THERAPIST'S NAME:
Terrill L. Gibson
EDUCATION AND TRAINING:
B.A., History, University of Kansas, 1968
Th.M., Boston University School of Theology, 1971
Ph.D., Pastoral Psychology and Counseling, Boston
University, 1977
Diploma Analyst, Inter-Regional Society for Jungian
Analysts, 1985
PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS/MEMBERSHIPS:
Ordained Elder, Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, United Methodist Church
Diplomate, American Association for Pastoral
Counselors
Approved Supervisor, American Association for Marriage
and Family Therapy
Member, American Psychological Association
Member, International Association for Analytical Psychology
Analyst, North Pacific Institute for Jungian Analysts (NPIAP)
Registered Marriage and Family Therapist, Washington
State
Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Washington State: #020703 LH00005194
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Washington State: #020703 LF00001331
IDENTITY AND THEORETICAL ORIENTATION:
This informational letter, which requires your signature after you have read its contents, provides you as clear an opportunity as I can for understanding both the context and the content of my pastoral psychotherapeutic work. All of my work, I feel, falls under the authority of my ordination as a United Methodist clergy and pastoral counselor. The only portion of that work under the authority of my state licensure, as a marriage and family counselor and mental health counselor, is my supervision of mental health pro-professionals and their clinical work as that is necessary for their gaining full acceptance of their certifying work with me. All aspects of our relationship fall under the general policies and procedures of the Pastoral Therapy Associates (PTA). The most pertinent of these policies are included in this packet of materials.
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Pastoral Therapy Associates is a church-sanctioned pastoral counseling center whose mission is to provide professional therapy and training in the tradition of pastoral care.
We are a community of religious professionals who view our work as ministry, integrating spiritual principles and tradition with contemporary psychotherapy and behavioral science.
As a consumer of my services, you have inalienable rights which I want to be as clear in stating as possible for your protection and success in seeking good pastoral psychotherapy or supervision/training. You have the right to choose any treatment professional you desire and to change or terminate that affiliation at any time. I will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you have about our process in as crisp and facilitative a way as I can. If you desire to stop our process, at any moment, I will honor that completely and will be happy to provide any appropriate referral aid you may wish.
Everything which you share with me is to be kept in the strictest confidence--an obligation that arises from my adamant allegiance to the ancient pastoral office of the confessional and the sanctuary of presence in which we share such deep confidences of the heart and spirit. The only time I may except this procedure is if I had strong reason to believe that a child was at significant risk of abuse or deprivation (in which case I would cooperate with the procedures of the office of Child and Protective Services) or if I felt you were at risk of suicidal injury (in which case I would do all I could to prevent such harm) or others were at risk of bodily harm from you (in which case I would seek to warn that at-risk party and/or the police). These actions I perceive are not breaches of our confidence, but rather extensions of its protection to make sure that you and those you are in connection with are kept in the most protective, healing enclosure of care as is possible. I also occasionally might discuss your case, in an identity-masked way, with my professional colleagues here at PTA or my peer supervisor to gain their consultation for improved therapeutic service.
Therefore, believing strongly that our work is of an absolutely confessional nature, I will never disclose the fact of, or the content of, our therapeutic work to any insurance, court or legal agent unless my professional conduct is at issue (or in the three exceptional circumstances outlined above). Because of this pastoral ministry context, I do not keep any health care records. Our standards of the confessional exceed all current known secular protections. If you believe you need therapeutic services that might end up being used in litigation (e.g. marital dissolution or child custody cases), you must seek another therapist. I will be happy to make such a referral to a forensic therapy specialist.
Though I work in a church-related setting, I feel deeply committed to not imposing my personal religious beliefs or spiritual understandings on any client and feel persons of all faiths and human condition are warmly welcomed to my office. I am here to serve, as best I can, whatever psychological or spiritual needs you bring to this setting.
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My training and background are diverse but not exhaustive of all the possible needs you may have of pastoral psychotherapy. If at any time I become alert to the strong
possibility that what you require is beyond my expertise
areas, I would immediately communicate this fact to you and discuss referral options.
My preferred course of treatment is what is called, in my profession, mid-to-long-term work. Persons who work with me generally stay an average of two years, some completing after only a few sessions, with others extending their work for some years further than the two-year average. I generally do this mid-to-long-term process with all the individuals, couples and families that I see. Persons and relationships who best benefit from this type of care are those who have identified long-standing dissatisfaction and/or dysfunction in their inner or relational lives and wish to explore rather pervasive changes in the lifestyle and mood of their lives.
Generally, individuals entering into this type of therapy often strongly experience what is called transference, a reactivation of the most positive and most painful of their early childhood experiences being strongly re-experienced in their relationship with me. This often makes, especially, the first third to two-thirds of the therapy an, often, quite painful and confusing ordeal which resolves, quite often, in a much richer and conscious calm, clarity and vitality of existence.
It does not always resolve, however. Pastoral psychotherapy is not magic and it is not certain. I am not a magician and not always certain. Sometimes therapy stirs up even more pain and persons leave feeling even more unresolved. That is a risk of this imprecise human art/science form of therapy. We both must make the covenant to be honest about this uncertainty and pain and agree to not mask any feelings and questions in the process, as we go along, if it is to be as genuine, non-damaging and useful an encounter for you as possible. Referral or a change in therapy direction may be warranted after such frank, caring conversations.
I am a Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (which is the highest certification level in this organization that provides intensive on-going certification of its church-related mental health professionals and centers). I am a Diploma Graduate of the Inter-regional Society of Jungian Analysts, which is a training institute specializing in the intensive, multi-year, post-graduate training and certification of Jungian Analysts--the particular form of mid-to-long-term psychotherapy I see as my core practice specialty (focusing in the use of dreams and other depth psychological tools of growth and change). I am also an approved supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. I have been or am currently a local or national officer in many of the professional groups I have outlined above and maintain a regular and rigorous discipline of continuing education, writing, teaching and personal growth relevant to my practice as a pastoral psychotherapist and Jungian Analyst.
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With these varying trainings and certifications, I provide general pastoral psychotherapy, marriage and family therapy, Jungian analysis, therapeutic hypnosis, paradoxical and visualization work, family-of-origin therapy, relaxation and stress work, prayer therapy and spiritual direction. I also regularly supervise and teach training professionals, as well as respond to requests for educational forums for the general public.
I hope this information provides you with the needed clarification and confidence for us to enjoy a successful therapeutic relationship and process together.
"The individual ego is the stable in which the Christ-
child is born."
Carl Gustav Jung