Ethical Aspects of Spirituality in Counseling

Abstract

dilemmas related to spirituality in counseling can range from counselors' concern of imposing personal values onto the client to issues regarding separation of church and state in school counseling. These and related dilemmas may hinder counselor educators, supervisors, practicing mental health counselors, and school counselors from adequately addressing spirituality as a counseling component (Corey et al.

Religiosity, Spirituality, and Mental Health in Portugal: A call for a conceptualisation, relationship, and guidelines for integration (a theoretical review)

“…Most of the mental health ethical guidelines (if not all) have as main assumption the respect and nondiscrimination for the client as a person: a multicultural person (Steen, Engels & Thweatt, 2006;Plante, 2007;Hathaway & Ripley, 2009;APA 1 , 2010;Barnett & Johnson, 2011;Rosenfeld, 2011;Cook, 2013;APA 2 , 2013;ACA, 2014). However, most of them go beyond that.…”

“…They highlighted the need for a mental health professional to be firstly aware of his/her own beliefs about religion and spirituality, by questioning how those beliefs might affect their work; and ensuring that he/she does not affect clients (Steen et al, 2006;Cook, 2013). For instance, proselytism (in an attempt to convert a client to engage or leave a religious or spiritual faith/community) is one practice involving ethical issues that need to be considered.…”

“…Therefore, recommendations are made in the following respects: seek for collaboration with a religious adviser, i.e. religious leader, clergy or chaplains; seek for consultation/supervision with a more competent mental health professional; or ultimately refer and/or terminate the therapeutic relationship (Miller, 1999;Steen et al, 2006;ASERVIC, 2009;Cook, 2013;Vieten et al, 2013;ACA, 2014).…”

The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision Volume 6 Issue 2 Fall 2014

“…Researchers have described ethics codes as statements of professional identity and covenants with society (Ponton & Duba, 2009), noting that some professionals have faith in codes of ethics while some are skeptical (Fine & Teram, 2009). Researchers have examined ethics within the frameworks of diagnosis (Dougherty, 2005;Kress, Hoffman, & Eriksen, 2010), testing and assessment (Naugle, 2009), spirituality (Steen, Engles, & Thweatt, 2006), therapeutic prayer (Weld & Eriksen, 2007), and computer-based supervision (Vaccaro & Lambie, 2007). The literature also contains examples of ethics decision-making models and recommendations to assist professionals in navigating the complexities of ethics dilemmas (Barnett, Behnke, Rosenthal, & Koocher, 2007;Burkholder, Toth, Feisthamel, & Britton, 2010;Calley, 2009;Freeman & Francis, 2006;Foster & Black, 2007;Glosoff, Herlihy, & Spence, 2000).…”

Spirituality, religion and counselling practice: a guide to competent integration

“…As such, religion needs to be defined separate from spirituality (Cashwell & Young, 2005b;Steen et al, 2006). Whereas spirituality is a broad concept representing personal beliefs and values, religion tends to be a narrow concept that refers to institutional beliefs and behaviours (Myers & Williard, 2003).…”