To determine if counselors integrate clinical behaviors for addressing religious/spiritual issues in counseling consistent with their ratings of the importance of such behaviors, the authors conducted a national survey of American Counseling Association (ACA) members. Seventy-eight ACA members rated the importance of and frequency with which they engaged in a set of 30 clinical behaviors that were identified in the existing literature as addressing religious/spiritual issues within counseling. Results indicated possible disparities between importance and frequency ratings. Potential barriers to counselors' utilization of religious and spiritually directed clinical behaviors were identified. W ithin the counseling field, the integration of religion and spirituality into counseling has garnered more attention over the last 15-20 years. In the 1990s, the Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC, n.d.; see also Miller, 1999) developed competencies to guide practice in this area, and recently these competencies have been revised to reflect factor analytic investigation of their validity (Cashwell & Watts, 2010). These competencies address four areas of counselor competence: (a) knowledge pertaining to spiritual phenomena, (b) self-awareness related to spiritual views, (c) understanding of clients' spiritual outlook, and (d) interventions related to spirituality (Young,
Growing up in religious/spiritual communities often creates identity issues for lesbian and gay individuals. In this phenomenological study, the authors investigated the experiences of 25 lesbian and gay individuals who self‐identified as having been raised within organized religious communities. Participants described that these communities were affirming, tolerant, or nonaffirming. Accordingly, emergent themes indicated that the current spiritual lives of participants varied greatly depending on their experiences of identity integration and affirmation. Implications for counselors and researchers are discussed.
Neurocounseling, the integration of neurobiology into the practice of counseling, is gaining attention and empirical support within the counseling field. Clients and clinical mental health counselors appear eager for effective mind–body tools that are accessible during, between, and beyond sessions. Peripheral biofeedback encompasses a host of such interventions, including technological (e.g., heart rate variability feedback) and non-technological (e.g., observation) approaches. Non-technological approaches are cost-effective tools that can enhance the efficacy of other counseling approaches and may serve to improve client outcomes. Integrating non-technological and technological peripheral biofeedback is a promising direction for clinical practice. In this article, the authors provide an overview of the key components of the stress-response system, the neurobiology of breath and self-regulation, and the related elements of peripheral biofeedback. The authors describe a case example, identify gaps in the knowledge base, and explore the implications for clinical practice and research.
A gap exists in the counseling profession between research and practice. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is one approach that could reduce this gap. The CBPR framework can serve as an additional tool for translating research findings into practical interventions for communities and counseling practitioners. Stronger community partnerships between researchers and practitioners will further improve treatment for our clients. The purpose of this study was to develop competencies that would provide the foundations for a training guideline in CBPR. Using the Delphi method, an expert panel achieved consensus on 153 competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes, activities). Competencies are significant for the profession because they establish best practice, guidelines of service, and professional training.
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