Integral Pastoral Care in Ghana

Our Impressions

About Integral Pastoral Care                    

Dr. Amoateng-Boahen’s book alerts us to the pressing need for pastoral care for Asante in particular and Ghanaians in general. In his book, he uses his deep knowledge of the Akan Culture to provide a practical guide for sound counseling and spiritual direction. It is without a must-read for effective ministry.

-Rev Dr. Kofi Noonoo, PhD, LCPC

President, Council of Ghanaian Churches in Chicago.

Chicago, Illinois USA

Pastoral Care for any group of people is very meaningful and insightful idea, the time for which has come. Therefore Dr. Gabriel Amoateng-Boahen should be highly commended for his Holy Spirit-inspired work. This book highlights on the available resources to provide emotional and spiritual support for the Asante People and all Ghanaians at home and abroad.

Dr. George Ossei Assibey-Mensah

Indiana University

Gary, Indiana USA

This is a significantly long-awaited, awareness-raising, horn-blowing message (book) for creating awareness about an important addition to the health delivery system for Ghanaians as a whole. This book draws attention to the fact that the integration of Clinical Pastoral Care into the health delivery system can help address the huge psychological and emotional challenges of Ghanaians. This integration will improve health, wellness and spiritual needs of Ghanaians as a whole.

Rose Korang-Okrah, PhD., MSW,

Assistant Professor of Social Work,

Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101 USA

Modern medicine is increasingly recognizing the importance of holistic care which encompasses the body, soul, and spirit. These three entities are intrinsically interwoven in both health and in disease. They affect a sick person’s perception of illness, acceptance of, and compliance, with treatment, and eventually impacts recovery from acute or chronic illness. The recognition of these interactions is leading several hospitals in the developed world to incorporate pastoral care into the usual care traditionally available in hospitals. Many Ghanaian societies are deeply spiritual; this factor sometimes enhances and complements treatment and healing. In other, rather unfortunate situations, it impedes the acceptance of treatments other than spiritual healing for easily-treatable physical or mental illness. Recognition of the roles of the physical, the emotional and the spiritual factors as participants in any human experience requires a very clear and unbiased attention in Ghanaian communities both within and outside the confines of the country.

Dr. Amoateng-Boahen draws from his vast experience in spirituality as well as his intense exposure to scientific medicine as chaplain in a leading United States hospital. He lays out in this book, these intertwined factors, starting out with a familiar Ghanaian (Asante) culture and addresses the issues in a more universal way beyond Ghanaian and African boundaries.

This book makes very interesting reading and should throw light on very important issues which could spell relief and suffering to many.

Dr. James Erbowor-Becksen, MD

Avon, Indiana USA