Pastoral Counseling

Pastoral Counseling is available for all persons and draws on the rich traditions of both psychology and, if desired, spiritually, working from an interfaith perspective, respecting everyone's journey as they face difficult life experiences

Center Description

The Assabet Valley Pastoral Counseling Center (AVPCC) is a specialized ministry that provides quality psychotherapy, testing & assessment, and preventative education programs to the greater Central Massachusetts area. We are located in Westborough, Hudson and Acton.

The clinical staff of the pastoral counseling center includes Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, Mental Health Counselors, Psychologists and a Certified Spiritual Director. Six of the staff has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, marriage & family, and pastoral counseling.

AVPCC is unique in that its therapists are doubly trained in the behavioral sciences and religion. As such, our mission for 31 years has been providing counseling to individuals, couples, children, adolescents, families and groups utilizing each person's own faith perspective in their healing and growth - a view that has recently captured the interest of the scientific community. The pastoral counseling relationship provides a person with a direct and personal connection to their religious community and the values it represents.

What happens is pastoral counseling is the telling of stories, genuinely understanding them as they are presented, and interpreting them in the light of the religious community's larger story of life's meaning. The pastoral counselor's role and function as representative of the story of faith enables a person to reinterpret his or her story in the light of the faith's understanding of who a person related to God is. This allows one to experience and interpret new possibilities of selfhood, relationships and behavior.

A fundamental aspect of AVPCC's mission is to provide pastoral counseling for all who want to take advantage of this unique ministry. It is our local faith communities and charities that have faithfully provided funds each year to help offset the cost of providing this vital ministry to those who otherwise would not be able to afford the cost of pastoral counseling. A donation may also be designated to AVPCC through one's United Way contribution.

More and more persons are finding the level of clinical expertise combined with the compassion and redemption of the pastoral perspective as found here at AVPCC are the qualities most likely to affect their healing and growth. Thank you for participating in this ministry.