Counselling Hazards

This week I stumbled upon a counselling guide of the The National Center for Biotechnology Information. While this has to do in particular with substance-abuse-counselling, its principles apply far more widely. It warns of two particular dangers:

1. Sexual contact or interactions with the counselee, and
2. Threats or acts of violence against the counsellor

This confirms what I already know--although when such things happen, they don't happen as one thinks they do. I haven't had trouble that I couldn't manage with no. 1, but I have had with no. 2. While threats and acts of violence against a counsellor are rare, they are real. Counselling can trigger hostility--and that may mean, in fact, more than threats or acts of violence. OBSERVATION: For this reason, a counselee should not be involved in another aspect of a minister's life.