Spirituality and Homelessness: Implications for Pastoral Counseling

This article presents a limited number of findings from a larger research project that explores spiritual themes related to the experience of homelessness as reported by 16 research participants following their residence in a 90-day emergency shelter program in Los Angeles County, California. By utilizing interpretive phenomenological analysis, the study focuses solely on three spiritual themes present in the experience of homelessness. Participants noted experiencing the presence of hope and motivation while homeless, the challenges of coping with the homeless stigma, and times in which they felt (and did not feel) “human.” Implications for pastoral counselors and others offering spiritually-integrated counsel in the context of homelessness are discussed.