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What are some of your concerns/worries about counseling a non-religious client?
My main concern when counseling a nonreligious client is ensuring that he or she is treated as fairly as possible without unwarranted bias, undue judgment, or discriminative views on my part. This is due to the fact that “The more a patient deviates from a therapist’s values, the more likely he or she is to receive a severe diagnosis and poor prognosis” (Szasz, 1970; as cited in Lewis & Lewis, 1985, p. 926). Like it or not, our values, beliefs, and morals (i.e., our worldview) can and will to a certain extent determine how we assess our clients. While LeTourneau students are educated in matters of multicultural competence and the integration of religion and psychology we are still human and as such are prone to make the same value-laden judgmental mistakes as everyone else.
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Another concern, but nonetheless equally important as the above issue about counseling a nonreligious client is the ethical and clinical considerations surrounding therapy.
According to Sahker, (2016) “Understanding nonreligious clients is important for psychologists because the ethical considerations have not yet been discussed in the area of nonreligiousness, religious struggle, and deconversion” (p. 295). This means that the religious counselor has a much larger grey area to contend with than does a nonreligious counselor. Classes that teach ethics, psychology and religious integration, multicultural competence, and this one as well provide the foundation for addressing the nonreligious population. Sahker further states that “to work with the nonreligious [we] should be aware of our own religious and spiritual values” (p. 298). Questions such as yours and this class assist us in becoming self-aware of these values and defining them
also. Blessings, Christopher “Can/Should/Will you turn a client away because they are nonreligious?” References Lewis, K. N., & Lewis, D. A. (1985). Impact of religious affiliation on therapists' judgments of patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(6), 926-932. doi:10.1037//0022-006x.53.6.926 Sahker, E. (2016). Therapy with the nonreligious: Ethical and clinical considerations. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 47(4), 295-302. doi:10.1037/pro0000087
The start of this article focuses on a Christian client named George who is plagued with feelings of worthlessness, depression, low self-esteem, and suicide. His mother had also battled depression, and his father had an abusive relationship with alcohol, which caused his father to have verbally and physically abusive altercations with George and his mother. The abusive experiences that George was exposed to as a child paved the way for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as an adult (Garzon, 2005). With all of these factors present in this client’s life, a treatment plan was created that involved scripture interventions. The author made sure to touch on the fact that every client is unique in the hopes that counselors would be aware that one type of scripture intervention might work for one client and not work for another. The article highlights three guiding values when considering these types of interventions; “respect for the client’s autonomy/freedom, sensitivity to and empathy for the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs, and flexibility and responsiveness to the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs.”(Garzon, 2005). ...
As mentioned, psychotherapy is not thought to be value-free or value-neutral any more, and therapists are required to be aware of their own values and to hold them back while treating clients. Nevertheless, according to Patterson (1998), some psychologists claim the legitimacy of imparting certain values. Understandably, it is more so among psychologists with religious orientation as in pastoral counseling. However, Patterson (1986) also listed psychologists who instruct certain values without religious affiliat...
patients to know that I have a license to heal and not a license to
Counselors today face the task of how to appropriately counsel multicultural clients. Being sensitive to cultural variables can be conceptualized as holding a cultural lens to human behavior and making allowances for the possibility of cultural influence. However, to avoid stereotyping, it is important that the clinician recognize the existence of within-group differences as well as the influence of the client’s own personal culture and values (Furman, Negi, Iwamoto, Shukraft, & Gragg, 2009). One’s background is not always black or white and a counselor needs to be able to discern and adjust one’s treatment plan according to their client.
Mark R. McMinn is the author of Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling. He has revised his book in order to expound on the topics he has presented. According to McMinn (2011), “religion can be discussed in therapy, but the power of change is found in the therapeutic relationship” (p. 3). When counselors develop trust and rapport with their clients, true change will occur. Counselors face many challenges as they incorporate religion into counseling such as “moving from two areas of competence to three, expanding definitions of training, and confronting dominating views of mental health” (McMinn, 2011, pp. 9-20). Throughout the book, McMinn (2011) discusses ways in which a counselor and counselor trainee is able to work through these challenges, such as utilizing a theoretical map to help them work toward psychological and spiritual health (p. 39-73).
In 2005, the American Counseling Association (ACA) published a document titled the ACA Code of Ethics which was designed to aid counselors in the ethical decision making process and, in response, “expand the capacity of people to grow and develop” (p. 3). The ACA Code of Ethics provides regulatory guidelines for all counselors to follow in ethical decision-making and practice. Of a more specific nature, the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) has also published a document stating the ethical practices and procedures for the Christian counseling field. The two documents contain many similarities, but, due to differing goals and principals, also containing may differences. This paper compares these two documents and more specifically focuses on the similarities and differences in the areas of confidentiality, fees, and records.
Confidentiality. Confidentiality is just as important in Christian counseling as it is in secular counseling. According to the American Association of Christian Counselors (2014), “confidentiality recognizes that every client has a fundamental, moral and legal right to privacy and to have a wide range of personal thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and behaviors that are protected from public knowledge” (p. 22). It is crucial for counselors to maintain client confidentiality unless what a client discloses brings harm to themselves or other people. Confidentiality should be kept at all
Describe the spiritual practices you would use to prepare yourself to begin a spiritual care conversation with this patient. Tell us how these spiritual practices relate to important aspects of your spiritual journey and formation. The spiritual practices I would use to prepare myself with a spiritual care conversation with Mr. Yu who is dying would require be vulnerable and willing to make some mistakes to begin a spiritual care conversation. First like Steve in the example I would approach the oldest son or whoever seems to be willing to talk to me about Mr. Yu. It would depend upon who was willing to engage me in conversation when I walked in the room and introduced myself. There are stages in dying. Some people who are dying
An aspect of interreligious dialogue which Merton believed to be the most important for an authentic dialogue was the admission of past wrongdoing. Merton constantly writes about the injustices performed by Christians to those of other religions, in an attempt of asking for the others’ forgiveness. In a letter to Suzuki from April 1959, a letter from the early stages of their friendship, Merton comments on injustices done to the east, saying:
Worthington, E. L. Jr., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., & McDaniel, M. A. (2011). Religion and spirituality. In J. C. Norcross (Ed.), Psychotherapy relationships that work (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press
Counselors’ values delineate who they are and what they stand for, but when their values violate the counseling session and cause harm to clients, they no longer become personal, but a professional problem. Within that professional problem, counsellors need to ascertain if they are discriminating against their clients or are they concerned about their own personal value. The American Counseling Association (2014) states, “Counselors do not condone or engage in discrimination against prospective or current clients, students.based on.religion/spirituality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/partnership status.or any basis proscribed by law.
Out of the five ethical principles, I have found four to be involved in Sandra’s case. If I were to take Sandra as a client, I would be going against the ethical principle nonmalificence. Without much knowledge about Christianity, I might unintentionally say or do something that is offensive to Sandra. This is why it is important for counselors stay within their field of competence. Beneficence is the second principle that is involved. The only way for me to do good for Sandra is to refer her to a Christian counselor so she can receive care from a competent provider. Taking Sandra as a client would not do her justice because I would be making an exception to the rule of treating everyone fairly. I would not accept a client looking for acceptance commitment therapy without proper training, so it would be wrong to accept a client looking for a Christian counselor without being a Christian. The last ethical principle involved in this case study was fidelity, which would be lost if I chose to counsel Sandra. I believe it would be difficult to form a trusting relati...
It is imperative to support the client’s beliefs and not push my personal beliefs on them. Competent spiritual care takes care of all types of client not just the ones I can identify with. “Supporting the client’s beliefs shows resect for the client, and the client’s ability to cope may have a direct correlation with the client’s belief system” (Koenig, 2013, p. 187). It is also imperative to utilize the Chaplain if the client asks for
the theories, and the techniques dealing with Christian and secular counseling will require different tactics and approaches for it to be effective
In order to be an effective counselor, one must remember to keep the client(s) in mind. The goal is to assist the client(s) in living the best life possible for that particular person or persons. With that being said, one cannot forget that they have their own set of morals, values, ideas, and the like. Social workers have to keep in mind that there will be cases that are complex and a favorable outcome may not be possible. In the instance that I am confronted with an issue that conflicts with my religious beliefs, I plan on assisting the client as much as possible by adhering the National Association of Social Work Code of Ethics, NASW standards for the Practice of Clinical Social Work, and discussing my concerns with my supervisor while