Mental Health Referrals From Pastoral Care: Faith-Based Mental Health Support Services
August 28, 2025
Religious leaders are often the “first responders” for members of spiritual communities who struggle with their mental health. Yet, while pastoral care can be deeply healing and beneficial for those who rely on it, religious leaders are rarely qualified to treat mental health issues.
If a religious leader realizes that a member of their congregation requires specialist support that’s outside of their capabilities, they may suggest engaging with a mental health service. Mental health referrals from pastoral care providers can connect people to necessary care, including faith-based services.
For people with a deep connection to their faith, these referrals can mean they can gain access to a combined approach of spiritual guidance and therapy. As a result, they may feel more motivated to seek and adhere to support.
If you believe that faith-based mental health support services are right for your needs, a mental health professional can talk to you about your options. This guide can also help, as it discusses:
- How faith and mental health connect
- Differences between pastoral care and counseling
- What issues can be handled by pastoral care
- When counseling is needed instead of pastoral care
- Examples of faith-based mental health support services
How Does Faith Connect With Mental Health?
Faith and mental health are often seen as two things that should never meet, with spirituality being deemed “unscientific” and psychology living firmly in the academic world. However, faith and spirituality can help us in powerful ways and are more related to mental health than many might think.1
For instance, faith can give us a community that provides a sense of belonging, opportunities to learn, and emotional support. Spiritual practices themselves may also provide positive routines, which can reduce anxiety.2
As well as these practical factors, faith can also give us something deeper. Spirituality can provide perspective, clarity, purpose, and serenity. Many religious people have a deeper sense of meaning, which can foster greater resilience against life’s challenges. For these reasons, having faith can be a significant factor in lowering mental health difficulties.2
Not only does spirituality positively impact our mental health, but many experts recognize that there is a place for religion in the psychotherapy field. Specifically, if it’s integrated into services, it can improve outcomes for religious people receiving care.3
In addition, religious leaders are becoming increasingly aware of mental health issues, and there are many ways they can support community members. Plus, faith leaders are often the first point of contact for members of their congregation who are struggling. They’ll be able to provide pastoral care, but not licensed mental health support.4
What’s the Difference Between Pastoral Care and Counseling?
While faith leaders can provide spiritual guidance to their community members, they are not trained mental health professionals. The following are the main differences between these two forms of support:
Pastoral care can involve listening, encouragement, and prayer. Counselors use their theoretical framework (such as humanistic therapy) as a framework for their approach.5- Religious leaders may connect someone’s struggles to religious teachings, whereas a therapist would link them to psychological theories. If licensed to, some mental health practitioners can diagnose conditions and prescribe medications.5
- Pastoral care aims to give people hope, strength, and a sense of meaning. The aims of therapy are broad, but they’re ultimately to address mental illness and psychological distress.5
Some mistakenly believe pastoral care is similar enough to counseling because they both involve listening, but therapy is more than that.6 Even though the leader of a religious community can be deeply involved in a member’s life, they cannot safely treat mental health conditions.
Therapists are trained to bring as little of themselves into their sessions as possible. This means they set aside any stray thoughts, automatic judgments, or ideas about what they’d do in your position. This ability is incredibly difficult to hone, which is why many practicing therapists continue to attend therapy and supervision to deepen their self-awareness. By not bringing in advice or judgments, they make the space truly yours, which is where therapeutic work can really begin.
It’s also very risky for counselors to have any other sort of relationship with their clients because dual relationships (like being your pastor and therapist) can hinder therapeutic work. Therefore, it’s safe to say these two roles should remain separate.6
What Comes Under Pastoral Care?
Even without treating mental health concerns, pastoral care has a wide variety of purposes. It can help people with loss and grief, the search for meaning, and struggles on their spiritual journeys. People can also be brought closer into their communities by religious leaders, connecting them with resources and other community members.2
So, pastoral care might benefit you if you’re struggling with:
Grief- Lack of meaning and purpose
- Disconnection from faith (such as feeling abandoned by God during a tragedy)
- Difficult life transitions (for example, redundancy or divorce)
- Being new to the community
Even some of these reasons for seeking pastoral support may blur into mental health concerns if they cause feelings of depression or anxiety. This may also happen if the person experiencing them has a pre-existing mental health condition.
The good news is that, nowadays, more religious leaders are aware of mental health. Even if they can’t treat your condition, they can reduce stigma, dispel misunderstandings, and refer you to specialist services.5
Next, we’ll explore mental health referrals from pastoral care in more detail.
When Is Counseling Needed Instead of Pastoral Care?
It’s not always clear when someone’s mood or thoughts become serious enough to require counseling instead of pastoral care. For example, a depressed mood is normal for someone who’s grieving the loss of a loved one. However, a good rule of thumb is whether this mood is causing distress for a long period of time and impacting normal daily functioning.5
While there may be additional reasons, counseling and psychotherapy are likely to be useful if someone is experiencing:
An anxiety disorder, such as phobias or social anxiety- Depression
- Prolonged grief
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Bipolar disorder
- Psychosis
- Suicidal thoughts or behaviors
In addition to these serious conditions, counseling and psychotherapy can also be useful for people who are simply struggling with their mental health. This is different from having a diagnosable mental health condition. For example, they may seek pastoral care when they’re questioning their faith, but this may bring up a great deal of inner anguish and tension. Therapists and counselors can help with this; the responsibility doesn’t have to fall only to religious leaders.5
A pastoral care referral to mental health providers may be necessary if your religious leader feels that the help you need is outside of their abilities. There isn’t a formal process for this, but it may involve:5
Explaining their limitations and the benefits of specialist treatment- Inviting you to collaborate with them in looking for an appropriate service
- Compiling a list of services
- Helping you make an appointment
- Talk through any fears or stigmas you may feel about the treatment
- Continuing to support you in ways that are within their capacity
Next, we’ll explore the many types of mental health treatments available after referrals from pastoral care, including those that are faith-based.
What Are Faith-Based Mental Health Support Services?
With nearly 75% of Americans saying their approach to life is rooted in faith, it’s clear that many people seeking mental health support will be spiritual in some sense.7 For this reason, faith-based mental health support services are often necessary.
Faith-based mental health services are those that recognize the need for spiritual guidance and religious understanding within the context of emotional well-being. Faith-based mental health support services can take many forms, helping to meet the diverse needs of those with mental health issues. The following sections explore some examples of faith-based services.
Faith-Integrated Counseling
One way faith-based support is integrated with mental health care is within counseling and psychotherapy. For instance, clients may feel more comfortable with therapists who belong to the same faith as they do. Even though all therapists are trained to listen without judgment, if you’re religious, it’s natural to feel more comfortable discussing your faith openly with a religious professional.8
This type of counseling isn’t a specific modality. Therapists build on psychotherapeutic theories (listed below) but can also integrate spiritual discussions into their sessions. For example, discussing how the client’s religious values impact their approach to life, experience of family, or interpersonal conflicts.8
By integrating religious themes, therapy programs can meet spiritual and mental health needs. As mentioned, they’ll also be rooted in a theoretical framework, such as:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): Focuses on the automatic and negative thought patterns that cause unhelpful behaviors.5 Religious-CBT (RCBT) is a specifically adapted form of CBT for people who want a more spiritual approach.- Psychodynamic therapy: Exploring early experiences in order to understand patterns of relating and unconscious motivations.
- Humanistic therapy: Creating a non-judgmental space for people to explore their true selves, unaffected by external conditions or expectations.
- Family therapy: Helping to improve communication, conflict, and problem-solving skills between family members.5
- Group therapy: Inviting several people dealing with a similar problem to discuss themselves and each other. It can be reassuring and helpful to hear how others cope.5
Alongside integrating one of these approaches, a faith-integrated therapist will listen out for the client’s religious beliefs and incorporate these into the work. They will not impose their own religious beliefs. Plus, they won’t offer spiritual resources (such as scriptures) unless the client wants them.
Faith Support Groups
You might also access mental health care through faith-based organizations or community-driven initiatives. These can take the form of support groups, which meet regularly, often at a church or place of worship.9
Faith support groups can have many purposes and activities. For example, the ones in your local area might involve:
Time for prayer and thanksgiving- Sharing stories, struggles, and encouragement
- Taking turns to update other members about how they’ve been since the last meeting
- Reading of spiritual texts to inspire and comfort members
- Giving extra attention to members with a particular need for it
Although many faith support groups are explicitly designed for supporting people with mental health issues, they may state that they are not a replacement for professional and in-depth counseling. This is because they’re often run by volunteers who are not formally trained in treating mental health conditions.9
Spiritual Inpatient Centers
Inpatient treatment is for people with more severe symptoms. For instance, they may be at risk of harming themselves or others, or simply be unable to look after their own basic needs.
Some people in inpatient centers may be suicidal or have a serious mental health condition that hasn’t yet been effectively treated with medication. Inpatient treatment is also common for people with addiction issues, allowing them to undergo rehabilitation in a carefully crafted environment.
Inpatient treatment provides a residential place where people can truly rest. They’re monitored round-the-clock and given more intensive therapy (such as several times a week). Therefore, to put it clearly, residential treatment options from pastoral referral are for people who need more support than typical mental health services.
Inpatient programs for faith-based referrals may not advertise their religious values overtly. However, they’ll still offer spiritual counseling for those who want it.
Mission Connection: Get Mental Health Support Today
Mission Connection understands that spiritual beliefs can be an essential part of recovery. Our licensed professionals welcome everyone, regardless of their faith. Our goal is to help you develop long-lasting strategies that enable you to stay healed long-term.
If your faith is an integral part of your healing journey, you can rest assured that our therapies and services will respect and accommodate this. Whether this is through implementing religious beliefs in therapy or helping you access faith-based peer support programs, we can tailor treatment to your needs.
At Mission Connection, you’ll find a warm and supportive space that’s focused on you and what you need to heal. Contact our team today to learn more about our services.
References
- NAMI. (n.d.). The intersection of faith and mental health. https://www.nami.org/from-the-ceo/the-intersection-of-faith-and-mental-health/
- Mental Health America. (2025, May 29). 10 ways faith can support mental health. https://mhanational.org/resources/10-ways-faith-can-support-mental-health/
- Psychology Today. (2025). How spiritual practices can bolster mental health. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/psychology-insights-for-a-new-world/202501/how-spiritual-practices-can-bolster-mental-health
- APA Foundation. (2024). Faith. https://www.apaf.org/our-programs/faith/
- APA Foundation. (n.d.). Mental health: A guide for faith leaders. https://www.apaf.org/getmedia/d5cdf69e-e9bb-4090-9b75-1b409c3e2369/APAF-Mental-Health-A-Guide-for-Faith-Leaders.pdf
- Psychology Today. (2023). Why your pastor can’t be your therapist. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/inside-intimacy/202309/why-your-pastor-cant-be-your-therapist
- Psychology Today. (2025). With God as my shrink. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/articles/200505/with-god-as-my-shrink
- Psychology Today. (n.d.). Christian counseling | Psychology Today United Kingdom. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/therapy-types/christian-counseling
- NAMI. (n.d.). Faith support groups. https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/NAMI-FaithNet/Faith-Support-Groups/
