Understanding your counseling options
Licensed counseling vs pastoral counseling
Understand the kind of care you’re choosing.
You may want a counselor who understands your faith, someone who can help with your mental health, or both. Knowing the difference between licensed counseling and pastoral counseling helps you choose care that fits what you need.
At Joshua Tree Counseling in Tucson, we offer licensed psychotherapy and Christian pastoral counseling. Both make room for your story. They serve different purposes and carry different professional responsibilities.
At a glance
What is the difference?
Both approaches can offer thoughtful conversation, care, and support. Licensed counseling provides clinical mental health treatment. Pastoral counseling at Joshua Tree offers explicitly Christian soul care. Here is how those services compare.
| What to know | Licensed counselingClinical psychotherapy | Pastoral counselingChristian soul care |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Help with emotional distress, relationships, trauma, and mental health concerns through psychotherapy. | Explore your story, relationships, suffering, identity, and spiritual life through a Christian framework. |
| Role of faith | Faith may be integrated according to your preferences, goals, and what is clinically appropriate. | Christian faith is foundational to the work. Your voice and boundaries around specific spiritual practices still matter. |
| Diagnosis + treatment | Includes clinical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment within the clinician’s training and scope. | Does not include clinical diagnosis or treatment of mental health disorders and is not psychotherapy. |
| Credentials + oversight | State clinical licensure, professional standards, and oversight by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. | Pastoral education, certification, and ministerial accountability. A BCPC credential is different from a state clinical license. |
| Payment + superbills | Private pay at Joshua Tree. Clients may request a superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement; their plan determines eligibility. | Private pay. Joshua Tree does not provide insurance superbills for pastoral counseling. |
| Online sessions | Availability depends on the clinician’s authorization to practice where you are physically located during the session. | See Tammy’s profile for online options and confirm availability for your location before scheduling. |
These descriptions reflect Joshua Tree’s services. Some pastoral counselors elsewhere also hold a clinical license. Ask which service you are booking and which credentials apply.
01 / Clinical psychotherapy
Licensed counseling
Licensed counseling offers psychotherapy for concerns that affect how you feel, function, and relate to others. Your counselor considers your history, current symptoms, relationships, strengths, and goals when developing an approach to care.
Clinical work may address anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, addiction, relationship patterns, or other mental health concerns. Each clinician works within their own education, training, and experience.
What clinical care includes
- Assessment of your concerns and, when appropriate, a mental health diagnosis.
- A treatment plan shaped by your needs and counseling goals.
- Therapeutic approaches selected for your concerns and the clinician’s training.
- Clinical records, professional boundaries, and privacy protections required by law and professional standards.
Who holds licensed clinicians accountable?
Arizona’s Board of Behavioral Health Examiners regulates these licenses and investigates complaints about licensees. You can verify a clinician’s license and learn about the Board’s complaint process through its website.
02 / Christian soul care
Pastoral counseling
Pastoral counseling at Joshua Tree offers a place to explore your life and relationships through an explicitly Christian understanding of identity, suffering, hope, and restoration. Christian faith is the foundation of the work.
Conversations may include your story, grief, attachment wounds, church hurt, spiritual questions, and the ways painful experiences have shaped your relationship with God, yourself, and other people. Scripture, prayer, and spiritual formation may be part of that process.
Training and accountability are different.
Pastoral counselors have varied educational and ministry backgrounds. Certification and ordination do not, by themselves, establish a state clinical license. Ask about a pastoral counselor’s education, credentials, ethical standards, ministerial accountability, and process for addressing concerns.
Arizona law recognizes an exemption for qualifying clergy services performed within ministerial duties, with accountability to an established religious authority. That is a different framework from clinical licensure.
Tammy Furrier, MA, BCPC
Tammy is an ordained chaplain and board-certified pastoral counselor. She offers relational, story-informed Christian soul care for adults. Her profile explains her approach, education, and current session options.
Faith + counseling
Christian faith can be part of either.
Wanting Christian counseling does not automatically mean you are looking for pastoral counseling. You might want clinical psychotherapy that includes your faith, or soul care that begins with it. Those preferences deserve a conversation.
In licensed counseling, you choose.
Joshua Tree is a collective of Christian counselors. You may want faith to be woven into therapy, prefer a counselor who shares your worldview without including spiritual practices, or want faith kept outside your sessions.
Your beliefs, preferences, and clinical goals guide that conversation. Professional counselors are expected to avoid imposing their personal values. Requesting faith integration still leaves room for your own understanding, questions, and boundaries.
In pastoral counseling, faith is foundational.
Tammy’s pastoral counseling begins with a Christian worldview. Faith is central to how she understands story, identity, relationships, and restoration. This approach fits people who want that foundation to be part of their care.
You can still ask questions and discuss your comfort with prayer, Scripture, or other spiritual practices. If you want counseling that leaves Christian faith entirely outside the work, choose a licensed counselor whose approach fits that preference.
Finding your fit
Start with what you need.
Credentials help you understand the service. The counselor’s experience, approach, and way of relating help you understand whether that service fits you. These three questions can help you begin.
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What kind of support am I looking for?
If you want mental health assessment or treatment, begin with a licensed clinician who works with your concerns. If your focus is Christian soul care, spiritual formation, or exploring your story through faith, read about the pastoral approach and its scope.
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How do I want faith to enter the conversation?
Do you want prayer or Scripture? A shared worldview? Room to question your beliefs? Counseling without faith integration? You do not need a perfect answer, but sharing your preferences helps you choose someone who fits.
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Who has the experience and approach I need?
Look at the people a counselor serves, their specialties, how they describe their work, and the practical details of meeting with them. Ask how they would approach your concerns and how you would decide together whether the work is helping.
You can receive clinical and pastoral support at the same time. Discuss this with your providers so each person’s role is clear and any coordination happens with your permission.
A few common questions
What else should I know?
Is Christian counseling the same as pastoral counseling?
The phrase “Christian counseling” can describe more than one service. It may mean licensed psychotherapy that integrates Christian faith, or pastoral counseling that offers Christian soul care. Read the counselor’s credentials and scope of practice to understand which kind of service you are choosing.
Can a licensed Christian counselor pray or use Scripture with me?
Yes, when you want that integration and it is appropriate to your goals and the counselor’s competence. You can welcome some spiritual practices and decline others. Consent to Christian counseling does not give a counselor permission to impose personal beliefs or disregard your boundaries.
Do I have to be Christian to receive counseling at Joshua Tree?
You do not need to be Christian to receive licensed counseling here, and you can choose psychotherapy without faith integration. Pastoral counseling begins with an explicitly Christian framework, so it is important to decide whether that approach is what you want.
Is “board-certified pastoral counselor” a mental health license?
A BCPC is a pastoral certification, not an Arizona clinical mental health license. A person may hold both pastoral and clinical credentials, but the certification alone does not establish clinical licensure. Tammy provides pastoral counseling and is not a licensed mental health professional.
Can I use insurance or request a superbill?
Joshua Tree is a private-pay practice and does not bill health insurance. Clients receiving psychotherapy from a licensed counselor may request a superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Your insurance plan decides whether the service and provider qualify. Superbills are not available for pastoral counseling or internship sessions.
Can I meet online if I am outside Arizona?
For licensed psychotherapy, the clinician must be legally authorized to practice where you are physically located during the session. An Arizona license alone does not establish that authorization everywhere. Confirm this before scheduling or traveling. For pastoral sessions, check Tammy’s current online options and confirm availability for your location.
What should I know about privacy and confidentiality?
Ask your counselor to explain privacy, records, confidentiality limits, supervision, and any coordination with other providers before you begin. Licensed psychotherapy and pastoral care have different professional and legal frameworks. Your service agreement should explain what applies to the care you are receiving.
What can I do if I have concerns about my counselor?
You can ask questions, raise concerns, seek another provider, or use the relevant complaint process. Concerns about an Arizona licensed clinician may be brought to the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. For a pastoral counselor, ask about the processes of their certifying and ordaining organizations. You do not have to resolve a concern directly with the counselor before seeking appropriate help.
Your next step
Find the care that fits you.
Our counselor profiles explain the kind of care each person offers, who they work with, and what their approach feels like. Take a look and notice whose experience and way of working connect with what you need.