Being a Pastoral Supervisor as a licensed/authorised minister in Sydney Diocese

These guidelines apply to stipendiary licensed ordained or authorised lay ministers (‘minister’ or ‘ministers’), and are drawn from the Pastoral Supervision Policy – December  2023 (‘the Policy’).

Ministers seeking to become Approved Pastoral Supervisors

1. You will need to have completed a Graduate Certificate in Pastoral Supervision or completed the Supervisor Foundations Training Course (to qualify you as a Provisionally Approved Pastoral Supervisor).
   
   
2. Consult with your wardens/parish council (for Rectors) or you Rector (if you are an assistant minister) and gain their support. (Policy para 9).
   
   
3. Apply to become an Approved Pastoral Supervisor by completing the form below. An interview with the Pastoral Supervision Manager will be required before approval is granted.
   
   

Insurance for ministers conducting Pastoral Supervision

• There are a couple of reasons why ministers who are Approved Pastoral Supervisors cannot get personal indemnity insurance:
  • If a full-time minister, you will be unable to get an ABN under current GST laws.
  • Without an ABN, you will be unable to purchase indemnity insurance to practice as an Approved Pastoral Supervisor.
• However, ministers in such circumstances will be covered by the Diocese’s insurance policy (Policy para 19(b)).
• Provisionally Approved Pastoral Supervisors working as ministers are also covered by the Diocese’s insurance policy as they are unable to obtain personal insurance until qualified (Policy para 19(c))

Charging for Supervision services

• If you are a full-time minister, you cannot extract any financial gain from being a Supervisor (Policy para 17(a)). This generally means that you either do not charge for Supervision you conduct, or you pass any monies received for conducting supervision back to the parish.
• Part time ministers who are Approved Pastoral Supervisors can charge for Supervision conducted on their personal time.

Other Notes:

• Ministers seeking to become Approved Pastoral Supervisors are not required to have AAOS Membership (which requires insurance cover), as the Policy only requires you to “meet the academic requirements to be an associate or member of AAOS” (10b).
  But if you wish to join AAOS, you will need to apply to become an Approved Pastoral Supervisor first, then you may use the Diocesan insurance details in order to obtain AAOS membership.

If you have any questions about the above matters please contact us

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