Pastoral Care

Liberty’s mission is to Train Champions for Christ. We understand this means the whole person, from academic to emotional to spiritual to physical. The pastoral care arm of LU Shepherd is specifically focused on the spiritual and practical well-being of students. We minister to needs through one-on-one biblical counseling and chaplaincy – including hospital visits, premarital counseling, and benevolence. Finally, we actively seek to help students connect to the local church for spiritual growth, accountability, support, and sharing of their spiritual gifts.

Pastoral Counseling

While the Office of LU Shepherd is set up to train student leaders to do peer-to-peer mentoring, we understand that there are some problems that students are dealing with where they want or need to speak to someone with more training. Pastoral Counseling in the LU Shepherd Office is facilitated by full-time staff members who work alongside the LU Shepherds and oversee a team of graduate interns to address the students’ needs.

Schedule an Appointment

If a student has not met with someone in our office before, the first step toward setting up a meeting is completing an intake form. The intake form allows us to better assess a student’s needs and to get them connected with the best person in our office.

Once the intake is submitted, a member of the LU Shepherd staff will reach out within 24-hours to schedule a meeting. If you are in crisis, you can meet with someone on the same day by simply walking into our office located on the ground floor of Dorm 17 on the Hill.

For emergency assistance after office hours, please contact your Resident Director or call the LUPD emergency line at (434) 592-3911.

Referrals

The Office of LU Shepherd works very closely with several other offices at the university, including CASAS, the CARE Team and Student Counseling Services. Upon accessing a student’s intake form, the LU Shepherd Office may make an immediate referral to one of these teams. Our purpose in such a referral is to give a student the best help in the quickest time.

Chaplaincy

Hospital Visits

Through our various channels, we are able to gather information about most emergency medical situations. However, sometimes there is an elective procedure or emergency that gets by us. If you are hospitalized for any reason, we want to know. If you have an upcoming procedure and want someone from our office on hand to pray with you and/or your family, email, or call our office.

Premarital Counseling/Marital Counseling

Should you happened to get engaged while a student at Liberty, we have multiple ordained pastors in our office who are able to walk you through premarital counseling. Our staff uses an excellent resource called Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS). Our staff does not charge to do premarital counseling, however, there is a $35 charge per couple to cover the cost of the computer generated assessment that steers the sessions. Many couples use our staff for premarital counseling and a family pastor for the wedding. However, we have pastors available to perform ceremonies. You can work directly with these pastors to determine financial arrangements.

Death Notifications

Death is an unfortunate part of life. If you are a parent and your student has a close family member that dies, many have found that it helps to have someone on hand when you inform them. We are available to serve your family in this way.

Similarly, if you are a residential or commuter student and have a death in the family or a family member that is ill, we want to know and walk alongside you during this time.

Local Church

Our goal is to make sure that students are connecting with a local church during their time at Liberty. This link gives you a small group of local churches that have signed up and been vetted by LU Serve to allow students to fulfill CSER requirements. These churches are also great if you are looking for a place to worship. Our staff has great relationships with several other local churches in the area and would be happy to give you a recommendation if you’re looking for a church home.

Benevolence

Students sometimes run into financial situations. LU Shepherd oversees a benevolence fund and we are sometimes able to come alongside and help with some minor expenses. However, while we cannot always meet the financial needs of students, we can often give you some good practical advice and/or refer you to some other tangible resources. If you are experiencing some difficulties, contact our office.