Spirituality and Religion in Counseling

Competency-Based Strategies for Ethical Practice

Carman S. Gill, Robert R. Freund, Carman S. Gill, Robert R. Freund

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138282018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351811491
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Spirituality and Religion in Counseling: Competency-Based Strategies for Ethical Practice provides mental health professionals and counselors in training with practical information for understanding and responding to clients' needs using a spiritual and religious framework. This work conceptualizes spiritual and faith development in a holistic way, using case examples and practical interventions to consider common issues through a variety of approaches and frameworks. This is an essential compendium of actionable strategies and solutions for counselors looking to address clients' complex spiritual and religious lives and foster meaningful faith development.

Part I

Counselor Preparation and Understanding the Client in Terms of Spirituality and Religious Issues

1 Counselor Self-Awareness and Counselor Communication

Stephanie F. Dailey

“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.”

—Lao Tzu

Introduction

Central to effective, ethical intervention in any client issue is counselor self-awareness and communication. Those who do not explore and acknowledge their own personal development, cultural heritage, intrapersonal strengths, and inherent biases are not only at risk of failing to develop a positive working alliance with clients (Hagedorn and Moorhead, 2011), but lack the ability to engage with clients in a culturally responsive, ethical manner (Arredondo and Toporek, 2004; Collins and Arthur, 2007; Rosin, 2015). Self-knowledge avails counselors the capacity to be responsive, authentic, and undistortingly centered on the client and counseling process. Thus, facilitating the counselor’s ability to recognize, respond to, and utilize client communications regarding spiritual and religious concepts is integral to effective practice.

This chapter will explore the concept of self-awareness and provide counselors with a general understanding of counselor self-awareness as a core value of the counseling profession. The benefits of knowing oneself will be explored and consequences associated with deficiencies in awareness will be presented. Means by which counselors can extend their journey of self-exploration, specifically in relation to the spiritual and religious domain, will be investigated. As conjoint benefits of counselor self-awareness are acknowledged, ways in which the counselor can augment counselor/client communication will be presented. As with other chapters in this book, the reader will explore these concepts to promote a better understanding and utilization of the Association of Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) Competencies for Integrating Spirituality and Religion into Counseling (ASERVIC, 2009).

Self-Awareness

Self-reflection and awareness, repeatedly noted as ethical and professional obligations for competent and effective practice, lack clarity within our professional literature (Pompeo and Levitt, 2014; Richards, Campenni, and Muse-Burke, 2010; Rosin, 2015). Western definitions of awareness focus on “consciousness” as a combination of awareness and attention (Brown and Ryan, 2003). Awareness lies in the background as the “detector” of consciousness; a constant monitor of one’s intrapersonal and interpersonal landscape. Attention, or conscious awareness, is something an individual is cognizant and intentional about. Definitions more specific to counseling highlight counselor self-awareness as an “ongoing process of both reflection and learning from which counselors gain personal understanding as well as insight into how they view clients” (Collins, Arthur, and Wong-Wylie, 2010, p. 340). Levitt and Moorhead (2013) assert that counselors who demonstrate self-awareness are able to “objectively identify their own set of values, beliefs, and biases, and recognize the impact of these things upon their actions” (p. 37).

Fundamental to conscious awareness is the ability of a counselor to be self-reflective of their unique value system for the purpose of constant reflection, or the self-monitoring of how these beliefs impact the counseling relationship (Pompeo and Levitt, 2014). Counselor self-awareness is the capacity of individuals to be attentive to their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in the immediate experience of the counseling relationship (Oden, Miner-Holden, and Balkin, 2009; Richards et al., 2010; Williams, 2008). Self-awareness involves recognizing personal individuality, values, cultural backgrounds, and the lenses through which the world can be viewed. This includes understanding how problems are resolved and our understanding of how change takes place – both in regard to self and others. Self-awareness is the foundation of the counselor’s chosen theoretical orientation, whether we realize it or not, and underlies how and why a counselor applies specific techniques and interventions into the counseling process. Self-awareness informs the counselor’s ability to recognize and understand issues, such as ethnocentricism, and how these impact practice (Collins and Arthur, 2010). While there are many definitions, philosophies, and theological approaches to self-awareness, at the core of all of this is the timeless Socratic concept of “know thyself.”

Counselor Self-Awareness: A Core Value

The importance of consciousness and self-examination lies at the root of ancient philosophy, historically observed by Socrates, Locke, Descartes, and Aristotle, with varying interpretations and aims. Socrates is perhaps most famous for his dictum “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Humanistic, psychoanalytic, and postmodernist theorists held similar ideologies, and although differing in their approach and valuation of self-awareness, all deeply upheld the concept of introspection as a necessary function within the helping process (Hansen, 2009).

Counselor self-awareness is recognized as an ethical mandate. The ACA Code of Ethics, F.8.c., highlights personal growth as “an expected component of counselor education” (ACA, 2014, p. 14). For practitioners, the Code emphasizes the need for constant exploration and understanding of one’s cultural identity and how this may shape his or her value system, as it relates to the counseling process (ACA, 2014). Accreditation standards support the imperative nature of counselor introspection, requiring counselor education programs to assess self-awareness as an indicator of “fitness for the profession” during admissions procedures (CACREP, 2015, p. 33). Likewise, entry-level counselor education graduates must be equipped with “strategies for personal and professional self-evaluation and implications for practice” (ACA, 2014, 2.F.1.k: p. 9).

Looking at the ASERVIC Competencies for Integrating Spirituality and Religion into Counseling (2009), specifically Competencies 3 through 5, it is evident that the need for constant self-exploration, both personally and professionally, is warranted. In an effort to identify limits of understanding, barriers to effective practice, and tools that can facilitate more effective practice, these three competencies require an active exploration of the counselor’s attitudes, beliefs, and values about spirituality and/or religion. These competencies highlight both the purpose of evaluating the influence of these beliefs on the counseling process and the importance of counselors being able to objectively recognize limits of understanding and seek consultation and/or collaboration as needed.

The Summit Working Group, which developed the ASERVIC Competencies (see Introduction), emphasized the importance of understanding spiritual concepts in Competencies 1 and 2, and experiential understanding (i.e., self-awareness) of the spiritual domain in Competencies 3, 4, and 5. The subsequent competencies focus on human growth and development and professional practice issues, such as client communication, assessment, and diagnosis and treatment planning. This order was intentional as counselor self-awareness, particularly within the context of understanding counselor/client differences, must supersede practice. Beyond this rationale, counselor self-awareness brings clear gains to the therapeutic process.

Gains of Self-Awareness

The root of the word psychotherapy is from the Greek, referring to soul/spirit/mind. Thus, by its very nature, psychotherapy involves looking inward. Historically influential psychologists, Gordon Allport (1960), William James (1902/1985), Carl Jung (1958), and Abraham Maslow (1968), all assert that true emotional health involves a connection to spiritual and/or religious practices. Many, including Maslow (1968) and Carl Rogers (1973), posit this connection results in greater client attainment of self-awareness, insight, personal growth, and self-actualization. This growth is not limited to the client. If counseling is likely to include client exploration of spiritual and/or religious concepts, then the counselor must be willing and able to understand the religious and spiritual needs of his or her clients. A critical component of this process is for the counselor to first understand his or her own spiritual and religious beliefs. Notwithstanding the aforementioned ethical mandates, accreditation guidelines, and professional competencies, if counselors are to assist clients in increasing self-awareness of the spiritual domain, is it not imperative that they are able to do the same? In this section, the authors explore both why counselor self-awareness is essential and what this awareness brings to the counseling relationship.

The Therapeutic Alliance. Decades of research (e.g., Duncan, 2015; Lambert and Barley, 2001; Norcross and Wampold, 2011; Messer and Wampold, 2002) support the notion that the therapeutic alliance is central to positive counseling outcomes. A strong working alliance is the cornerstone of the counseling profession; distinguishing it from psychology, social work, and psychiatry (Kottler and Balkin, 2016). Rogers (1980) believed that empathy, fundamental to the therapeutic alliance, can occur only if the counselor is able to enter the private, perceptual world of the client. This entry, according to Rogers, is gained by building a strong counseling relationship. Kottler and Balkin (2016) write “the relationship is a key component of any helping effort, perhaps even the most significant feature” (p. 8). Therefore, if counselor self-awareness is a requirement for effective client engagement, then it is also a requirement for establishing a positive working relationship with the client. This is particularly relevant to client work which integrates sacred beliefs and spiritual/religious practices.

Counselors who seek to be competent in addressing the spiritual and religious domain with clients must focus on key tenets of the counseling relationship. Such tenets are built upon an active exploration and evaluation of the counselor’s attitudes, beliefs, and values about spirituality and/or religion. In addition, the counselor must recognize and reconcile his or her own personal limits of understanding. When a counselor is more spiritually self-aware, his or her ability to recognize client spiritual concerns is greater (Asselt and Senstock, 2009). Understanding the client’s spiritual and religious beliefs not only infuses the counselor–client relationship, but also enhances the counselor’s non-judgmental openness toward the client. One of the many benefits of this process is an enriched, more objective understanding of the client’s culture and worldview.

Multicultural Competence. Counselors are encountering increasingly multifaceted cultural milieu in their work. Given that spiritual and religious beliefs are closely tied cultural systems, it is unlikely that counselors can provide competent care without self-knowledge and self-awareness. Not surprisingly, there is a considerable amount of attention within the multicultural literature pointing to the absolute necessity of counselor awareness regarding personal values, assumptions, beliefs, and biases. Sue and Sue (2012) highlight the need for counselors to continuously and actively investigate their own assumptions and biases, in order to reach even a minimum level of multicultural competence. Collins, Arthur, and Wong-Wylie (2010) assert that “reflective practice is a central component of professional competence and necessarily involves attention to culture” (p. 340). Rationale supporting this notion includes the potential of the influence of ethnocentricism. Ethnocentricism is described as defaulting primarily to one’s cultural lens – inherently laden with certain values and assumptions – in this case, for the purposes of clinical and ethical decision-making (Collins and Arthur, 2010; Levitt and Moorhead, 2013). Enhancing multicultural competence has great value for both understanding the client’s spiritual domain and engaging in a better understanding of the impact of the counselor’s own spiritual and/or religious belief systems within the counseling process. Ho (1995) makes the wise assertion that “those who do not know the culture of others do not really know their own” (p. 11).

Navigating Inner Experiences in Practice. Counselor self-awareness is also required for navigating through the vicissitudes of transference and countertransference in the counseling relationship (Rosin, 2015). Transference involves the projection of feelings, often unconsciously, to another individual. Counselors with minimal self-awareness are prone to unintentional engagement in the transference relationship, thereby potentially harming the client or engaging in practices which are ineffective (Dryden and Reeves, 2008; Rosin, 2015). An example is the use of prayer in counseling. Albeit controversial within the literature, prayer can be an effective therapeutic technique when the client and counselor’s religious beliefs are fully understood, and the use of such a technique is part of the informed consent process (Weld and Eriksen, 2007). However, counselors must be aware of the potential for such practices to blur boundaries and heighten transference issues (Cashwell and Young, 2011).

Countertransference refers to the way that a counselor reflexively relates and responds to a client (Dryden and Reeves, 2008); this phenomenon may occur when interacting with someone who is in great opposition to one’s own beliefs or when beliefs are seemingly analogous (Udipi, Veach, Kao, and LeRoy, 2008). Continuing with the use of prayer as an example, a counselor who is unaware may unconsciously assume that a client who wishes to utilize prayer as a counseling technique for one presenting problem will want to utilize this strategy for other presenting issues. These unfounded assumptions not only lead to inaccurate postulations about the client’s personal values, but directly influence and frustrate clinical decision-making, potentially resulting in decreased counseling outcomes and counselor well-being.

Counselor Well-being. Client work often involves intense, emotional subject matter, which can take an emotional toll on counselors. Furthermore, the work on the part of the counselor to remain aware of both content (what the client is saying) and process (the meaning behind content) issues during the counseling process can be laborious, particularly to novice or fatigued counselors. The very hallmark of professional burnout is a counselor’s inability to recognize and tend to his or her own needs (Levitt and Moorhead, 2013). Not only do counselors experiencing burnout lose their effectiveness in helping others, but they also have little opportunity for continued growth, both as a person and a professional. A lack of self-care is one of the most prominent factors associated with burnout and poor ethical decision-making (Skovholt, Grier, and Hanson, 2001).

In emphasizing self-awareness, it is important to note that counselor self-care is often a by-product of increased awareness (Pompeo and Levitt, 2014). Richards et al. (2010) determined that while there is not a significant relationship between self-care and self-awareness, self-awareness is a likely result of increased counselor well-being. Given the benefits of spiritual investigation and the plethora of literature, which points to the need for counselors to acknowledge and be comfortable with their own spiritual beliefs, the gains of counselor self-awareness are certainly clear with regard to promoting counselor well-being (Capuzzi and Gross, 2003; Fukuyama and Sevig, 1997; Sacks, 1985; Tuck et al., 2001). The following section explores how counselors, both novice and seasoned, can better cultivate levels of self-awareness in the spiritual domain.

Cultivating Counselor Self-Awareness

At the very heart of this chapter is the idea that counselors must engage in ongoing personal self-reflection to effectively understand and address spiritual and/or religious issues in counseling. The reasons are summed up as three basic tenets: (1) counselor self-awareness is an ethical mandate, (2) counselor self-awareness is required for competent practice, and (3) counselor self-awareness is critical to client welfare. Pompeo and Levitt (2014) describe the process of increasing one’s self-awareness as “a conscious choice in which one considers and analyzes one’s own actions, including being honest about personal intentions and motives” (p. 80). Remley and Herlihy (2010) highlight counselor self-awareness as a core characteristic of virtuous counselors, describing it as one in which the counselor is familiar with his or her own assumptions, convictions, and biases – particularly in terms of how these may impact the counseling relationship. While scholarly discourse has consistently pointed to the need for increased awareness, what is missing is how counselors can effectively approach, continuously explore, and recognize limitations in their awareness.

Cottone, Tarvydas and Claus (2007) state that one must experience values to uncover them fully. Hansen (2009) defined conditions for establishing the construct of self-awareness, claiming that certain higher-order capacities, most notably the availability of self, must exist to facilitate self-reflection. Thus, counselors must be present and willing to engage in the reflective process. There is also countless evidence pointing to increased levels of counselor self-efficacy, improved client outcomes, strengthening of the therapeutic alliance, increa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Author
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• About the Editors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Purpose of this Book
• PART I: Counselor Preparation and Understanding the Client in Terms of Spirituality and Religious Issues
• PART II: Theories and Interventions
• Index