Marble City Counsel · Version 2026-06-13
Marble City Counsel provides Christ-centered pastoral and spiritual counsel as religious ministry. Care is provided by ordained ministers and trained counselors serving with the practice; the minister or counselor providing your care will be identified to you. These services are pastoral and spiritual in nature. They are not licensed professional counseling, psychotherapy, psychological services, social work, marriage and family therapy, or medical treatment, and the persons providing care are not state-licensed mental-health providers. No diagnosis or treatment of any mental, emotional, or medical condition is offered or implied.
Pastoral counsel comes alongside you with Scripture given the final say, while the honest insights of the helping sciences are received as its servant. Care is offered for individuals and couples walking through difficulty, decision, grief, or spiritual struggle, including marriage and premarital counsel and discipleship.
Pastoral counsel is offered in good faith and with care, but no particular result, outcome, healing, or change is promised or guaranteed. Counseling can at times bring up difficult memories or emotions. You remain responsible for your own decisions and actions, and you may decline any suggestion or end the relationship at any time.
Reaching out does not by itself establish a counseling relationship. A relationship begins only when you and your minister both agree to proceed. Either of you may end it at any time, for any reason. You are encouraged to ask questions about the approach, the expectations, or anything else at any point.
Care is offered as ministry. There is no required fee. A free-will donation or offering in support of the ministry is welcomed but never required, and no one is turned away for inability to give. To help sustain this ministry, many choose to give a free-will offering in the range of $40 to $80 per session, as they are able; this is a suggestion only, and never a fee, an invoice, or a condition of care. As a courtesy, please give at least 24 hours’ notice if you must reschedule or cancel.
What you share is held in confidence as a sacred trust, and is protected and stewarded as described in the Confidentiality & Privacy Notice, which is incorporated into this agreement by reference and which you should read in full. In summary, confidentiality may be limited where the law requires or permits disclosure: suspected child abuse or neglect; suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult; a serious and specific threat of harm to an identifiable person or to yourself; disclosures you authorize in writing; and valid legal process.
Records of your care are kept securely and privately, encrypted at rest, with access limited to those providing or stewarding your care and access recorded for accountability (a standard equivalent to HIPAA safeguards). Records are retained only as long as needed for your care and good stewardship, then securely removed.
This ministry is not an emergency or crisis service and is not monitored at all hours. If you or someone else may be in danger, may harm themselves or another, or is experiencing a medical or psychiatric emergency, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), call 911, or go to your nearest emergency room. Please do not use forms, email, or messages to communicate an emergency.
You agree that completing this agreement online and typing your name as your signature constitutes your legal electronic signature, has the same effect as a handwritten signature, and reflects your knowing and voluntary agreement. The date, and the network address from which the agreement is submitted, are recorded with your signature.
By signing, I confirm that I have read and understood this Informed Consent & Counseling Agreement; that I understand these are pastoral and religious ministry services and not licensed professional counseling, psychotherapy, psychological, or medical treatment; that I understand the limits of confidentiality; that I am participating voluntarily; and that I consent to receive pastoral counsel from Marble City Counsel. If I am signing on behalf of a minor, I confirm that I am the minor’s parent or legal guardian with authority to consent.