Innovative and reflective, Counseling and Spirituality helps readers integrate spiritual and clinical perspectives of counseling in order to successfully support clients' religious or spiritual journeys by utilizing appropriate knowledge and interventions. With cultural concerns such as religion and spirituality growing in importance and interest in the helping professions, this book serves to define varieties of spiritual beliefs, assess spiritual wellness, and apply theory- and practice-based approaches to individualized spiritual counseling situations. Author Joshua Gold helps readers contemplate how they see religion and spirituality in their own lives and appraise how their own spirituality sways who they are as clinicians and what they do in the provision of mental health services for their clients. What reviewers have to say about Counseling and Spirituality "This text is an impressive effort at integrating a complex and largely ignored subject... It strongly encourages the counseling field to take up the challenge of accepting what the majority of clients find important, spirituality and religion, and growing in our understanding, knowledge, and appreciation of its place in the counseling process." --Randall R. Lyle, St. Mary's University "The use of case examples, self-understanding exercises, and further learning allows the reader to engage in the text in a meaningful manner... More specifically, the case-study is not merely presented, but revisited at the end of the chapters allowing the reader to ponder the example while learning new information, and ultimately gain a potentially new perspective as she or he learns the outcome." --Guerda Nicolas, Boston College

In this book, experts in the field discuss how spiritual and religious issues can be successfully integrated into counseling in a manner that is respectful of client beliefs and practices. Designed as an introductory text for counselors-in-training and clinicians, it describes the knowledge base and skills necessary to effectively engage clients in an exploration of their spiritual and religious lives to further the therapeutic process. Through an examination of the 2009 ASERVIC Competencies for Addressing Spiritual and Religious Issues in Counseling and the use of evidence-based tools and techniques, this book will guide you in providing services to clients presenting with these deeply sensitive and personal issues. Numerous strategies for clinical application are offered throughout the book, and new chapters on mindfulness, ritual, 12-step spirituality, prayer, and feminine spirituality enhance application to practice. *Requests for digital versions from the ACA can be found on wiley.com. *To request print copies, please visit the ACA website here: https://imis.counseling.org/store/detail.aspx?id=78161 *Reproduction requests for material from books published by ACA should be directed to [email protected]

"Explorations in Counseling and Spirituality Philosophical, Practical, and Personal Reflections offers a basic foundation for readers to draw practical and personal conclusions about counseling and spirituality. Readers review didactic and experiential investigations of spiritual and religious beliefs in relation to counseling. The authors examine issues about spirituality as well as examples of specific interventions with information not addressed in other counseling or spirituality resources. Coverage is divided into philosophical, practical, and personal domains. A holistic model of counseling and spirituality integrates the scholarly and philosophical with the practical and personal. This rich introduction draws from many disciplines." -- Publisher's description

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.

The goal of this book is to help counselors move from a respectful but hesitant neutrality to a skilled, and action-oriented sensitivity toward their clients' spirituality. The primary audience is professional counselors and psychotherapists, social workers, counselor and therapist educators, and counselors-in-training in college programs. The book presents and discusses recent theory and research on spirituality and religion with regard to counseling and psychotherapy. It builds on the premise that spirituality and religion deserve counselors' sensitive regard, informed understanding, and, as ethically and therapeutically appropriate, skillful integration into effective counseling treatment. The first two chapters present information, concepts, and background knowledge that undergird counseling approaches, skills, and techniques. Chapter Three focuses on the relationship dimension of counseling and discusses principles and practices for relating the spiritual/religious dimension of the counseling relationship. Chapter Four looks at systematic approaches for evaluating the appropriateness of including spiritual and religious issues in counseling, and Chapter Five addresses a variety of treatment approaches and techniques for working with clients' spiritual and religious concerns. (Contains over 400 references and an index.) (RJM)

In this text, practical strategies, techniques, and examples are used to show how spirituality can influence each stage of treatment from before the clinical intake, starting with an understanding of ethical practice guidelines and therapist self-awareness, through termination.

"This book, through its well-referenced and critically thoughtful approach, has made an invaluable contribution to the counseling literature. The extensive use of case studies and other applied materials makes it a valuable . . . reference." –Dr. Thomas J. Russo, Department of Counseling and School Psychology, University of Wisconsin, River Falls Incorporating Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy presents an applied, insightful, and well-researched overview of the theory, practice, and ethics of integrating spiritual and religious themes and rituals into traditional therapy models. This well-conceived and immensely readable text examines common barriers and bridges between spirituality and mental health and documents the effectiveness of using spiritual practices and concepts in treatment. Most important, it encourages readers, through group activities and individual reflection, to consider their own spiritual belief systems and biases before engaging clients in therapy with a spiritual base. Key features of this book include: A synopsis of the major Eastern and Western religions and spiritual movements Theoretical, cultural, and ethical implications of incorporating spirituality in counseling Practical methods for helping clients develop a spiritual identity Proven techniques for incorporating spiritual practices in treatment Case studies providing complex, real-life scenarios, as well as questions and activities for individual and group discussion A practical book for students and a valuable resource for counselors, psychologists, social workers, addiction specialists, and other mental health professionals, Incorporating Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy offers expert guidance on how to handle issues of spirituality in furthering the therapeutic process.

In this book, experts in the field discuss how spiritual and religious issues can be successfully integrated into counseling in a manner that is respectful of client beliefs and practices. Designed as an introductory text for counselors-in-training and clinicians, it describes the knowledge base and skills necessary to effectively engage clients in an exploration of their spiritual and religious lives to further the therapeutic process. Through an examination of the 2009 ASERVIC Competencies for Addressing Spiritual and Religious Issues in Counseling and the use of evidence-based tools and techniques, this book will guide you in providing services to clients presenting with these deeply sensitive and personal issues. Numerous strategies for clinical application are offered throughout the book, and new chapters on mindfulness, ritual, 12-step spirituality, prayer, and feminine spirituality enhance application to practice. *Requests for digital versions from the ACA can be found on wiley.com. *To request print copies, please visit the ACA website here: https://imis.counseling.org/store/detail.aspx?id=78161 *Reproduction requests for material from books published by ACA should be directed to [email protected]

Factor your clients' religious beliefs into their therapy! A recent Gallup poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed said they would prefer to receive counseling from a therapist who is religious. The Power of Spirituality in Therapy: Integrating Spiritual and Religious Beliefs in Mental Health Practice addresses the apprehensions many clinicians have when it comes to discussing God with their clients. Authors Peter A. Kahle and John M. Robbins draw from their acclaimed workshops on the integration of spirituality and psychotherapy to teach therapists how they can help clients make positive life changes that are consistent with their values and spiritual and/or religious orientations. The Power of Spirituality in Therapy combines psychotherapy, spirituality, and humor to examine the “pink elephants” of academia-Godphobia and institutional a-spiritualism. The book explores the “learned avoidance” that has historically limited therapists in their ability—and willingness—to engage clients in “God-talk” and presents clinicians with methods they can use to incorporate spirituality into psychotherapy. Topics such as truth, belief, postmodernism, open-mindedness, and all-inclusiveness are examined through empirical findings, practical steps and cognitive processes, and clinical stories. The Power of Spirituality in Therapy includes: To Be (Ethical) or Not to Be? WHAT is the Question? To Believe or Not to Believe? That is NOT the Question! The Deification of Open-Mindedness Learning From Our Clients In God Do Therapists Trust? and much more! The Power of Spirituality in Therapy is an essential resource for therapists, counselors, mental health practitioners, pastoral counselors, and social work professionals who deal with clients who require therapy that reflects the importance of God in their lives. This guide will help those brave enough to explore how their own spiritual beliefs and/or biases can create problems when working with those clients.

"Written with great clarity and intelligence, this book will be of benefit to all mental health practitioners, students of psychology, and those seeking a better understanding of their own process of psychological and spiritual transformation." —Tara Brach, PhD, Author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge "In this wonderful book, Rick Johnson weaves together different theoretical perspectives in a way that welcomes religion, spirituality, and nature into the counseling and psychotherapy process. It's a delight to read Dr. Johnson's approach—an approach that teaches therapists how to empathically explore spirituality as an important dimension of human existence." —John Sommers-Flanagan, PhD, coauthor of Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and Practice and Clinical Interviewing "Rick Johnson's book Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy is a rich introduction to the varied forms in which spiritual suffering enters the consulting room, the range of theories which address or fail to address this need, and specific attitudes and practices through which therapists can provide a non-doctrinal but open encounter with the spiritual needs of their clients." —James Hollis, PhD, Jungian analyst, and author of fourteen books, among them What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life A practical integration of psychology and spirituality that builds upon existing psychological theories While many clients want spiritual and philosophical issues to be addressed in therapy, many mental health professionals report that they feel ill-equipped to meet clients' needs in this area. Providing a model that is approachable from a variety of theoretical orientations, Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy supports therapists in becoming open to the unique ways that clients define, experience, and access life-affirming, spiritual beliefs and practices. Drawing on the author's research into spiritual issues as well as predictors of clients' psychological health, this reflective book presents an integrative approach to discussing the topic of spirituality. An essential resource for mental health professionals of all spiritual and religious persuasions, Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy discusses: Client-defined spirituality Integrating spirituality with psychological theories Why clients become spiritually lost Practical steps for spiritual health and abundance in therapy Helping clients reclaim their real self How spiritually oriented therapy helps Guidance for therapists in differentiating their spirituality from their clients' to foster a more successful therapeutic relationship Filled with numerous cases and stories illustrating how spirituality can be a natural and beneficial part of the therapeutic process, Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy enables mental health professionals to nonjudgmentally invite a collaborative exploration of the role of spirituality in their clients' lives.