F.A.Q.

1. How much does the counseling and other services cost? All of our services, including the  comprehensive clinical pastoral counseling, are free, all of the time.

2. If your services are free, how does the ministry survive? Our ability to provide this ministry comes from the generous support of financial sponsors — men, women, churches, and businesses — who capture the vision of this ministry and support our mission through their tax deductible donations. If our clients have the means of donating to the ministry, we encourage them to do so, we need all the help we can get! But our commitment is to remove the barrier of cost so that people can get the help they need to change their lives.

3. What’s the difference between “clinical pastoral counseling” and “Pastor Care”? Comprehensive clinical pastor counseling is a service offered to anyone. In Pastor Care, we provide competent and professional clinical pastoral counseling specifically for people serving in vocational and bi-vocational ministry with an understanding of their unique positions. A key difference is that our therapist, Dr. Scott, has personally served in pastoral ministry for almost four decades. His vast experience in church ministry, coupled with his clinical education, clinical skills and experience, make him uniquely qualified to understand, relate to, and treat people serving in ministry.

4. Do I have to attend a certain church to be able to have access to the Clinic services? No. In fact, there’s no requirement you attend any church. While we partner with churches to offer these services, access to the clinic is open to anyone, and no referral is needed.

5. Can I refer someone to the clinic? Yes. If you know someone who needs help to change their life, refer them to the Clinic. You are welcome to refer anyone — family, friends, church members, co-workers, neighbors, people in your community — we are here to minister to anyone who needs to change their lives.

6. What if I only need spiritual counseling for something regarding my Christian life? In that case, we will first encourage you to seek spiritual counsel from your pastor or leaders within your own church. If there is some reason that is not available or for some reason not in your best interest, we would be happy to provide pastoral counseling to you.

7. What’s the difference between “clinical pastoral counseling” and “advanced coaching”? Sometimes when a person needs some help to move their life forward, they don’t necessarily need clinical level counseling and might feel uncomfortable seeking out counseling services when coaching would be more than adequate to help them. By offering coaching that has the capacity to provide clinical insight if needed, we can offer an advanced level of coaching to help people achieve goals for their personal and professional development.

8. Does your fitness consultation service include personal training? No. Dr. Scott is a certified Fitness Professional and a certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist, and has trained hundreds of clients in a gym setting, but such personal training services are not offered through the Clinic. However, you do get the benefit of that experience through fitness consultation. If it is assessed that improving your fitness level is a key contributing factor to changing your life, Dr. Scott can consult with you to design a personal fitness program that can help you improve your current fitness level, but he won’t be providing personal training services. This consultation service is offered to add a holistic capacity to help you change your life.

9. What locations do you serve? With the use of technology, we are able to provide services to people, pastors, and churches locally, regionally, nationally, and even internationally. Some regional, national, and international travel will be considered depending on what the need is and how travel could provide a broader opportunity to serve multiple people, pastors, or churches.

10. Are donations made to the Scott Free Clinic tax deductible? Yes. The Scott Free Clinic is a non-profit parachurch ministry that is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) public charity, and all donations made to this ministry are tax deductible.