The New ASERVIC Competencies for Addressing Spiritual and Religious Issues in Counseling

In 2009, leaders in the Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) developed new competencies for addressing spiritual and religious issues in counseling. This article briefly addresses the need for new ASERVIC competencies, provides an overview of the process whereby the new competencies emerged, and concludes with a listing of the new ASERVIC‐endorsed competencies.     

Addressing Spiritual and Religious Issues in Counseling African Americans: Implications for Counselor Training and Practice

Addressing spiritual and religious issues in the context of counseling relationships may be beneficial to many African American clients. The authors discuss various roles and functions of spirituality and religion in the lives of many African Americans, with particular attention to the impact of these issues on their mental health functioning and willingness to seek formal mental health services. The importance of academic training programs that prepare counselors to address potential spiritual and religious issues with their clients, is also highlighted.     

Addressing Spiritual Issues in Secular Counseling and Psychotherapy: Response to Helminiak's (2001) Views

D. A. Helminiak (2001) suggests that counselors who work within the framework of a client's chosen religious or spiritual perspective are illegitimately responding to spiritual issues in counseling. In contrast to this position, this article affirms that spiritually sensitive counselors who work within the religious or spiritual framework of clients can practice both ethically and effectively and can generate useful research examining the relationship between spirituality and successful therapeutic outcomes.     

A Decision‐Making Model for Addressing Problematic Behaviors in Counseling Students

Gatekeeping is the subject of continued discourse in the counseling profession. With revisions to the ACA Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association, 2014 ), recent litigation (Keeton v. Anderson‐Wiley, 2010 ; Ward v. Wilbanks, 2009 ), and focused attention on value conflicts in counseling (Francis & Dugger, 2014 ), counselor educators' role as gatekeepers is expanding. In addition to this expanding role, counselor educators are responsible for being culturally and developmentally sensitive in interpreting, applying, and enforcing the codes and standards with counseling students. This article proposes a decision‐making model that integrates feminist, multicultural, systems theory, and social‐constructivist ethical decision‐making principles to address problematic behaviors in counseling students.     

Spiritual Empowerment: A Metaphor for Counseling

The metaphor of counseling as spiritual empowerment is presented, followed by an explanation of spiritual empowerment as a metaphor and spiritual empowerment as a theoretical framework for counselors. In the use of this metaphor, counselors initiate a spiritual experience with clients, and clients often experience a spiritual awakening in which they discover or rediscover their own spiritual power. Five conclusions are identified.     

Spiritual Wellness for Clients With HIV/AIDS: Review of Counseling Issues

The epidemic of HIV/AIDS has resulted in an increasing population of individuals in need of counseling services: persons living with AIDS, as well as family, friends, and caregivers. The relationship between HIV/AIDS clients' counseling and spiritual issues is demonstrated by a review of salient literature. Three broad themes are used: terminal illness issues such as post-death existence and existential meaning of life, religious disenfranchisement from society or families of origin, and multicultural spiritual and religious issues. Practical recommendations for counselors and research implications are included.     

Developing Spiritual Competencies in Counseling: A Guide for Supervisors

The recently established competencies for addressing spiritual and religious issues in counseling (Association of Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling, 2009 ) provide guidelines for counselors to implement in conjunction with evidence‐based counseling practices. These spiritual competencies complement the ethics code established by the American Counseling Association ( 2014 ) in promoting increased cross‐cultural sensitivity and proficiency in counseling. Supervisory tools that promote the ethical and spiritual development of counseling trainees are identified and described.     

Integrating Spiritual Experiences in Counseling

Although the spiritual dimension is an integral part of psychotherapy, most mental health professionals lack the necessary training for working with spiritual experiences therapeutically. The experiential focusing method developed by Eugene Gendlin (eg., 1969, 1981) offers a key tool for counselors to help clients integrate their spiritual experiences in counseling. In this article, the author offers a definition of the spiritual experience, outlines the focusing method, presents examples of its application, and discusses the implications of using focusing to help clients integrate spirituality in counseling.     

Spiritual Assessment in Genetic Counseling

One hundred and twenty seven full members of the National Society of Genetic Counselors participated in this study exploring current spiritual assessment practices of genetic counselors and reactions to a spiritual assessment tool. While 60% of genetic counselors reported they had performed a spiritual assessment within the past year, fewer than 8.7% of these counselors assessed spirituality in more than half of their sessions. Counselors reporting high perceived relevance of spiritual assessment performed an assessment more frequently than those reporting a low perceived relevance. Barriers to spiritual assessment included lack of time, insufficient skills, and uncertainty regarding the role of spiritual assessment within genetic counseling. Almost two-thirds of counselors expressed that having a spiritual assessment tool would increase their ability to elicit relevant information. These data suggest a need for increased training regarding the methods for and relevance of spiritual assessment in genetic counseling. Recommendations for future directions of research are explored.     

Working With the Sacred: Four Approaches to Religious and Spiritual Issues in Counseling

This article examines the advantages and disadvantages of 4 helping orientations of the counselor to religious and spiritual issues in psychotherapy: rejectionism, exclusivism, constructivism, and pluralism. The constructivist and pluralist approaches are advocated as those orientations best suited to work with diverse clients and religious beliefs, and flexible enough to deal respectfully, ethically, and effectively with a variety of religious and spiritual issues in counseling.     

A Spiritual Issues Discussion Group for psychiatric in-patients

This article describes a weekly Spiritual Issues Discussion Group, co-led by the author, open to psychiatric in-patients at New York Presbyterian Hospital. The group is open to people of all faiths and endeavors to allow participants to explore the many relationships between their beliefs, past experiences, mental illness, and spiritual lives. The article also summarizes the professional literature reporting on similar groups and suggests areas for further study.     

Intercultural Model of Ethical Decision Making: Addressing Worldview Dilemmas in School Counseling

The role of school counselors has expanded and deepened over the past few decades, just as the K–12 student population has become more diversified. Professional school counselors regularly encounter ethical dilemmas related to the intersection of their transformed role and students' needs. School counselors, therefore, need assistance and support to develop the skills and problem‐solving strategies to effectively, ethically, and respectfully negotiate these dilemmas. The authors propose the Intercultural Model of Ethical Decision Making as a practical, user‐friendly tool to help school counselors meet these complex challenges.     

Addressing Spiritual Issues From a Cultural Perspective: The Case of the Grieving Filipino Boy

This article examines the ways that spiritual beliefs and traditions associated with the Filipino culture influenced an 11-year-old boy's efforts to cope with the death of his mother. Implications for attending to clients' spiritual beliefs are discussed.     

Counseling for Spiritual Wellness: Theory and Practice

Spiritual wellness is an emerging area of interest in counseling. It still lacks clarity, however, in definition and application. To increase familiarity with and encourage counselor intervention regarding the spiritual dimension, the authors of this article attempt to define more clearly the concept of spiritual health and to describe ways to use techniques for the enhancement of spiritual wellness and the advancement of spiritual development.     

A Model for Individual Career Counseling

The focus of the article is on a visual model for individual career counseling. The model takes into account psychological, social, and economic factors and describes decision making as a journey with four discernible stages.     

Spiritual Formation in Christian School Counseling Programs

This article makes the case that Christian school counselors should be more directly engaged in student spiritual formation. To accomplish this aim, the historical context for the discussion is first explored, followed by a review of contemporary medical and psychological research associating a positive spirituality with healthy functioning across a variety of developmental domains. The argument is then situated within developmental theory and systems thinking as well as the Christian theological—philosophical writings of John Macmurray. Recommendations for improving Christian school counseling practice as they relate to student spiritual formation are included.     

A Course in Spiritual Dimensions of Counseling: Continuing the Discussion

The author adds to the limited literature on counselor education courses that are based on the spiritual aspects of counseling by identifying the need for such course work, comparing and contrasting 3 previously published articles on such courses, and introducing a 4th such course in detail. Novel aspects of this newly introduced course and student assessment of various course activities and assignments are highlighted. The article concludes with questions that suggest future research directions.