Professional psychologists have recently been encouraged to sensitively address religious/spiritual issues in psychotherapy. But how frequently do practitioners make religiously/spiritually informed interventions with their clients, and how important do they think it is to do so? Based on the existing literature, the authors identified 29 recommended religious/spiritual psychotherapy behaviors and surveyed 96 psychologists regarding perceived importance and use of these behaviors. The most and least frequently endorsed behaviors were identified. The greater the practitioners' religious/spiritual self-identification, the more likely they were to report using these behaviors in psychotherapy. However, overall, and for 90% of the individual items, clinicians engaged in these religious/spiritual psychotherapy behaviors less frequently than their importance ratings suggested they should. Practice implications and suggestions for educators are discussed.

In today's market, clinical practitioners have complex and demanding jobs. This survey study identified contemporary occupational hazards, rewards, and coping strategies of 208 psychotherapists and the interrelationships among these variables. Unexpected post hoc gender differences revealed that female therapists reported significantly more rewards and coping strategies than men. Suggestions are offered for how practitioners can promote their own job satisfaction. Implications for supervisors and trainers of psychotherapists are also discussed.Clinical practitioners sometimes wonder what keeps them going. On any given day, they try to serve client needs, maintain an ethical practice, manage increasing paperwork and bureaucracy, stay informed about new interventions and specialties, foresee how emerging changes in the health care environment will affect them, market their services, and defend the efficacy of their interventions (Coster & Schwebel, 1997). Juggling the ups and downs of these responsibilities can be likened to rafting the rapids; sometimes it's exhilarating, other times it's frightening-with survival linked to appropriate responses to and knowledge of the rivet Clinicians muse, Can I cope with the increasing demands of my job? How well am I coping? Do I still look forward to going to work most days? What should I do differently to feel better about my job?In recent years, there has been greater understanding and appreciation of the job-related stressors or hazards of being a psychotherapist (

Practitioners are repeatedly encouraged to become multiculturally competent clinicians. But how frequently do professional psychologists intervene in multiculturally responsive ways, and how important do they think it is to do so? From the existing literature, the authors identified 52 recommended multicultural psychotherapy competencies and surveyed 149 professional psychologists regarding these practices and beliefs. Universal, infrequent, and not applicable practices were identified. Overall and for 86% of the individual items, participants did not practice what they preached. In addition, respondents reported that personal and professional experiences were most influential, and guidelines and codes least influential, in their development of multicultural competence. Five practice implications are offered, and suggestions for educators are discussed.

How do you as a professional psychologist know if you are competent to treat clients whose cultural origins and values differ from your own? What awareness, knowledge, and skills do you need? With whom should you consult? When should you refer? Adopting an idiographic, inclusive approach, the authors identify 12 minimal multicultural competencies for practice and illustrate their usefulness through 3 case examples. Suggestions for how professional psychologists can augment and evaluate their own multicultural competencies are offered as well as implications for professional psychology educators. Consider the following scenario: Dr. Mary Ann Smith is a European American licensed clinical psychologist trying to build her private practice in a medium-sized town in the upper Midwest. She has worked to become listed on provider panels and realizes how important self-referred individuals with good insurance are to her livelihood. In 1 week, she receives three new clients: a recently fired Native American male nurse filing a discrimination lawsuit against the school district; a Spanish-speaking Mexican American lesbian fighting a custody battle with her ex-husband; and a blind, indigent, 70-year-old Irish American man with depression. "Am I competent to treat these clients?" wonder^ Dr. Smith, "and if not, to whom do I refer?" For professional psychologists like Dr. Smith, working with diverse clients will soon become the norm rather than the exception. Shortly after the year 2050, racial and ethnic minorities will become a numerical majority in the United States (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1995). Nearly 75% of the current entering labor force are racial and ethnic minorities or women, and when "baby NANCY DOWNING HANSEN received her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Florida in 1980. She is a member of the clinical psychology faculty at The Fielding Institute. Her professional interests include ethics, multicultural psychology, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and qualitative research.

Using a collective case study ethnographic approach, nine individuals comprising three Mexican American families were interviewed about their family bereavement experiences after the death of a child. All families were Catholic, had surviving siblings, and had had three or more years to grieve their loss when interviewed. The deceased children ranged in age from 3 to 14, and all experienced sudden, traumatic, nonsuicide deaths. To provide a broader, contextual picture of their grief experiences, four individuals who supported these family members after the loss were also interviewed. Unique grief experiences were identified, and eight common themes emerged, reflecting the ways in which family members maintained their bond to the deceased: dreams, storytelling, keepsakes, sense of presence, faith-based connections, proximity connections, ongoing rituals, and pictorial remembrances. The cultural implications of family bereavement are highlighted.