Not all counselors (biblical or otherwise) are equally equipped or skilled to recognize and respond to abuse. It's important to proactively and carefully vet potential care providers before entrusting your case to a particular counselor or team of counselors. To aid you in this vetting process, we’ve provided the following list of general, guiding questions. Please note, this is not an exhaustive checklist. Instead, our hope in providing you this list is that it would prepare you to thoughtfully engage in open, upfront dialogue with your potential care providers and that, by doing so, both parties might avoid any assumptions that could cause confusion or harm in the future.
Victim Care Concerns
Abuse Awareness:
Have you received any domestic abuse specific training?
Where did you receive your training? Who were the instructors?
What resources have most influenced your personal understanding of the dynamics and impacts of abuse?
How do you define abuse?
Of the cases you’ve counseled, how many have involved domestic abuse?
Abuse Responses:
When counseling abused wives, what are your counseling priorities? What do you believe to be the most significant challenges for abused wives?
What are your thoughts on separation and/or divorce if an abusive husband does not show lasting fruit of repentance? How do you determine if/when separation and/or divorce are biblically allowable and/or necessary?
What domestic abuse related resources, authors, books do you utilize when counseling a victim?
In what ways do you cooperate with community resources (local advocates, domestic violence shelters, law enforcement, etc.)?
Perpetrator Response Concerns
Abuse Awareness:
Have you received any domestic abuse specific training?
Where did you receive your training? Who were the instructors?
What resources have most influenced your personal understanding of the dynamics and impacts of abuse?
How do you define abuse?
Of the cases you’ve counseled, how many have involved domestic abuse?
Abuse Responses:
When counseling abusive husbands, what are your counseling priorities? What do you believe to be the most significant challenges for abusive husbands?
What are your thoughts on separation and/or divorce if an abusive husband does not show lasting fruit of repentance? How do you determine if/when separation and/or divorce are biblically allowable and/or necessary?
What domestic abuse related resources, authors, books do you utilize when counseling a perpetrator?
In what ways do you cooperate with local resources (Batterer Intervention and Prevention Programs [BIPPs], law enforcement, etc.)?