Urban Christian Counseling” and discuss with Traci.
ACCOUNTABILITY
1.
Sign the attached commitment forms and return them to Traci. This demonstrates acceptance of and adherence to
the principles and practices outlined in this position description, as well as in the Counseling Protocol.
2.
Post-graduate counselors must be registered in the Colorado Data Base and maintain their registration throughout
their counseling practice. Please give Traci a copy of this registration yearly.
3.
Please provide a copy of your liability insurance coverage.
4.
Supervision is expected. See details under “Time Commitment” section.
5.
Use Providence Network (PN) forms and documents for all clients and file them in the primary counseling office.
This includes, but is not limited to: counseling agreements, goal plans, initial intake forms, termination evaluation
forms, release of information forms, and any other contractual agreements such as non-suicide contracts.
(Remember to give clients a copy of all contracts and disclosure forms s/he signs.)
6.
See PN clients only at 801 Logan Street offices unless other sites are pre-arranged with Traci. This assures coverage
under PN insurance. (This does not apply to non-counseling activities.)
Revised 8/11
Counseling Protocol
1.
We are God-centered in our counseling and in all aspects of Providence Network. This means that counseling
may include prayer, Bible study or memorization, and discussion of Biblical principles.
2.
We are attempting to be tools, used by God to radically change lives. To do this we focus on specific behaviors,
as well as inner feelings and beliefs. This balance moves people forward in growth, because inner feelings and
beliefs affect behavior, and vice versa.
3.
We are confrontational. The counselor is assisted by each client’s accountability partner in tracking the client’s
adherence to specific commitments s/he has made that week.
4.
We are goal-oriented. Goals are determined by the client, accountability person, and the counselor, then are
broken down into small steps for the client to work on each week. Counselors can help clients identify and
work through any roadblocks to goal accomplishment, such as past trauma, fears, memories, lack of confidence.
5.
We are team-oriented. Recognizing that our input once per week is not sufficient to keep our clients moving
forward consistently into health, we network with many others. In-house counselors network closely with
house staff, and the in-house counseling agreement allows for disclosure of client information to and from these
staff members. In-house and outpatient counselors may refer clients to churches, support groups, other agencies
and ministries, and medical facilities. We function as social workers as needed, and may research these
resources, set up meetings, and attend meetings with our clients.
NOTE: It is very important to connect with every other current care-giver in a client’s life as soon as
possible, in order to ensure consistency of care. Obtain all appropriate release of information forms.
6.
We are cross-culturally sensitive. Each counselor has the responsibility of becoming familiar with issues and
customs of the ethnic/minority/socio-economic groups of his/her clients. In a broader sense, we must
understand the dynamics of the “urban homeless” culture, which is a culture of chaos. We must be extrarelational, adopting appropriate dual relationships, interacting with clients as social workers, disciplers, and
mentors, as well as traditional therapists. Although we do not move out of our helper stance, we become more
self-disclosing than we would in a suburban setting. We may also be involved with clients in family and
community contexts to a marked degree. We are called to be unconditionally loving with our clients, modeling
trust, acceptance, and real relationships. These attitudes break down walls and reverse the “thrown away”
mentality that many of our clients may have.
Providence Network
Counselor Commitment Form
Name ______________________________________________________ Birth Date ______________________________
Phone (H) ____________________________ (C) _____________________________ (W)___________________________
Email Address ________________________________________________________________________________________
Address ___________________________________________________________________ Zip ______________________
Emergency Contact _______________________________________ Phone _______________ Relationship _____________
University ____________________________________________________
Circle One:
Intern
Graduate
Degree Title ___________________________________________ Degree Date ___________________________________
Reference from University _________________________________________ Phone _______________________________
Relationship of Reference _______________________________________________________________________________
Please answer the following questions:
1.
Are you licensed to practice psychotherapy in any state? If so, please identify:______________________________
2.
Have you ever been notified by any government or educational agency of any complaint against you, relative to the
practice of psychotherapy? If so, please explain. ______________________________________________________
3.
Have you ever had any disciplinary action taken against you, been asked to resign from (or been fired from) a
counseling position, been sued, or lost a license, based on a counseling situation? If so, please explain. __________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4.
Do you now have, or have you had in the past five years, any physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental illness, that
might affect your ability to practice psychotherapy? If so, please explain.__________________________________
5.
Are you now, or have you in the past five years, been addicted to or abusive of alcohol, any legal or illegal drug, or
controlled substance? If so, please explain. __________________________________________________________
6.
Have you ever had any type of sexual contact or sexual abuse of clients, whether or not you were convicted of this?
If so, please explain._____________________________________________________________________________
7.
Have you ever been convicted of, pled nolo contendere to, or received a deferred judgment for any felony, in the
U.S. or abroad? If so, please explain. _______________________________________________________________
I HAVE READ AND TRUTHFULLY ANSWERED THE ABOVE QUESTIONS. I HAVE READ THE PROVIDENCE
NETWORK COUNSELING POSITION DESCRIPTION AND COUNSELING PROTOCOL. I AM IN AGREEMENT
WITH THE PRINCIPLES AND PROVISIONS THEREIN, AND AGREE TO CARRY OUT MY COUNSELING DUTIES
AT PROVIDENCE NETWORK UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.
Signed: ______________________________________________________ Witness: ________________________________
Printed Name: ________________________________________________ Date: __________________________________