The pastoral counseling group constitutes a rather specialized branch of the ministry; it is increasing in size, but not yet large. Some of its members have a D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) degree, and some have taken additional courses in educational psychology, clinical psychology, or pastoral counseling. However, well-trained pastoral counselors are still rare.
The average non-pastoral marriage counselor has an M.A. degree in the field of psychology, educational psychology, counseling and testing, or religion. Many of these counselors have received neither theoretical instruction nor practical experience related to marital problems. Many older marriage counselors are former ministers who fulfilled joint functions, serving as both pastor and marriage counselor for their church. Some of the older marriage counselors have the benefit of years of experience, but no formal training. Nevertheless, they sometimes do quite an adequate job. One of the problems in selecting such a counselor is that the lack of formal qualifications in most states means that the prospective patient has a difficult time deciding whether a marriage counselor can deal adequately with his particular problem.
Occasionally an M.D. without psychiatric training will eschew the rigors of medicine for the comfort of an easy chair and hang out his shingle as a marriage counselor. Here again-caveat emptor!
In some countries marriage counseling is a highly respected field. In
Australia, for example, a national act instituted in 1959 requires a couple seeking a divorce to have several sessions with a counselor first. These counselors are trained and licensed by the national government.
The inspiration for men in such a country to enter the maritalcounseling field is greater than it is in the United States, and the quality of counselors is apt to be quite high, just as their responsibilities are great. In the United States, the Association of Marital Counselors seeks to keep standards up and to encourage proper training and the dissemination of information for counselors, but considerable policing is still required, since the laws determining who may give marital advice are loose and vary from state to state. Indeed, as has been mentioned, in some states no special education or training is required. 